Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, since the first days after 9-11, President Bush has made two points very clear in his vision for American security: first, that the top priority of his administration is to defend our Nation and free nations everywhere by declaring and winning a war against global terror; and, second, that this war on terror is unlike any conflict in history, fought simultaneously on economic, military, and diplomatic fronts around the world. In the last 2 weeks, good news has emerged in several of these sectors. First of all, American businesses created 57,000 jobs last month, strengthening our economy and putting paychecks back into our people's hands. Our national security is dependent on the creation of even more jobs and economic growth so that we can afford to meet the ever-changing challenges on the war on terror. That is why President Bush's tax relief has proven so vital and why proposals to raise new taxes are so dangerous. Even as the economy rebounds here at home, we have got to keep military, diplomatic, and economic pressure on terrorists around the world. So this week, after 2 weeks of hearings, the House will take up the President's supplemental war budget to pay for our ongoing military and democracy-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also committed to keeping up the diplomatic pressure on states that harbor and assist the terrorists themselves. Toward that end, today the House will also take up the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. This bill, which is cosponsored by 260 Members, identifies Syria's continued actions assisting international terrorism and lays out potential sanctions against Syria for such activity. All three of these items, Mr. Speaker, the growing economic recovery, the supplemental war budget, and the Syrian accountability bill, are interrelated and, as they move forward, will continue to build America's momentum in the war on terror. That momentum will continue to forge prosperity and security for the American people and, in turn, create peace around the world.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, since we first passed the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997, adoptions out of foster care have increased 64 percent. That's thousands of children in permanent homes who, before this law was enacted, were wandering through the foster care system unprotected, unloved, and sometimes forgotten all together. But not anymore. The tide has turned in this fight for the hope of a generation of American children. We've made American foster care a priority and made the decision, as a Nation, to no longer focus on the system, but the children themselves. The next step in this pivot away from despair and toward hope is to ensure States stay focused on their responsibilities to foster children. After a GAO report--requested by Senator Grassley and me--revealed that some State governments are failing to adequately keep and provide information about foster children in their care, I worked with Chairman Herger and lead sponsor Mr. Camp to add a new provision to this bill. The new provision imposes penalties on those States that do not keep up their records, and thereby let their foster children slip through the cracks. Every new phase in a foster child's journey through the system can be the wrong turn that makes the difference between happiness and despair. How can we expect them to work hard in school, stay optimistic about their future, and never lose hope if we can't even keep track of their address? These kids start out in life facing adversity before they even know what the word means. They carry doubt and fear around on their backs like crosses. This provision and this bill will give America's foster children hope, and a better chance at finding the unconditional love they all deserve, but so few have ever known. I thank the gentlemen for all their hard work in this legislation, and I urge all my colleagues to vote in favor of it. Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3182, the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003, which continues to reward states for their efforts to promote adoption of children in need of loving families. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation as it reauthorizes the Adoption Incentives program. This program was created as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which was signed into law while I was the Chairman of the Ways and Means' Human Resources Subcommittee. This law has resulted in moving thousands of children out of hopeless foster care situations and into loving adoptive families. The current Adoption Incentives program rewards states that make gains in the number of children adopted and provides additional incentives for the adoption of foster children with special needs. Between 1997 and 2002, adoptions increased by 64 percent, and adoptions of children with special needs increased by 63 percent. However, more work needs to be done to assist the 542,000 children who remain in foster care, and the 126,000 who are eligible for adoption. Research suggests that many older children still linger in foster care, so we must do more to encourage states to find adoptive families for these children. The Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 takes the necessary steps to enhance the current incentive program, by creating a new incentive for states that increase adoptions of children age 9 or older. Our children do not deserve to be languishing in foster care or living in dangerous situations. This bill will take a big step towards righting that wrong. I would like to commend my colleagues on the Committee on Ways and Means, Representatives Dave Camp and Ben Cardin, for their commitment to improving the Adoption Incentives program by the introduction of the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003. Their work on this legislation will assure that states continue to find safe, permanent homes for America's children. Mr. Speaker, it's important that we continue to reward states for their good work in making adoptive matches and add additional incentive for those children still waiting for a home and loving family. With this in mind, I urge my colleagues to support America's foster children who are waiting on adoption by voting for this important bill.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, since the first days after 9/11, President Bush has made clear two priorities in his vision for American security. First, that the top priority of his administration is to defend our nation and free nations everywhere by declaring and winning a war against global terror. And second, that this war on terror is unlike any conflict in history, fought simultaneously on economic, military, and diplomatic fronts around the world. In the last week, good news has emerged in several of these sectors. First of all, American businesses created 57,000 jobs last month, strengthening our economy and putting paychecks back into our people's hands. Our national security is dependent on the creation of even more jobs and economic growth, so that we can afford to meet the ever- changing challenges of the war on terror. That's why President Bush's tax relief has proven so vital, and why proposals to raise new taxes are so dangerous. Even as the economy rebounds here at home, we've got to keep military, diplomatic, and economic pressure on the terrorists around the world. So, this week, the Appropriations Committee will take up the President's supplemental war budget request--after two weeks of hearings--to pay for our ongoing military and democracy-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also committed to keeping up the diplomatic pressure on states that harbor and assist terrorists themselves. Toward that end, this week the International Relations Committee will take up the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. This bill, which is cosponsored by 260 members of the House, identifies Syria's continued actions assisting international terrorism and lays out potential sanctions against Syria for such activity. On the heels of Israel's justified destruction of a Syrian terrorist training camp over the weekend, it's imperative the United States remain true to the Bush Doctrine, support our allies, and stand up to Syria's continued allegiance with evil. All three of these items, Mr. Speaker--the growing economic recovery, the supplemental war budget, and the Syria accountability bill--will continue to build America's momentum in the war on terror. That momentum will continue to forge prosperity and security for the American people and in turn create peace around the world.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the information is accurate in the fact that it is a goal that both the House, the Senate and the President have placed on wrapping up the conference on Medicare. Obviously, this is probably the most complicated issue that we have had to deal with in many a year; and there are many different positions by many different Members, both in the House and Senate. So it is a very complicated issue; it is very difficult. People are working very, very hard to meet that goal. And if God is on our side, maybe we will meet the goal.

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. As the gentleman knows, and people should take notice, that FAA activities are currently operating under the short-term continuing resolution that we passed last week. In the meantime, Chairman Young and Chairman Mica are working with their Senate counterparts and the committee members on their conference committees to reach the necessary accommodations so that we can have the reauthorization signed into law before this current C.R. expires. So, work is ongoing. As soon as the agreements are made between the House and the Senate, I think we can proceed.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make all the Members aware that the House has completed voting for the day and the week. We will take any votes called on the three pending motions to instruct, we will take votes on those next week. Regarding next week's schedule, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. At that time we expect to consider several measures under suspension of the rules, and any votes called on those measures will be called at 6:30 p.m. on that day. On Wednesday, the House will meet for legislative business at 10 a.m. In addition to potentially considering additional legislation under suspension of the rules, Members should be aware that we may be considering a number of conference reports. These include, but are not limited to, H.R. 1474, Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act; the Fiscal Year 2004 Military Construction Appropriations bill; the Fiscal Year 2004 Department of the Interior Appropriations bill; the Energy and Water Appropriations bill; and potentially the Labor-HHS and Education Appropriations bill. Finally, I would like to remind all Members that we do not plan to have votes next Thursday, October 9, or Friday, October 10. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would be happy to answer any questions he may have.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. The gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) of the Committee on Appropriations has informed me that he plans to proceed with regular order. He also plans under that regular order to circulate the supplemental appropriations bill with committee members on Monday. Then he plans to hold a markup next Thursday and, assuming things go according to plan, the bill will lay over the requisite number of days, and we should be able to bring it to the floor the following week, the week of October 13, I believe.

Mr. DeLAY. I anticipate that the bill will come to the floor as most appropriations bills do, and there would be pretty much an open rule. Yes, I would suspect so.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, of those that I listed, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act has already been filed, so we know that we will be voting on those. And we have every reason to expect that we have a good possibility of having the military construction and Department of Interior appropriations bills come to the floor. It may be a little more difficult to get Labor HHS to the floor. As far as Medicare and its conference, the conferees have had formal meetings, meetings with the President, informal meetings in small groups. The conference chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), is working nonstop to try to reach a final agreement before the end of the first session, which I hope we can conclude by the end of October. Progress has been made, very good discussions have been held, and the future looks good for actually bringing a conference report on Medicare to the floor. As far as the child tax credit bill, we are still having problems with the Senate accepting the fact that child tax credits should be a permanent thing and we should not raise taxes on families after a certain period of time. So, until the Senate agrees to that, I think that conference is going to have a very hard time.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is correct. Temporarily means that you cut taxes for a family and then raise them a year or 2 later, and we think that is incredibly unfair. We think people should not be charged for having children by the government, and it ought to be made a permanent thing. Child tax credits are something that the American family enjoys. They like having more of their hard-earned money to pay for their children rather than for government, and we are standing with the American family.

Mr. DeLAY. Just any formal meeting of the conference that has been held, the gentlemen he has listed have been invited to those meetings. The other meetings, the informal meetings and group meetings that have been held around the Capitol, the gentleman knows are being held with people that actually want to get a bill. We are working with those, both Democrats and Republicans, who actually want to get a bill and are serious about negotiating that bill. And it is such a complicated bill. Different parts are being negotiated by different people. The gentleman knows how a conference can work and how difficult it is to hold it together. So to the extent that people want to actually get a bill to the President's desk, they are having great and strong input in the negotiations that are going on.

Mr. DeLAY. There have been formal conference meetings, and the gentlemen that have been outlined have been invited to those meetings.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I was at the last meeting; and it was last week with the President of the United States.

Mr. DeLAY. Well, I have to admit to the gentleman that I am not privy to the intricate negotiations that are going on in this bill. We are leaving that up to the chairmen that are presiding over the conference committees. So I cannot answer the question because I do not know the machinations that have been going on in detail, and I certainly do not want to mislead the House.

Mr. DeLAY. I will certainly advise Chairman Young and Chairman Mica of the gentleman's concern.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), for the work, long, long work that he has placed into this bill. The people of the United States owe the chairman a great debt; and more importantly, children owe the gentleman a great debt for his work on this issue. Mr. Speaker, at the end of this long debate that actually began 10 years ago, the opponents of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act tell us that this bill will not save a single life. And I think we have to admit, it is a limited bill. After all, when we pass this bill, abortion will stay legal, its practitioners will remain in business, and heaven will still be crowded with America's invisible orphans. But its limitations are beside the point. Because like the children it protects, Mr. Speaker, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act may be small, but not insignificant. Make no mistake about it: our action today represents a big pivot in America's difficult answer to the abortion question. After a generation of bitter rhetoric, the American people have turned away from the divisive politics of abortion and embraced the inclusive politics of life. Over the last 10 years, Americans on all sides of the abortion debate have learned about the partial-birth abortion procedure. They have recoiled at its barbarism and decided it has no place in a moral society. They have called on us to answer the muted cries of the innocent. Their message to us today and our message to the world is very simple: we can do better. For pregnant mothers, however desperate; for unborn children, however unwanted; and for our compassionate Nation, however divided. America can do better for them all, starting with the overdue prohibition on this cruel, dangerous, and medically unnecessary procedure. But this, I say to my colleagues, is not a day of celebration. Passing this bill will be a victory, to be sure, but a victory for humanity, not just one side of this debate. It will be a victory for the democratic process, which the American people have engaged one heart at a time, not through the heat of public argument, but through the warmth of private conversation. And it will be a victory for a Nation of good and honest people who brought to this debate a thoroughly American respect for every opinion and for every life. America can do better, Mr. Speaker, and by passing this bill today, at long last, we will.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, it is another week of major activity in the war on terror. The President will sign the first annual Department of Homeland Security spending bill in American history. The House will continue our consideration of the President's spending request for military and democracy-building operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. American and Coalition Forces will continue their work around the globe to ensure the security of our people and the success of our cause. None of these actions would be relevant or even possible without the others, because without bolstering our civil defense here at home, our anti-terror activities around the world would be useless; without our aggressive actions to root out and destroy terrorist cells where they live and plan, all of the Homeland Security spending in the world would be useless; and, finally, without an intense commitment to build viable and tolerant democracies in former terrorist states, neither our national nor domestic security goals could be met. The results speak for themselves. Since 9/11, no terrorist attack has scarred our soil. Two tyrannical regimes have been replaced by fledgling democracies. And threats, be they terrorist states, networks or individuals, have been captured or destroyed, no longer to threaten innocent Americans. The comprehensive security strategy of the Bush Doctrine that folds in homeland, national and international security priorities is working. Because of that comprehensive strategy, the United States has successfully combatted terrorism abroad and repelled it at home for more than 2 years. The lesson of the Bush Doctrine is very clear: You cannot separate homeland and national defense. They are one and the same comprehensive and indivisible security policy. Critics can complain about one application of this policy or another, but given its overwhelming success and the absence of an alternative, these critics do so to the detriment of their own credibility. Without an alternative policy, these critics must be supporting the weak and indecisive foreign policy of the past. This week, America's war on terror will move forward with strength and confidence, as always, with one objective in mind, and that is victory. I commend the President for his leadership and urge him to stay bold in his defense of American lives and human freedom.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I just would like to start by saying that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in fighting World War II, did not tell the American people how long it was going to take or what it was going to cost; all he told them was that we were going to win. Ronald Reagan did not tell the American people how long it would take or what it would cost to defeat communism; he just told the American people we were going to win. This week, two items on the agenda will give Members of both parties the opportunity to show the American people just how serious they are about winning the war on terror. In the coming days, we will hold hearings on the President's supplemental spending request for military and democracy-building operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. And also this week, the House will likely debate the conference report on the Homeland Security spending bill. Since September 11, some have tried to split homeland security from national security, as if they were two separate issues. But the war on terror cannot be won if we employ such flawed logic. Homeland security and national security are one and the same, and only by accepting this fundamental fact can we hope to defeat terrorism. Whether we like it or not, we have to fight this war on terror. Our choice is whether to fight it in the streets of Baghdad, or in the streets of Brooklyn. Critics of the President's policy suggest that spending billions on civil defense without aggressively fighting the terrorists everywhere they live and plan will, in and of itself, make America safer. But in this war, with an enemy that acknowledges no rules of engagement, we should not have to rely on responding to their actions; they should be responding to ours. And today in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are. Here at home, the President's comprehensive security policy has made America a safer and better prepared Nation than ever before. Our intelligence and law enforcement communities foil terrorist plots every month. Our enemies, those here and around the world, are on the run, killed or captured, hiding in caves, or sitting in cells. And the comprehensive security policy of the Bush doctrine is the reason for our success in the war on terror and our only hope for seeing that war through to ultimate victory. If the President's critics do not like this policy, then it is time for them to either propose their own or get out of the way. In the hearings and debate, the President's critics once and for all will finally reveal either alternative war policy or their basic unfitness for wartime leadership.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, the gentleman is correct. We are in conference on legislative branch, and we also are in conference on the military construction. Both of those could very well be ready for action next week. The appropriators are working hard, and it looks like they are doing their business once we get into conferences. So, yes, military construction and legislative branch could very well be up next week.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, we certainly want to try to get moving on this most important piece of legislation as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the other body has trampled on the constitutional prerogatives of the House in initiating tax provisions in their bill. The bill that the other body has passed has been blue-slipped appropriately by the Committee on Ways and Means, and until this blue- slip issue is resolved, I just cannot give the gentleman any sort of prediction as to when we would appoint conferees.

Mr. DeLAY. No. If the gentleman would yield, my understanding is it is over the issue of raising Customs fees.

Mr. DeLAY. If the gentleman would yield, the current FAA authorization, as the gentleman knows, expires at the end of this month, and obviously we need to keep that program going. The best way to do this would be to pass the FAA conference report, and we hope to find a way. We have been working very hard on it for the last 2 weeks. We still hope to find a way to do that conference report next week.

Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the distinguished whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make all Members aware that the House has completed voting for the day and for the week. We will take any votes called for on the three pending motions to instruct next week. Regarding next week's schedule, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. At that time we expect to consider several measures under suspension of the rules, and any votes called on those measures will be rolled until after 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday the House will meet for legislative business at 10 a.m. We expect to begin consideration of H.R. 2557, the Water Resources Development Act of 2003. Members should also be aware that we may be considering conference reports at any time next week. We have a growing list of bills that could be ready. These include but are not limited to the fiscal year 2004 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, the fiscal 2004 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, and the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal 2004. In addition, I would like to note that despite the great efforts of the House to complete all appropriations bills by the end of the fiscal year, we will have to consider a continuing resolution next week. Finally, I would like to note for all Members that we do not plan to have votes next Friday, September 26. Mr. Speaker, I thank gentleman for yielding.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Speaker be authorized to postpone further proceedings on any record vote ordered on the question of agreeing to a motion to instruct conferees considered today until Tuesday, September 23, 2003.