Henry Bonilla

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, the first thing I would like to say is that I am a proud supporter of Head Start and proud to support the 190- percent increase in this program in the last 5 years. The program is working very well in many parts of this country, and the sourpuss look on the faces of our opponents this morning is because we are telling the truth, we are exposing the hypocrisy of those who are trying to say that we are not concerned about this program and are not interested in preserving it. I would like to turn attention now to another aspect of this portion of the bill. That is rural health. I am also most proud of the overall funding for rural health care. According to the National Rural Health Association, it would like to have $1.4 billion worth of funding in this bill. With the leadership of our chairman and the hard work by the Rural Health Care Coalition this bill has $1.33 billion or 95 percent of that request. We got 95 percent of what we wanted. In anyone's book that is a tremendous success rate. In this budgetary time, I consider that a big success. However, some think this is not enough. I do. Of the 24 programs deemed important to rural health care, we increased the most vital components, community and migrant health care centers, and health care for the homeless cluster. We provide last year's funding levels minus the rescission bill, for 12 other line items, including health service corps, rural health outreach grants, family medicine, physicians assistants, allied health, area health education centers, health education training centers, and many of the nursing programs that are so vital to rural areas that have no health care provider whatsoever. My colleagues, we have worked very hard in subcommittees to secure adequate funding for rural health care. The Rural Health Care Coalition should be able to hold its head high and declare a job well done. While I understand that an amendment will be offered to increase funding even more, regardless of the outcome of the Gunderson-Poshard amendment, I hope all members that support rural health care will support this bill in the end. This bill is a good bill for rural America in helping to meet their needs and not penalizing them for living in the heartland of this great country. I call attention to all Members who represent rural areas in America; this is a good bill for rural health care. Please vote for the bill.

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Dickey], a member of the subcommittee.

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

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, we have no additional speakers at this time, and no objection if the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes] would like to close.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Goodling].

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Dickey], a member of the committee.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by saying that one of the most fortunate occurrences that I have been fortunate to be part of in the last 2\1/2\ years is the privilege of having worked with the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes] on the subcommittee. He is one of the most thoughtful and most sincere and a man with strong convictions and every day works very hard for the people of his district in trying to do the right thing for this country. I rise, however, today in opposition to this amendment. I would like to make a couple of points in my remarks. First of all, I would like to point out how strong the Republican support has been for TRIO programs, which will be debated in a later portion of this bill, but is a strong, strong job training program that leads to job training. It keeps kids in school, and it helps them get a degree in higher education and, therefore, be a contributing member of society as they enter the workforce. We have also supported very strongly in this bill, to show our commitment towards job training, the Job Corps program. This bill provides 1.1 billion for the Job Corps program. Job Corps prepares our disadvantaged youth for the workforce. its strength lies in providing students with the skills to help them succeed later in life. I have a Job Corps program in Laredo, TX, which is one of the most outstanding programs that is run in this country. It has done so for many years. The kids that you see come through that program turn out to be responsible, well-behaved members of society and go on to lead productive lives in the workforce. Laredo sets an example for the rest of the country. There are other programs in other parts of the country as well that are part of the Job Corps program that work very well. Even though we are expanding Job Corps, we have also sent a clear message to those running Job Corps facilities across the country. That message is and says very strongly that, if you are mismanaged and will not be effective, we will change leadership or shut you down. We are closing two centers, and we instruct the Department of Labor to think about closing some of the chronic poor performers under the Job Corps program. Two weeks ago the latest performance figures were released by the Department of Labor. They showed that 7 out of 10 Job Corps people found jobs or went on to further their education. This is a good, solid record. Oftentimes representatives from training programs have come before our committee that were part of the 163 job training programs that we have. Often they cannot cite success stories like the Job Corps training program can. The report also shows that students placed in jobs are earning good wages, with nearly half working on jobs related to the training they received while enrolled in the program; again, a good way to measure the success of Job Corps. Job Corps is the only program of its kind serving at-risk youth. The alternatives, welfare, unemployment, or incarceration, are more costly and lack any short- or long-term benefits. Job Corps is an investment which continues to yield returns for businesses, communities, and the youth who go on to better their lives. I am sure if Job Corps graduates like heavyweight champion George Foreman were here today, they would thank this Congress for its leadership in funding the Job Corps program.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Dickey], a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Fawell].

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Fowler].

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield a minute and a half to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Molinari].

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Norwood].

Mr. BONILLA. I thank the chairman for yielding time to me. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter] has done so much work on this bill and has produced a bill that I am strongly supporting. This is a proud day for America, to be able to take one appropriations bill, cut $9 billion out of it, and still preserve good programs in this country, like Head Start, community and migrant health care centers, TRIO, and programs like the National Institutes of Health. Imagine that. We are hearing a lot of Members come forward today with the same old song and dance that we have cut education to give a tax cut to the rich. Other days before today we have heard them say that we are trying to help the military to provide tax cuts at the expense of the poor, and we are providing tax cuts for the rich to cut volunteers in the park. You name it, everything is being tagged for the same reason, and we all know that this is not true. These are all lies that are just continuously spread to try to stop the agenda that the American people want us to move forward. So instead, let us talk about the truth. In the dark of the night, there was an attempted midnight massacre by the opposition when Member after Member offered amendments to cut Medicaid for poor States. However, today, when the cameras are on and the lights are shining and C-SPAN is broadcasting, there will not be a single Member to come forward and offer an amendment like that to see what really happened as this bill was being drafted. Why is this happening? Because they are afraid that the American people may see them saying one thing and doing another, and really discover the truth about what is going on around here. Mr. Chairman, this bill makes tough choices. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter], the chairman of the subcommittee, has brought this House a bill which reflects responsive and thoughtful decisions to support national priorities, not parochial priorities, and to reduce the deficit by cutting lower priority and duplicative programs. Mr. Chairman, no matter how you slice this bill, we have over $60 billion of discretionary spending in this bill. For some Members, it is never enough. If Members want to take pot shots at this bill, go right ahead. We do not claim to be perfect. We know that adjustments can be made to improve on what we are doing. But we are trying the best we can as a Republican majority to make the tough choices necessary that the American people are calling for. Mr. Chairman, with over $60 billion in discretionary spending, let me give you two examples of how much $1 billion is. One billion seconds ago this country was in the middle of the Bay of Pigs. One billion minutes ago the world went from BC to AD on a calendar. In this bill we have over 60 of those billions. Again, for some Members, that is not enough; it is never enough. If Members would not support a rescissions bill that cut only 1 percent of Federal spending this year that we proposed earlier this year, I do not anticipate support from Members when we want to cut 13 percent out of a spending bill. If Members would not support a rescissions bill that restored some fiscal sanity, they will not support a bill that tries to cut and consolidate 163 Federal employment training programs, 266 Federal youth at-risk programs, 90 Federal early childhood programs, 340 Federal families and children's programs, and 86 Federal teachers training programs. How much is enough? It is never enough for the opposition. I guess the dollar figure like that is whatever it takes to bow down to those special interest liberal groups. Members will make all kinds of complaints against this bill, some based on facts and some are not based on facts. Either way, I am reminded of the old saying that says, ``It takes a carpenter to build a barn, but just one jackass can knock it down.'' There is a new way of thinking in Congress. After 40 years of the same old ``throw money at the problem and pose for holy pictures,'' let us have just 1 year to try it our way. What do my colleagues say? Give us a chance to do it one year our way and see what happens. The President made a statement last week saying that he would not allow our people to be sacrificed for the sake of political ideology. I agree with him. Our people are the taxpayers of this country that sent us here last November to get our fiscal house in order. We must reject those who are slaves to the National Education Association, slaves to the American Bar Association, and other special interest groups, and others who always want more money, more money, more money, more money, without ever spending their own money. So, Mr. Chairman, if my colleagues favor this new philosophy that we are bringing forth, I ask them to please support this bill. It is a good bill. It is a bill that is the result of many tough decisions. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas [Mr. Delay], the Republican whip.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Talent].

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield the remainder of my time, 2 minutes, to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. McIntosh], a great champion of free enterprise and small business.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. Istook], a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Wicker], a member of the subcommittee. (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Combest], the distinguished Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Chairman, we are opposed to this amendment presented by the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey]. It strips out a lot of hard work and a lot of issues that we attached to this bill that are going to do a lot to help the American people. I am proud of the guts that members of this committee on our side showed in trying to advance some of these issues. I will point out two, because there are other Members who have other issues to discuss as well. The first I would like to discuss involves ergonomics. Ergonomics is one of these words that has small business in America shaking in its boots, because it is another tool, a potential tool that OSHA is going to use to impose unfair fines and unfair burdens and unfair paperwork on small business across this country. Ergonomics is a fancy term for designing jobs and tools to fit the physical and physiological limits of people. In the private sector, there have been many efforts so far to improve productivity, to try to help the working environment so people are at work more often, have fewer absences, fewer injuries, and fewer illnesses. This is a great tribute to the commitment that the private sector and small business has to helping their employees. There is a myth that exists on the other side of the aisle that somehow employers are not interested in keeping workers on the job, keeping them safe, keeping them productive, and somehow that we are simply concerned about removing any worker safety that exists in this country. OSHA was born many years ago as a good idea that now, like many cases, is a government program that is out of control. The pendulum has now swung too far in the wrong direction. We have OSHA now that is a four-letter word in the offices of many small businesses in this country. Ergonomics is an overly ambitious, burdensome, and possibly the most expensive and far-reaching and intrusive regulation ever written by the Federal Government. We are not opposed, long-term, to implementing ergonomics rules in the workplace. We just say at this time that we cannot let OSHA move forward with an aggressive agenda, a burdensome agenda, with no scientific background, with no research to base their efforts on. We must give OSHA and those responsible for worker safety time to develop a thoughtful, scientific basis for implementing any kind of rules related to ergonomics. We are simply asking in this bill, which is part of this bill now we want to protect and therefore must work to defeat the Obey amendment, to preserve the ergonomics aspect of this bill. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to address something in this bill that the amendment of the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] is trying to strip, and that is the amendment I put in to prohibit funding of the office of the Surgeon General. I thought I was doing the current president and future Presidents a great service by eliminating funding for the Surgeon General. How much time has the executive branch spent on this issue? How much time has the Senate spent on this issue, which has served to do nothing more than embarrass the White House in the last several months in trying to fill this job? The Surgeon General serves no role in terms of policymaking. It is simply a public relations job that the President has at his disposal. You have a person walking around the country dressed in one of these uniforms, and it looks like they work on the Love Boat creating controversy all around America. So we do not need this anymore. We want to save the executive branch and the Senate a lot of grief and agony in the future by not allowing this to happen. Mr. Chairman, I want to emphasize that we think advocating good health care policy is important, and this could be done by an assistant secretary out of Health and Human Services, or is a role that could be filled by the head of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, or the private sector could provide leadership in this role via the American Medical Association, or many other groups that do a lot of work to advance good health care policy in this country. Therefore, eliminating the office of the Surgeon General is not in any way to say that we are not interested in advocating good health care policy. Mr. Chairman, please vote against the Obey amendment, because it strips these two elements which are among a list of good reforms that the majority is trying to implement in this bill. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Goodling].

Mr. BONILLA

Mr. BONILLA. Mr. Speaker, this year, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, we have much to be thankful for. As Americans, we are blessed to live in the greatest and most free Nation in the history of mankind. The freedom we enjoy today is the result of the sacrifices of millions of Americans during that war 50 years ago. Not only must we honor those who sacrificed for our freedom, we must never forget the titanic global battle to protect freedom. On August 2 and 3 the people of El Paso will be honoring our great victory in a truly remarkable fashion when Freedom Flight America arrives. Freedom Flight America is a coast to coast Journey featuring hundreds of World War II vintage aircraft. Some of the aircraft that won the war--DC-3's, T-6s, F-4U Corsairs and P-51 mustangs--will be on view. This remarkable display will entertain and educate the people of El Paso on the role of American airpower in the defeat of global tyranny. I salute the organizers of the event and extend my support for this undertaking. God bless our airmen, young and old, present and departed and God bless America.