Doug Collins

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to it.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I appreciate my friend from New York. I have no problem with his amendment. It is already a current, existing order, introduced by President Clinton, and it is also under DOJ guidance. This is currently happening, and I think his wanting to continue this, to put it in this bill, I would have no problem with. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve the balance of my time

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have no other speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, really, in closing, I would just reiterate the points that I have made. We are looking forward to a bipartisan, bicameral bill that we do believe will come back eventually. The Senate has said this. There are many things, and I think the distinguished majority leader made it very clear. I think it was interesting that he said, why did this become a bill that was not--it should be as bipartisan as it should be. I think it is because of stuff that we did not talk about that had been added into this, which makes it much larger than what the bill actually should be about, and focused on those areas. We can disagree about a lot of things, but I think, in this one, all of us want to make sure that the Violence Against Women Act is reauthorized in a way that does promote the very ideals of the original law, and we would continue to do that. We look forward to a day in which this body can debate that bill. At this time, we cannot, because this bill does not feel like many of our Members may vote for it. They may vote against. But I think, at the end of the day, there will be a better product coming. I am looking forward to that. I appreciate the hard work by both sides, but I do believe there is a better outcome and alternative, a bipartisan, bicameral bill in the future. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, again, understanding the concerns, all this is already, frankly, covered. It is covered in the underlying bill, but it is also covered in other programs. In going through some of these--and I know we have got a couple more--in some of these amendments, anything that takes funding away that would go from regular programs would be of concern, but I am happy to work with my colleagues to address these issues in other areas. I just don't think VAWA, probably, is the best way, but I appreciate the gentlewoman's concern. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, again, I have been on this side, and I would love to see more cooperation, especially since this is one of the areas I do believe, Mr. Chair, we can actually have agreement on. The chairman and I have talked about this a great deal, and others, members of our Judiciary Committee. The FIRST STEP Act, criminal justice reform is something that I have been working on for many years. I think the issue of women incarceration is definitely something that needs to be looked at. Again, my concern with this program is the diversion of dollars that go through these programs to programs that already exist, and I am not sure how we are prioritizing these anymore. Even the numbers given were based over a number-of-years period, not a single-year period. When we were doing the FIRST STEP Act and doing some of the incarceration numbers, these numbers were a lot lower in the Federal prison of those actually pregnant at the time. So again, I don't, by any means, demean or try to talk badly about an amendment in the sense that it is not intended well. I think the problem is the underlying issues are already there. The underlying stuff is there. I appreciate her bringing that out. We just disagree that this would be the place to do this. There are other places we could work on this, and I think criminal justice reform is a great place to put this. I do commend the gentlewoman for bringing it. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I am not necessarily opposed to the goal of the amendment. In fact, I understand the amendment. I appreciate the gentlewoman bringing it. I have supported similar programs in the FIRST STEP Act. The thing here is that this amendment is not necessary because, in the underlying bill, it already provides for parenting classes and resources. I appreciate the gentlewoman bringing it. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, except it is already there. So, offering this amendment is fine, but I just, at this point, would just say it is already there. I have supported similar programs before. I appreciate the gentlewoman's concern in this, and we would agree on that. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, but I am not necessarily opposed.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Chairman, I do claim the time in opposition.