John Culberson

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, with that, I would urge Members to oppose the amendment and urge Members to vote ``no'', and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleague to consider withdrawing the amendment. I would like to work with him to ensure that this case is investigated. The ITA is funded at a level of over $470 million. I can only imagine how devastating this must be to the families there in Madison, Maine, that have lost their jobs and had their jobs furloughed and suspended because of an unfair subsidy right across the border. This is exactly what ITA is supposed to be doing. The Appropriations Committee has extraordinary influence over these agencies, and this is exactly the kind of case the ITA should be working on. I want to pledge to you my full support and assistance in making sure that this case is investigated and pursued aggressively if you consider withdrawing the amendment, because the Census has gotten hammered pretty hard. They just had $100 million transferred over to COPS Hiring. And if we could, I would certainly like to work with you as we move forward in ensuring that this case is investigated and handled.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2578, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. CULBERSON. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. CULBERSON. I yield to the gentleman from Maine.

Mr. CULBERSON. We will be on it and help you. I look forward to doing so aggressively and in a timely manner. Thank you very much.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with the gentleman from Massachusetts. I recognize how important the Northeast Multispecies Sector Management Program is, and I look forward to working with the gentleman and my colleague from Philadelphia as we move forward through conference.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, but I do not oppose the amendment.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment. It is a worthwhile cause and one that we have worked together closely on. So I would urge Members to support the amendment. I look forward to working with you as we move through conference to make sure this is addressed. It is a problem throughout the Gulf Coast and one you are very right to focus Congress' attention on. I urge Members to support the amendment.

Mr. CULBERSON. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. CULBERSON. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. If I could, we are going to make sure that NOAA has got all the--we have given them a record level of increase this year so they can engage and make sure we have got accurate forecasting. Whether it be through their aircraft or their supercomputers or their modeling, they have got the resources they need to do accurate forecasting for the future. I am just trying to get a precise idea what it is you are looking for because I think we have given them all they need for forecasting, and that is what you are asking for. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. CULBERSON. I understand the gentlewoman is going to withdraw this amendment. I agree with the gentlewoman that ocean acidification is a serious problem. That is why you see funding in the bill for it. We just have a limited amount of resources. I will listen to your other speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. It is one in which I look forward to working with you on to do more to research ocean acidification. That is why you see in the bill a major investment in oceanographic mapping and research, the economic zone of the United States which is unmapped and uncharted and loaded with rare earths and great mineral wealth that Dr. Bob Ballard and his team and other scientists are exploring, and we are investing there. I look forward to working with you in conference.

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

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I think the scale of the cut would be devastating to the agency. Houston, Texas, is one of the premier exporting centers of the United States, and it is important that we do everything in our power. The Federal Government does have an obligation to enforce trade agreements to make sure that trade is fair and free and that subsidies that are unfairly used by foreign governments to support their own industries, that we have got some way to counterbalance that. That is the essential function of this agency. So, therefore, I would ask Members to oppose this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. I agree completely with the gentleman that NOAA should work with the private sector when data is available. It is cost effective and can save the taxpayers money, and, in fact, that is why we included a statement on this in the committee report. I look forward to working with you as we move forward in conference to ensure that this worthwhile goal is achieved.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentlewoman's amendment.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today, I am very pleased to present to the House the fiscal year 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill with my colleague, Mr. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania. I would like to begin by thanking my ranking member Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania. It has been a pleasure to work with him. We have worked together closely on this legislation. I appreciate Mr. Fattah's approach to the bill. His input has improved the bill considerably. I look forward to working with him and all the members of the subcommittee as we move forward and go into conference with the Senate on this important legislation. I also want to thank Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky and Ranking Member Nita Lowey of New York for their help in putting this legislation together. This is my first year chairing the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. It is an extraordinarily important committee that oversees so many noble and worthwhile efforts that the Federal Government is engaged, both in preserving and protecting lives and property of the American people and advancing scientific research and space exploration. I am especially grateful to Chairman Hal Rogers for his trust in me in this extraordinarily important assignment. I want to thank him also for his generous allocation to this subcommittee. As the Congress under the Republican leadership has done our very best to live within our means, as every American must do, every business and every private citizen knows how important it is to only spend the money that you have on hand. Don't spend more than you have got. We have in this Republican Congress done our very best through the appropriations process to live within our means. Our subcommittee has--with that in mind, I am a personal follower of Dave Ramsey's advice. I do so in my personal life and try to do so in representing the people of west Houston--don't spend more money than you have got, and the money you have got you want to prioritize--and we have in this subcommittee prioritized the many agencies that we have responsibility for. In priority order, we have approached it with law enforcement number one and made sure that the FBI has got the resources they need to do their job of protecting this Nation against terrorists and espionage, cyber espionage. They are a growing problem that we see in so many ways. The enemies of the United States have figured out how to hardwire Trojan horses and back doors into telecommunications equipment. The FBI has just done a spectacular job of protecting this Nation in the area of cyber espionage and terrorism, and we have made the FBI a top priority in this legislation and made sure that they have got all the money that they need to do their job. We have also prioritized the work the Department of Justice is doing in enforcing our laws. We have made sure that scientific research, space exploration are prioritized, and America will preserve its leadership in the world in space exploration. We have made sure that weather forecasting is funded and taken care of. Managing the Nation's fisheries is extraordinarily important. As you work down that list of priorities, we have made sure those at the top of the list are fully funded and those that tend to fall towards the bottom--we have just simply had to drop some programs that are no longer authorized, the length of time for which Congress approved them is expired, or they weren't fulfilling the function for which they were originally intended. But we in the bill before us today, Mr. Chairman, have provided $51.4 billion in funding for this year, which is a $1.3 billion increase over last year but $661 million below the President's request. The President's budget assumed a number of tax increases and fee increases that are simply not going to happen. We, again, wanted to live within our means and do our very best to minimize the debt that we are passing on to our children and grandchildren, so we have done our best in this environment to fund the priority programs while reducing funding for activities that are not essential to the operations of the Federal Government. Once we have taken care of the FBI and made sure they have got the funding they need to protect this Nation in an era of evolving threats, we have also included funding, Mr. Chairman, for 55 new immigration judges. Our committee has jurisdiction over these executive branch judges who handle immigration cases. Because of the tremendous backlog of immigration cases, we have added 55 new immigration judges to reduce that backlog and made sure at the same time that we are providing for fully funding the U.S. Attorney's Offices, the Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the ATF--Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives--and our prison system. Now, for State and local law enforcement, Mr. Chairman, the subcommittee has increased funding for priority programs such as the Byrne Formula Program and the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funding, which compensate State and local taxpayers for the cost of housing people who are in the country illegally and have committed criminal acts in violation of State law and are housed in State prison facilities--that is the responsibility of the Federal Government--and we have funded that program to the highest extent that we can. We have also funded youth mentoring programs, which have done such great work. We have created, in addition, Mr. Chairman, in this bill a $53 million community trust program that will fund police body cameras, body camera demonstration programs, and justice reinvestment initiatives. I want to say a special thanks to our Texas State Senator Royce West, who just concluded the Texas legislative session. Texas became the first State in the Union to pass legislation controlling when, where, and how body camera data can be provided to law enforcement or in a criminal trial to make sure to protect the privacy rights of individuals. We respect that. In our legislation we make sure that State law controls when, where, and how police body camera data will be used. We have also made sure, Mr. Chairman, that NASA is fully funded in this legislation. We have provided an $18.5 billion funding level this year for NASA, which is a $519 million increase and is equal to the request we received from the President. We have made sure to preserve America's leadership role in manned space exploration, planetary science, and made sure that we are also continuing to advance aeronautics research that NASA does such an extraordinarily important job in. We have funded the continued development of the Orion crew vehicle at the level asked for by the White House and increased our resources for the Space Launch System to speed up when we will use that important launch system to get Americans back into orbit. We have made sure that the National Science Foundation is fully funded. We increased the funding level for the National Science Foundation by $50 million above the historically high level they had in last year's bill. We also included full funding for the very important BRAIN Initiative, which Ranking Member Fattah has championed over the years, which promises to unlock the secrets of the single most important organ in the human body and promises great things for the future. Mr. Chairman, we have also funded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, prioritizing weather forecasting and fisheries management in particular. We made sure the Joint Polar Satellite System is funded, as well as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series. We have, though, in order to live within our allocation, had to reduce funding in some other areas, eliminating those that no longer were necessary, those whose authorizations had expired, and, in fact, cut funding for more than a dozen bureaus and agencies that can operate with a little less. Let me also point out in conclusion, Mr. Chairman, that we have in this legislation extraordinarily important oversight language that requires each agency under our jurisdiction to submit a spending plan to the subcommittee. We have capped the life cycle costs for poorly performing programs. And we have also withheld some funding for the Department of Justice until the new Attorney General can demonstrate to us that the inspector general's recommendations regarding sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct are being implemented. I cannot stress that highly enough. When I met with the new Attorney General, that was one of the first things I brought to her attention. We have also required, Mr. Chairman, that agencies that purchase very sensitive information technology or telecommunication systems conduct a supply chain risk assessment in consultation with the FBI to be sure that there are no hardwired Trojan horses or back doors in that communications equipment or computer equipment being purchased by the Federal Government in those agencies under our jurisdiction. We are also requiring quarterly reporting on immigration judge performance and requiring agencies to provide inspectors general with timely information. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I want to point out that our legislation today continues Second Amendment protections that have been built into the bill before. We have withheld funding, for example, to make sure that the United Nation's arms control treaty there has been some discussion about is not funded. We have also prohibited the transfer or housing of GTMO prisoners into the United States. But above all, the bottom line on this legislation is we want to ensure that the law as enacted by Congress is enforced. If an agency wants to have access to our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars, Mr. Chairman, they are going to need to demonstrate that they are enforcing the law as written by Congress, not based on some memorandum or some internal document. The law as written by Congress is fundamental to our entire system of government. Our liberty lies in the enforcement of law. It is the most fundamental principle of a republic. This great Nation was founded on that principle that no one is above the law and the law shall be enforced equally and fairly to everybody with due process. Through our work on this subcommittee with the checks and balances that we have built into this legislation, the agencies under our jurisdiction are going to need to demonstrate that they are enforcing the law as written by Congress in order to entitle them to access to our taxpayers' very precious and hard-earned tax dollars. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH02JN15.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH02JN15.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH02JN15.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH02JN15.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH02JN15.005

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly), my colleague on the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, at this time I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Jenkins), my colleague and good friend from the committee.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding and would join in supporting the gentlewoman's amendment. The veterans courts do great work. I support the gentlewoman's amendment and urge Members to support it.