Henry Bonilla

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion but first I would like to say, Mr. Speaker, that it is a pleasure to work with my ranking member from Connecticut, a person who comes to work every day wanting to see some serious work done and a colleague who has always been very direct about what she wants to accomplish even when we do have disagreements. On this particular motion I do agree with a portion, in the principle of what the FSA portion says in this motion. The gentlewoman is correct the Department of Agriculture went about there the wrong way in terms of trying to select offices around the country without any input, without any input from the House or the Senate or, if they did choose to listen to input, completely ignored what we had to say. When I had conversations with those in charge at USDA, I pointed out initially that if there are going to be cuts, we understand that cuts need to be made. Everybody understands that, but we wanted to make sure that if cuts were made and designated positions were listed that they had to have an equal number of positions here at USDA, at the big conglomerate that we have here in Washington. Do not just cut the field staff that serves farmers and ranchers around the country; but, again, let us make it fair and let us talk about it. First and foremost, we wanted to talk about it openly and have input because we are the legislative body that has oversight on what the executive branch does. So I do agree with what the gentlewoman has to say. However, the administration has already acknowledged and listened to these remarks that many of us have made in the House and Senate and has chosen to backtrack and withdraw the list of proposed cuts, offices to be closed that was put out just a few days ago. On the other part of the motion, I would differ greatly with the gentlewoman from Connecticut on the food stamp outsourcing, because as the gentlewoman understands, I support the food stamp program wholeheartedly and it has been historically supported wholeheartedly in a bipartisan way. We have never run short on the program, and everyone who needs to take part in this program has always had a meal and had the food products they needed in their homes regardless of where they live or their ethnic background or what part of the country they come from. But this language, in my view, would tie the hands of some States that are implementing the program and distributing the benefits effectively, including my home State of Texas. But this motion to instruct would also encompass Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, and California. Now, in terms of outsourcing, it is my very strong belief that if a State is administering the program effectively and they have no outsourcing, that is wonderful. That is fine. But if another State decides, as we do in the State of Texas do it, and I believe the statistic now is about 14 percent of the program is now outsourced, and it works well, then we ought to be allowed to do that. So all I am saying is that the language in this motion to recommit would inappropriately indicate that Congress does not feel like the States ought to be able to administer this program the way they see fit in their community to effectively get the product to the people truly in need. So that is my reason for opposing this motion to instruct. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII, and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2744) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 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.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding achievement of the San Antonio Spurs and congratulate them for winning the 2005 National Basketball Association Championship on June 23. This is the third time in the past five years that National Championship trophy has come home to San Antonio. This was a dramatic seven game series against the Detroit Pistons, and hard fought at every step along the way. Under the guidance of Coach Greg Popovich, the Spurs' Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen, 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 final's most valuable player for the third time due to his performance, leadership and character. In life it's not just whether you win, it's 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. It is a team that worked like a well oiled machine. No longer can anyone in the NBA say ``nice guys finish last''.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman I yield myself such time as I may consume. My amendment would do something very simple, and that is it would withhold 10 percent of administrative costs at the Ex-Im Bank until there is an Inspector General in place. As we all know, Ex-Im Bank's mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. A by- product of this, of course, is the creation of U.S. jobs and the support of U.S. manufacturers. But all too often, it seems that the Ex- Im Bank is content to conduct operations in the shadows in a questionable manner. There appears to be a lack of official guidance in how credit worthiness is determined. There appears to be a lack of official guidance addressing the small business requirements that Congress has mandated. And more disturbing also is that we ask questions and we get no answers. People empower us to keep an eye on these expenditures, and they are not being open with Members of Congress. All too simple questions sometimes that are set on basic policy either go unanswered or answered without any substantive information. For example, in March of this year, I sent a letter to the Ex-Im Bank that, among other things, asked: ``Under what circumstances does EX-IM permit its employees to share information about an ongoing investigation with third parties? The bank has acknowledged that they received my letter. The Director of Legislative Affairs replied that my concerns have been forwarded to the Office of General Counsel, and the General Counsel's office has acknowledged receipt of the letter, but yet the questions remain unanswered. Obviously, their inability to answer basic questions on policy raises a concern that the bank may be operating subjectively and without internal policies or controls to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse. This agency has existed far too long and with far too great an expense to the taxpayer to not have an Inspector General keeping an eye on it. It is time that this agency provide taxpayers with the assurance that their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent wisely. It is time the Ex-Im respects the role that this body plays in keeping an eye on them and an oversight on this agency, which is very important. I ask the chairman for his support of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the chairman's support of my amendment and acknowledge his very thoughtful remarks. I would, however, point out that private accounting is not independent because they answer to the Ex-Im chairman and not the public. So, again, we are looking for answers. The public empowers us to keep an eye on how these funds are allocated, and they need to have the sun shine on them a little more, and the Inspector General would do that because obviously they are not being responsive at this time. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his time and greatly appreciate his leadership on behalf of health centers across the country. I also appreciate the years of work that the gentleman from Florida has put in on behalf of health centers, and I dare say the current expansion would not have occurred without his leadership. Mr. Chairman, I would like to add to the gentleman's remarks by discussing the need to strengthen existing centers, like the one in my congressional district, Uvalde County Clinic. Although Uvalde County Clinic has a remarkable record of controlling costs while serving thousands of patients, they are still seeing cost increases that are forcing them to make decisions on what services to continue and which to cut back if increased funding is not available. As a matter of fact, their funding has been cut this year since HHS has not yet sent out the base grant adjustments provided by this bill last year due to the new policy of reducing each center's grant by the across-the-board cuts approved last year. As the chairman is aware, over the past few years, the President's budget has not included increased funding for existing centers to meet the rising costs, but each year we have ensured that some portion of the increase was provided for base grant adjustments. Unfortunately, this bill does not include any funding for base grant adjustments, and I would hope as we move through the process we are able to find a way to set aside some funding for existing centers for base grant adjustments. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's commitment to this program and hope that he will continue to work through the legislative process to ensure that the funding for the health centers program can be closer to the President's request and also include specific funding for base grant adjustments in the final bill. Again, Mr. Chairman, the chairman has been a true champion of the health center program, and I look forward to our continued work together to expand community health centers to those most in need.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson), the distinguished ranking member of the authorizing committee.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon).

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), who will wrap up this debate for our side, again strongly opposing this amendment.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2744 and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Madam Chairman, we have no additional speakers at this time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to bring before the House today the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for agriculture, rural development, the FDA and related agencies. As many people know, this bill does not just fund agriculture issues that are so important for the Nation and the world but also funds the Food and Drug Administration, the Women, Infants and Children program, and the food stamp program. There are a wide variety of issues that are very significant to this Nation and the world. This is a bipartisan bill, Mr. Chairman. I am very proud this year to have worked for the first time with the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), who was a great partner in putting this bill together, as are all the members of the subcommittee. This is a great subcommittee that comes to the table every day with sometimes differences of opinion, but at the end of the day want to get a bill done. As chairman of this subcommittee, it has been a very fulfilling experience to have gone through this process with this great group. We have difficult challenges every year when we put this subcommittee mark together and when we put the bill together. We had over 2,100 individual requests from Members; so with the good staff that we have that I will get into a little more later, we have had to go through with a fine-tooth comb every request to make sure that it does not overlap with another request and then to prioritize all of these very important issues that come from Members all over the country. I would also like to thank the staff for working on this. I want to take a moment to mention some very important names who have worked on this bill, sometimes day and night and on weekends as well: Martha Foley of the minority staff; and Maureen Holohan, Leslie Barrack, and Jamie Swafford of the majority staff. In addition, I want to thank our detailee Tom O'Brien and Walt Smith from my personal staff; and, of course, my distinguished clerk, Martin Delgado, who does a fabulous job on this bill. I also want to take a brief moment to recognize Joanne Perdue who worked on the committee for several years and retired from the committee just this past month. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to point out just in very broad terms that this bill takes care of a lot of issues that are critical not just to agriculture producers but to consumers in terms of food safety, research projects that are going on in every State in this Nation. A lot of people go to the grocery store, Mr. Chairman, and they see that big truck pulling up in the back of the store and unloading goods that are put on shelves and in the freezers at the local grocery store and their products that are sold at a high quality for a good price. Quite frankly, most Americans do not know all of the policy and all of the research and all of the hard work that goes into putting that product on the shelf so that Americans can go into the store, use those coupons and enjoy themselves and the quality of life that it brings to Americans all across the country. Again, there is a lot of detail that goes into putting this bill together. I am also very proud to work hand in hand with the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), our authorizing chairman, who has been a partner in this process not just this year but every year. So all of these policies and all of these programs that I am talking about here have been a team effort. Mr. Chairman, I include at this point in the Record the following tabular material related to the bill: [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH08JN05.009 Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I am offering this amendment as part of the agreement that I referred to earlier with the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. I am offering the amendment under the agreement that we would add $40 million back to the Environmental Quality Incentives program account. That is what the amendment does, and it is paid for by increasing the limitations on the Conservation Security program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives program, and the Farm and Ranchlands Protection program.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, this is a good amendment that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Pastor) has worked very hard on for some time and the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) is offering on his behalf, and we are happy to accept the amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. 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 (Mr. Rehberg) and 15 minutes allotted to myself who will rise to oppose this amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, my unanimous consent request is to allow 15 minutes for the proponent of the amendment and 15 minutes in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent for the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rehberg) to control 15 minutes and to be split between myself and the minority 7\1/2\ minutes each in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's understanding is correct. In reality, there will probably be more speakers in favor of the Rehberg amendment.