Sam Farr

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of Corporal Bernard P. Corpuz, and to join the U.S. Army in recognizing his service to our nation by dedicating the military's newest language training facility in his honor. Corporal Corpuz was a native to California's Central Coast, and represented his community with pride during his service in the Army. He was killed in action in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on June 11, 2006 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Bernard Corpuz was born on August 16, 1977, and grew up near Watsonville, California. He graduated from Palma High School and attended Hartnell College, both in Salinas, California. In July 2004, Corpuz joined the U.S. Army. After completing basic training, he was sent back to California's Central Coast to study at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI) in Monterey, California. DLI is the nation's largest and most rigorous language education center. Corpuz completed a rigorous six-month French basic course and graduated on April 28, 2005. His instructors at DLI described him as an extremely dedicated student of French, who studied the language with passion and read French literary and religious books with zeal. Following DLI, Corpuz trained as an Army interrogator. In December 2005, he deployed with the 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion, part of the 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, to Afghanistan. On June 11, 2006, Corporal Corpuz was fatally wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated while he traveled in a convoy of vehicles conducting a village assessment. He died in the arms of a Catholic chaplain at the age of 28. Our nation's need for military linguists has grown dramatically in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. DLI has grown in an equally dramatic way to meet this demand. Congress and the Department of Defense have helped by funding the expansion and modernization of DLI's teaching facilities. The newest facility, a 47,000 square foot state of the art building will be formally dedicated and named in honor of Corporal Corpuz on Friday, June 22, 2012. The new Corpuz Hall will house DLI's Multi-Language School, which educates students in the critical languages of Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Uzbek, Punjabi, Turkish, and Hindi. Every time these future military linguists enter the building they will be reminded of the passion and determination Corporal Corpuz brought to the classroom and to his service to our nation. Mr. Speaker, I know I speak on behalf of the entire House, in expressing our nation's gratitude to Corporal Bernard P. Corpuz. Also, may his mother, Peggy Corpuz, seek comfort in knowing her son's name is a beacon for higher learning and national service.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Anthony Costa on the occasion of his recognition by the Grower Shipper Association with its prestigious E.E. ``Gene'' Harden Award for Lifetime Achievement in Central Coast Agriculture. The Ag Leadership Award is presented to the individual, company, group, association, or agency that has made a significant contribution to the agricultural community in the Salinas Valley. Anthony Costa, or Tony, as he is known by most, was born in Wakefield Massachusetts and is the oldest of seven children. He came to California on a train with his aunt and uncle when he was eleven years old, settling in the San Joaquin Valley town of Los Banos. He graduated high school in 1946, and later served our nation in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After leaving the service, he found his way to Salinas, California, where he met and married Salinas Valley native Elsie Bassi. Elsie was born and raised in the Soledad Mission District, graduated from San Jose State University, and was a school teacher. In 1956, the young Costa couple began farming on a ranch outside of Soledad. As their family grew, so did their farming operation. For over fifty-six years, the Costa Family has dedicated itself to being quality growers of more than twenty different vegetable row crops in the Salinas Valley. Their original small operation has grown to encompass strategically owned and leased ground up and down the Salinas Valley. The family also runs year-round harvest operations, field-to-cooler trucking, joint ventures in Huron, Yuma and Imperial Valley crops, and partnership interests in cooling and processing operations. Their farming operation has been a key supplier to several shippers and processors in the area for many years. The Costa Family Farms is a family farm in every sense of the word. And while the award singles out Tony for recognition, it is really a recognition of the whole Costa family. The family continues to farm the original ranch which they leased for many years. Their business now involves three generations of family members including their children David, Michael, Diane, and JoAnn, who are joined by their grandchildren Colby Rubbo and Peter Dossche. Several other grandchildren are pursuing agricultural degrees. They have built a remarkable operation that bridges the old produce world of trust and handshakes and the new modern world of food safety and product traceability. Mr. Speaker, I know that I speak for the whole House in offering Tony and Elsie Costa and their whole family our heartfelt congratulations on their recognition by the well deserved honor of E.E. ``Gene'' Harden Award for Lifetime Achievement in Central Coast Agriculture.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the time today to commemorate the 30 years of dedication and service provided by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County. Through its mentoring services, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County has been a leader in prevention-based services to over 4,500 children and youth in our community since its founding in 1982. By working to increase their sense of self-esteem and confidence, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County has proven effective in keeping children and youth in school, away from drugs and alcohol, out of the juvenile justice system, and, thus able to make healthier, more constructive life choices. Youth matched to Big Brothers or Big Sisters have been provided with caring, supportive, and positive adult role models who offer opportunities and options not otherwise available. Thousands of volunteer hours have been spent by carefully screened and trained mentors who provide one-on-one guidance, friendship, positive role- modeling, and support to youth in Santa Cruz County. The commitment of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County grants not only newfound opportunities and support to at-risk youth, but a sense of purpose and satisfaction to those who guide them, resulting in the enrichment of the family as well as the greater community. As is their goal, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County has and will continue to create new opportunities to place appropriate mentors with youth from the increasing number of families in need. The continued success of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County can be attributed to the dedicated staff and volunteers who have helped generate support and enthusiasm in our community and who have worked admirably for the benefit of others. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself and my colleagues in the House, I would like to thank and congratulate the staff and volunteers of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County on 30 wonderful years of service.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, the oceans on either side of the United States defined this great country, and these oceans are in trouble. They are so big and so vast with so many aspects not understood that it's hard for people to comprehend that they are in trouble. Without the ocean, we wouldn't have the air we breathe or much of the protein we eat. It is our world's largest public trust, and it is essential to human life as we know it. It captures one-third of our carbon emissions, hosts millions of species, and offers limitless recreational and educational opportunities worldwide. Yet over 14 billion pounds of trash end up in our ocean and our beaches each year. Therefore, I urge the Nation to celebrate National Oceans Month and honor World Oceans Day, which is tomorrow, by taking advantage of activities of the Capitol Hill Ocean Week. This summer get wet, go to the beach, clean it up. Clean up the polluted rivers that flow into our oceans, and get in there and volunteer and learn more about the ocean resources upon which we so undeniably rely and how you can work to protect them. I thank all those who have come to Washington for Capitol Hill Ocean Week. We need political friends. The ocean needs political friends.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Specialist Vilmar Galarza Hernandez, U.S. Army. On May 26, 2012, this native of Salinas, California was killed in his second combat tour in Afghanistan. It is with great sadness to note that Specialist Galarza was only twenty-one years old and married just two months ago. In his all too short life, he made a lasting impact on his family, friends, comrades, and community. Specialist Galarza exemplified valor and duty, and will be remembered as an American hero. On October 7, 1990, Vilmar Galarza Hernandez was born to Pedro and Gregoria Galarza, Mexican immigrant farmworkers. Vilmar grew up in Salinas, California, a thriving agricultural community. The famed author John Steinbeck called this community ``the valley of the world,'' a reference to the workers who came to scratch out a living from the earth. Vilmar's parents instilled in him and his two siblings, Rubi and Marvin, the principles of the American dream: that with hard work and determination any opportunity was for their taking. After graduating from Everett Alvarez High School, Vilmar choose the noble path of enlisting in the United States Army. In the Army, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Vilmar was known by his command ``as a rock that you could lean on.'' His company commander, Captain Brandon Wohldschlegel, said that Vilmar was ``the model soldier.'' The Army awarded Specialist Galarza the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Army Good Conduct medals as well as campaign ribbons for service in Afghanistan. Vilmar was destined to achieve great success for himself as he sought to make a better life for his family. He grew up in a neighborhood with few advantages, but succeeded in spite of the challenges. Vilmar was a fighter and a visionary who struggled against the odds and persevered to follow his dreams. On March 28, 2012, just two weeks before his second deployment, he realized a dream when he married his sweetheart Margarita Contreras. It is heartbreaking to know that Vilmar's dreams were not all fulfilled, but his spirit will live on in the hearts of all those who loved him. Mr. Speaker, I know I speak on behalf of the entire House in extending the Nation's deepest sympathies to Specialist Vilmar Galarza Hernandez's parents Pedro and Gregoria Galarza, his siblings Rubi and Marvin Galarza, his wife Margarita Contreras-Galarza, and his extending family, friends, and comrades. He will be missed, but we will never forget him.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Santa Lucia Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the historic Harvey House in Salinas, California. The Harvey House was built in 1868 by the first Mayor of Salinas, Isaac Julian Harvey. It has served, among other functions, as the principal Salinas Valley meeting location for the Santa Lucia Chapter for the last seventy five years. Mayor Harvey's daughter, Mabel Harvey, helped to found the Santa Lucia chapter and opened the Harvey House for the chapter's first meeting on October 31, 1938. Mabel's daughter Helen Currie, in turn served as the Santa Lucia Chapter's organizing Regent. On June 9, 2012, the Santa Lucia Chapter will place a plaque commemorating its longstanding relationship with this historic property, and in so doing commemorate the important place that the Salinas Valley holds in the history of California, and indeed, the nation. The Daughters of the American Revolution, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America's future through better education for children. DAR members volunteer more than 250,000 hours annually to veteran patients, award thousands of dollars in scholarships and financial aid each year to students, and support schools for underserved children with annual donations exceeding one million dollars. As one of the most inclusive genealogical societies in the country, DAR boasts 170,000 members in 3,000 chapters across the United States and internationally. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to thank the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for its work and for honoring this important landmark of Salinas history.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to Colonel William T. Bare on the occasion of his retirement from the United States Air Force on August 1, 2012. Colonel Bare has given 27 stellar years to service to the United States Air Force. He has had a wide array of experience in intelligence, foreign language training, program management, policy development, and has linguistic capabilities in several foreign languages. Of particular note, he recently served as the Assistant Commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) and the Commander, 517th Training Group, Presidio of Monterey, California, located in my congressional district. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center is regarded as one of the finest schools for foreign language instruction in the nation. It is important that we as a nation recognize our service men and women for their dedication to the United States of America, particularly those as accomplished as Colonel William T. Bare. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful nation, I join my colleagues today in saying thank you to Colonel Bare for his extraordinary dedication to duty and service to his country throughout his distinguished career in the United States Air Force. I wish him, his wife Joselyn, his three daughters Lindsay, Jade, and J'adore (aka Jazzy), and his parents Bill and Elinor, much continued happiness as they start a new chapter in their lives.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. FARR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FARR. I want to thank our colleagues on this committee. Those of us who are not on the committee have the opportunity to share in participating in the debate on this bill and voting for it. I have to say over the years I've been here, I don't think this bill has been brought to the floor in such bipartisan unity as it has this session. I want to congratulate both of them for their leadership. Mr. Chairman, I also want to point out with this amendment that cyberanalysis is a relatively new field to the intelligence community. Training and tool development have focused on computer networks, but it's also important to understand the plans and intentions of foreign actors who are involved in cyberattacks and intrusions. How do we best understand foreign plans and intentions? Is it by providing some aspects of foreign language and cultural training to intelligent professionals that includes cyberanalysts? This training is essential because it helps the intelligence community to understand the behavior of our potential adversaries. It helps them anticipate the actions that they may be taking, and it helps them develop potential allies. The traditional missions of the intelligence community have undergone many changes, and the community must invest in new tools and develop creative ways to train its men and women. My amendment is necessary because the intelligence community department heads are not as focused as they should be on the gaps in foreign language skills and cultural knowledge in the workforce. The intelligence community provides specialized training for its men and women in foreign languages and culture, in analysis, in cybersecurity. However, aspects of all these areas should be brought together as a part of the toolkit for cyberanalysts to best meet our Nation's challenges. My amendment will not cause undue burden to the intelligence community. It will serve as an essential reminder to those whose decisions impact training and tool development to remember the value and importance of including foreign languages and cultural knowledge in all aspects of our intelligence mission. I know of no opposition to my amendment, and I would hope that it would be supported by both sides of the aisle. I reserve the balance of my time. When we talk about critical STEM knowledge and skills for our Intel workforce, we should also be talking about STEM L, which combines STEM with foreign language. STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Including foreign language and culture training with STEM would create a power-house workforce for the Intelligence Community. For example, just as cyber analysts should understand some aspects of foreign language and culture, language and intelligence analysts should also have some understanding of computer network concepts and technology. The Intelligence Community trains its workforce in STEM and foreign language, but not together. The training is stove-piped by career field. This does not suggest that all types of intelligence analysts need to be experts in STEM or even in a foreign language. However, the Intelligence Community should consider exploring cross-pollination of knowledge.

Mr. FARR. I have an amendment at the desk made in order by the rule.

Mr. FARR. Thank you for your support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Madam Chair, this past weekend, we remembered the patriotic sacrifice of those that have lost their lives in service to our country, and, today we renew our commitment to keep our promise to the nation's more than 2 million troops and reservists, their families, 22.2 million veterans, and 35.5 million family members of living veterans or survivors of deceased veterans. This committee has a strong history of working in a bipartisan way to produce a bill that supports our active duty servicemembers, our veterans and their families, and this bill is no exception. I commend the Chairman and Ranking Member for their hard work in ensuring that this bill is another significant step in fulfilling the promise our country made to leave no veteran behind. For example, the Office of the Inspector General recently filed a report that identified weaknesses in the VA's mental health care system. With the mental health needs of our returning servicemembers increasing, it is vital that the VA get this right. The bill before us today provides resources to implement the recommendations of the OIG to provide timely access to mental health care services. We have an obligation to take care of our veterans' physical AND mental health, and I am glad this bill recognizes that critical fact. Additionally, I am pleased to see that this bill again emphasizes the needs of our veterans in rural areas. The National Cemetery Administration has stated that 10% of all veterans will not have access to a burial option in a national, State or tribal cemetery within 75 miles of their home. While the strategy to extend services to some rural veterans outlined in the 2013 budget request is a good first step, it fails to address a long term strategy to fix this problem. This bill instructs the VA to correct this oversight and, on behalf of Central Coast veterans, I look forward to the Secretary's report on the VA's long term strategy to address the burial needs to rural veterans. I would note that while this bill is $13.2 billion above last year's enact level, it is also $259 million less than the President's request. While I am glad to see this bill has been protected from Ryan budget cuts, I strongly believe this Congress needs to get back to the balanced approach we agreed to in the bipartisan Budget Control Act.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 100th Anniversary of the Hollister Municipal Airport. The history of this aviation gem is almost as old as aviation itself. It saw its first powered flight departure on April 14, 1912 from what was then a small livestock pasture. And while I rise to recognize this historical milestone for this place, I also rise to recognize the efforts of all the people who have made this place so special over the years. It is their work that makes the Hollister Airport so special. I have had the great honor of representing Hollister in Congress for many years. It is a remarkable little city that is nestled between scenic coastal mountain ranges and surrounded by some of the world's most productive agriculture. There is little to hint that this beautiful rural community lies just fifty miles south of San Jose and the greater San Francisco Bay Area metropolis. However, along with its neighbor, the City San Juan Bautista, founded in the late eighteenth century, Hollister and its region's history are a microcosm of the California story, and the airport is an important part of that narrative. After WWI, pilots like Frank Bryant began shipping their planes by rail into Hollister for assembly and flight preparation. The little field just north of town was a popular site for various flying activities. By the mid 1920s, a pioneer in the then new business of crop dusting, a man named Everett Turner, purchased the land and converted the old pasture into Turner Field. For the next twenty years, crop dusters, mail-carrying aircraft, and all manner of recreational airplanes flew in and out Hollister's Turner Field airfield. With war looming in the early 1940s, the U.S. Navy took control of Turner Field and commissioned it the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Hollister. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into WWII, the U.S. military faced a critical shortage of trained carrier pilots. The Navy began a massive pilot training program, which included the acquisition of the Del Monte Hotel in nearby Monterey to house pilot trainees at the nearby Monterey Naval Air Station and the expansion of the former Turner Field to primarily help train those and other pilots in ground attack techniques. VC 39 was the first squadron to report followed by VC 42 and VC 68 in 1943. The new base soon grew to accommodate two light carrier air groups of four squadrons with the addition of two hangars and a ground training building. By 1945, at the height of the Navy's presence, the base included 210 acres, two 200 foot wide tarmac runways of 4,300 and 4,000 foot lengths, and billeting for 167 officers and 928 enlisted men. After the War, the Navy no longer needed its Hollister base and it sold the airfield to the City of Hollister. Since that time, the little airport has built upon the excellent facilities left by the Navy to grow into a thriving general aviation airport. It has become a national center for historic aircraft restoration as well as home to a critical base of aerial operations for Cal Fire, the State of California's wildland fire service. It is also an important business hub. With its close proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, good flying weather, and high quality transportation links, the Hollister Airport is poised to become a leading regional economic engine. In addition, the Hollister Airport now hosts one of the West's premier air shows. Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for the whole House in offering our gratitude to the Hollister Airport family--past, present, and future-- for making this little gem such an important piece of our nation's aviation economy and culture.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, the bill we are debating today, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, purports to address gender discrimination by preventing abortions on the basis of sex. While one of the most effective ways to end gender discrimination is to empower women, H.R. 3541 only serves to marginalize women even further. Today, minority women have to overcome additional hurdles to receive the quality healthcare they deserve and this legislation only serves to subject them to even further scrutiny when making healthcare decisions. This legislation restricts women's access to reproductive healthcare by threatening doctors with up to five years in prison and other penalties if they perform sex selection abortions. If the drafters of H.R. 3541 were really trying to end sex-selective abortions, wouldn't they also be prosecuting those who sought an abortion for these reasons, not only doctors? With doctors fearful of yet even more restrictions to their practice, many will simply refuse to treat women who want to obtain a safe and legal abortion. After all, abortion is still a constitutionally guaranteed right in this country. In addition, this bill includes language requiring any medical or mental health professional to report known or suspected sex-selective abortions. However, in virtually all circumstances, it would be impossible for reproductive healthcare providers to determine whether a woman seeks a sex-selective abortion, thus amounting to a ``witch hunt''. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by women in my family. I have a wife, a sister, a daughter, and a granddaughter. I am deeply troubled by gender discrimination. I support legislation to address the real issues in low-income communities of color, and to promote women's rights, including: S. 1925, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act; H.R. 1519, the Paycheck Fairness Act; and H.J. Res. 69, proposing an amendment to the Constitution on the equal rights for men and women. Since the Majority is so concerned with gender discrimination, I look forward to the day when the Republican leadership decides to bring these bills on the floor for a vote. Mr. Speaker, I am completely opposed to sex-selective abortions but H.R. 3541 will not prevent these and, in fact, will do far more harm than good.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I am sad to rise today in opposition to H.R. 4970, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012. VAWA has never been a partisan issue until this Congress, and I am disappointed that the safety of women in this country is now a political game to those in charge. Mr. Speaker, I am a brother, a father and a grandfather. I want to be a part of a country that believes in protecting and preventing violence towards all people, especially our most vulnerable. When women and girls feel threatened or are at risk of experiencing violence, it interferes with their ability to pursue an education, employment, or community involvement. For this reason, I have been a strong supporter of past Violence Against Women bills. The Violence Against Women Act has been an essential tool in helping to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence and to allow women and girls to pursue the American dream. First passed in 1994 and reauthorized in 2000 and 2005, VAWA has successfully strengthened enforcement of state and federal anti- violence laws and underwritten effective prevention and victim support programs. Since VAWA was first signed into law, annual incidents of domestic violence have dropped by more than 60 percent. It has been one of the best tools law enforcement, prosecutors, and community service providers have to help protect and support women who have experienced gender violence. The law also streamlines these community programs, saving states and the federal government billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the version of the bill before us today reverses many of the modest protections in the original bill. Even worse, this bill goes a step further and outright excludes vulnerable populations such as Native American women, non-citizen women, and LGBT individuals. Tragically, H.R. 4970 subjects many women to even greater risks of violence and makes it even harder for them to receive the services and programs that should be readily available to them. Once again, House Republicans are choosing confrontation over compromise. This Republican bill is opposed by hundreds of groups including law enforcement, civil rights, and faith-based groups and many, many, many of my constituents. I want only the best for the women in my family and for all of the women in this country. This bill falls far, far short of the mark. It does not deserve to be called the ``Violence Against Women Act'' because it fails to protect the people it claims to serve. I will be voting against this bill and I urge my colleagues to support all women and reject this terrible legislation.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 290, I was caught in traffic. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concern about the steady deterioration of human rights in Honduras since the June 2009 coup d'etat. In recent months, attacks against journalists; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) advocates; land rights activists and other vulnerable communities have increased. I want to draw particular attention to a few tragic deaths that occurred just this month: on May 1st, Santos Alberto Dominguez, a member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations (COPINH), was murdered. On May 8th, Erick Martinez, a well-known LGBTI activist, was found dead in a gutter. And on May 9th, Alfredo Villatoro--a popular radio show host--was kidnapped on his way to work and has not been heard from since. These deaths come amidst numerous reports of abuses committed by Honduran security forces. And yet the vast majority of these abuses as well as Mr. Dominguez and Mr. Martinez's deaths have yet to be investigated and prosecuted. I have repeatedly requested that all U.S. assistance to Honduran police and military forces be suspended as long as Honduran authorities fail to investigate and prosecute these abuses. It is a travesty that U.S. taxpayers dollars are bolstering abusive security forces. But while the situation in Honduras continues to deteriorate, I am encouraged by the important work of Honduran human rights organizations. These groups are on the frontlines of justice, documenting human rights abuses and offering the support and legal representation that the Honduran state fails to provide. Yet these organizations are receiving threats of sexual violence--particularly targeted at female human rights workers--and death threats without any form of effective protection from the Honduran authorities. There has also been a troubling escalation of threats against international human rights accompaniers. All of these threats must be immediately investigated, and the individuals and groups that are behind them must be brought to justice. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to support human rights in Honduras. The people of Honduras deserve their rights. They deserve their freedoms. And they deserve peace. They have suffered too much. Justice cannot wait a moment longer.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Edwards, for your leadership before you even became a Member of Congress, but especially tonight to lead this discussion. I can't believe what we're about to do tomorrow in a vote to reauthorize. I was here in 1994 when we were so proud of creating this historical legislation to protect women against violence. It wasn't some women; it was all women. And now we're on the verge, 18 years later, of saying, well, let's change that. What's so appalling about it is we're going to take that in a debate tomorrow in this room, where every time we're in session we start that session by getting up and taking a pledge to that flag behind you saying ``justice for all.'' That's our role. We're elected here to bring about justice for all. We just had a census in the United States. In that census, we didn't just count some people because they were citizens, some people because they were rich, some people because they were this or that or had an education. We counted every living being in the United States. Why? Because the laws of this country are supposed to be protecting and enhancing and providing a quality of life for every living being. Now we're on the verge, in an election year--when the majority of voters in this country are women--to say to the women of this country, Oh, by the way, we're going to start taking back some of the provisions that have protected you. You know, I rise, as Mr. Garamendi did before me, we rise as brothers, as husbands, as fathers, as a grandfather. In every one of those situations, the brother is because I have a sister, the husband is because I have a wife, the father is because I have a daughter, and the grandfather is because I have a granddaughter. My world in politics is about their lives and the future and growing up in the great country of the United States of America. So here we are with this law that we passed back in 1994. We reauthorized it. We didn't have takeaways when we reauthorized that law in 2000. We didn't take away things when we reauthorized it in 2005. And now we're in 2012 and the vote before the Congress is: Let's take away some stuff. Why? It doesn't make any sense at all. Why do you say, well, you can exclude Native Americans? Why? Aren't they? They're Americans. They're Native Americans. They're probably more American than anybody. Take away rights that those women have been given and now are being taken away. Noncitizen women? Noncitizen women. Those are a lot of immigrants. It doesn't matter whether you have a green card or no card, taking away your rights to complain about violence. To those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, they're individuals. You take away their rights? Shame. It's an election year. Women are voting. I hope they will wake up and understand that the Congress, led by the Republican leadership in this House, is about to destroy the ability for people to access justice in a Congress and in a Nation where we pledge allegiance and pledge justice for all. Not tonight. Thank you for having this special session.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. FARR. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. First of all, this is an appropriations bill. We're supposed to be discussing how we appropriate money to the Justice Department, Commerce Department, and State Department. People are just kind of cavaliering, coming in here and offering all kinds of amendments to make no funds available. That isn't the way you set policy, and that isn't the way you have a discussion on an issue like this. This is a very important issue. This is about enforcing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. You don't think we had discrimination in this country? Don't you think we still have discrimination and are making it difficult for people to access the voting booth? I come from a county, a district, that is under this section. I'm from California. The gentleman spoke about Georgia. There are States, even like California, that have counties that qualify to be under this act because they had so low of a percentage of adults registered to vote. Obviously, these counties were making it very difficult. What this says is that in those counties, when you draw political districts, you've got to have them reviewed by the Justice Department. What's wrong with that? We have a history of discrimination. To come in to an appropriations bill and take a big whack out of it in the Voting Rights Act in an election year, what message are we sending--that these States that want to make it very difficult for people to vote are showing how democracy ought to be practiced around the world?

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. You're absolutely wrong.

Mr. FARR. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. FARR. The worst form of democracy is to take away the ability for it to work. This is a bad amendment, and I hope we oppose it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FARR. Thank you very much. As the President cannot create the councils by executive order, the councils have to be created by Congress. I would hope that the leadership of your committee and jurisdiction would create those councils so that they will have some bottoms-up authorities.

Mr. FARR. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).