Chaka Fattah

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, we are in agreement, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I think we have passed that point in the bill.

Mr. FATTAH. I don't think it is any fault of your own. I am just saying for the technical matter I think that we have.

Mr. FATTAH. Is this the one that the Clerk just read?

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. I support the gentleman's amendment, and I thank him for offering it.

Mr. FATTAH. I talked to our colleague from Georgia, who just spoke on this matter, and I know he has talked about how this is really critically important for veterans. It is a population that we have to be concerned about, so I want to thank you again for offering this, and the chairman and I agree.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not in opposition.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, first of all, this is where you can find the contradictions of public policy with the interjection of politics, right? I totally agree with the purpose, but I totally disagree with the underlying notion that this money is not important to the Census. First and foremost, I agree with the amendment and that we should invest in another $16 million in helping victims of human trafficking. It is a major problem in our country--in my part of the country, in your part of the country, and throughout our Nation. We should do more, so I support the amendment. I don't want us to assume that the periodic census dollars are not important, however, and are not part of the constitutionally mandated census as they are part of the 2020 preparation. We will have to deal with that in some other way, but I don't want to because I agree with the amendment. That is not to suggest that I agree with the underlying thought that this money is not important to the Census.

Mr. FATTAH. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I rise in support of the amendment, and I think this shows the bigger picture here if the country has to choose between promoting manufacturing and whether or not we can safely operate the world's largest prison system. We incarcerate more people than any other country in the rest of the world on a per capita basis. We need to be employing more people in manufacturing. This makes sense. I support the gentlewoman's amendment.

Mr. FATTAH. In this bill there are three cuts: at NASA on the Earth Science program, the cut to the National Science Foundation in terms of the ability to focus on geosciences, and the issue that is raised by my great friend from Oregon, and they combine to make the point that there is not yet a consensus in one place. Even though there is a consensus in the scientific community, the majority still is not yet clear that climate is something that we need to focus on. I urge support for the Blumenauer amendment.

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

Mr. FATTAH. I am authentically opposed to the amendment, but I would also make an allowance to yield to my chairman after I make my comments.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), the chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. FATTAH. Reclaiming my time in opposition, in all good, there is some bad. It is true that this amendment would offer some additional dollars for weather forecasting. But $16 million of it--the bulk of the $21 million--would go into technology transfer. Now, I am not opposed to technology transfer, but to take it out of the administrative work at NOAA, I have visited NOAA, and I understand how the operations there work. I have spent a lot of time learning about its operations. And I can tell you that NOAA cannot perform the duties that our Nation needs without the administrative capabilities. It would be just like coming here to the Hill and expecting the Congress to function without our back office operations. We would not be able to proceed forward. So I think that it is more important for us to have an appropriate allocation so that we can meet these needs than it is to rob the administrative capability of NOAA at a time when we want to place more demands on it. I think that the amendment--even though moving towards additional help for weather forecasting--the bulk of it is for a technology transfer to the private sector, which I am all for, but it sounds to me like it is robbing Peter to pay Paul. On the floor, it may be easy to pass an amendment that cuts administrative costs at a government agency, but it may be something that we live to regret. So I stand in opposition to the amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. Even though I am in a totally opposite position on the matter than you.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not in opposition.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the gentleman's amendment. We are willing to accept the amendment, and I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

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

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?