John Conyers

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of the Fiscal Year 2011 Full Year Funding Resolution. While this legislation is far from perfect, and I have deep reservations with certain funding cuts, the bill addresses serious issues and moves America forward. I am particularly happy that this funding resolution also includes the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which passed the Senate last week. The 2011 Full Year Funding Resolution will help hard-working families during these tough economic times. For example, the Child Nutrition and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will provide over 32 million children health meals and food assistance to over 43 million people. The legislation will also provide necessary funds to cover all current children in the Head Start program and offer child care assistance to low-income working families. College students will be eligible to apply for the maximum Pell Grant award for $5,550. Lastly, unemployment offices will be provided additional funds to manage increased workloads. The Resolution will keep America safe by funding key federal programs. First, it offers appropriate funding for the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office to ensure mortgage fraud investigation and prosecutions can continue. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of the Treasury, and other key federal agencies are given robust funding to combat financial fraud and gambling on Wall Street that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Finally, the bill will give Internal Revenue Service resources to investigate offshore tax evasion. As I mentioned, today's legislation also includes S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The House passed a similar bill last year. This bill will help prevent outbreaks and food-borne illnesses by increasing third party testing, expands FDA access to food facilities, and requires food importers to certify their safety standards. For the first time ever, this Resolution allows the FDA to initiate a mandatory recall of food product if a company fails to do so. Lastly, the bill increases FDA inspectors to inspect food facilities. Mr. Speaker, I have deep concerns over parts of today's legislation. Two projects in the City of Detroit which were passed into law are now being rescinded. One project provides funds to the City of Detroit airport and the other funds the city's riverfront. Both projects are necessary for the future of the city. I hope my colleagues in the Senate will amend or delete this section. Additionally, $1.5 billion is cut from existing appropriations for high speed rail. I believe this is counterproductive and will hamper America's ability to reduce its carbon footprint. Lastly, I am opposed to the federal worker pay freeze which will cause pain to hard-working Americans who make significantly less than private sector employees and steadfastly serve our Nation. The 2011 Full Year Funding Resolution will also, for the first time, ban the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States for the entire fiscal year. This ban differs from current law because it does not allow an exception to transport prisoners for prosecution. This restriction was inserted late yesterday night without any hearings or chance for modification. Moreover, today's resolution completely undermines the Department of Justice's ability to try Guantanamo detainees in Article III federal courts. In conclusion, because this bill promotes the common good of our Nation more than it hinders it, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Shelley Berkley of Nevada for a unanimous consent request. (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House, I have heard so much misinformation about the DREAM Act that I hardly know where to begin. First of all, this is not a new bill. It has existed for a decade. It is a bipartisan bill to address the plight of children who were brought to the United States as undocumented immigrants and grew up here. And this bill has been introduced in every Congress, starting on May 21, 2001, there was a hearing. The Senate, the other body, heard a hearing on the bill, August 1, it was started out. In 2003, April 19, the bill was reintroduced by our colleague from California (Mr. Berman). On July 31, it was again reintroduced into the Senate. On April 6, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle introduced the bill. November 18, 2005, a Senator from Illinois introduced the bill. I've got two pages of bills. We have had five hearings. So for anybody to say there hasn't been due process on this bill, I hope they feel gently corrected by the research that my staff has done to make it clear that there has been an extensive legislative history on this bill. Now, the second thing that I've heard so much about is that the DREAM Act is not very popular. And again, we rushed to our research and we found that the bill is very popular. Most Americans support the DREAM Act. Poll after poll, the majority of Americans approve of the DREAM Act, and there will be more information coming from this. Now, the next thing that we ought to really settle down and accept as fact is that the DREAM Act will not take jobs from Americans. The reason that is pretty clear is that all the major unions in America support and endorse the DREAM Act, and they're doing it because it's not taking jobs away from their members--AFL, SEIU, UNITE HERE, UAW, NEA, AFT, and others. So now that we have some of this cleared up, the next thing I would like to point out is that there are requirements. These are not illegals. These are undocumented kids. They didn't commit a criminal act. They thought they were born here to begin with. Their parents brought them here. Look, the conditions are so, so voluminous. First of all, the only people eligible are children brought here to the United States, and they have to be less than 29 years old to even qualify. They must have lived in the United States at least for 5 years. They must have graduated from an American high school or be admitted to an institution of higher education, and they must submit biometric information and complete security and law enforcement background checks. So this is a very rigorous bill. And the last piece of doggerel that I should get rid of is the fact that you can go into the United States military real quickly and be processed as a citizen. Not true. As a matter of fact, you cannot join the military if you are an undocumented person. Yes, that's right. So now that we've got some of the misunderstanding out of the way, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona for a unanimous consent request. (Mr. PASTOR of Arizona asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. CONYERS. I now yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from California, Zoe Lofgren, who has worked for years on this legislation, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 45 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), a distinguished member of the committee.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 10 seconds.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute to explain how the biometric business works to my good friend on the Judiciary Committee. See, that is fingerprints and eye scans, and the FBI uses it, and they are pretty foolproof. The people that you are talking about that go back and come forward, these kids, Steve, grew up in America. That is where they started. They haven't been anywhere else. You come here as a kid and you can't qualify. So there are records. They went to school, they did something, they lived somewhere. So there are records, and you don't have to go back to wherever their parents may have come from to do it. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Chaka Fattah, for a unanimous consent request. (Mr. FATTAH asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois, Danny Davis, for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request. (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. I yield 45 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, for a unanimous consent request. (Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from the Ways and Means Committee, the Honorable Charles Rangel. (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 45 seconds to a Judiciary Committee member, Dr. Judy Chu of California.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield myself 30 seconds. I would remind my dear friend from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) there is no preference in this bill. They are treated equally. There is not one preference that you can dream of--

Mr. CONYERS. Unfortunately, I am not able to.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Mr. CONYERS. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California, Sam Farr.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from New York, Jose Serrano. (Mr. SERRANO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez for a unanimous consent request. (Ms. Velazquez asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Maryland, Donna Edwards.