Bob Goodlatte

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the chairman of the committee for yielding, and I rise to join him in opposition to this amendment. Madam Chair, this amendment would undermine diversion control and thereby potentially increase drug abuse by creating a significant loophole in the system of controls established by the Controlled Substances Act. The amendment would cause this highly problematic result by effectively exempting DEA registrants who dispense drugs for addiction treatment from being subject to administrative oversight under the CSA. At present, buprenorphine is the only schedule III-V controlled substance contained in a drug that has been approved by the FDA for drug addiction treatment. While it is also true that the amendment would not preclude DOJ/DEA from obtaining a criminal search warrant to obtain the foregoing types of records, this does not come close to being an adequate substitute for the administrative inspection authority. Obtaining a criminal search warrant must be predicated on evidence sufficient to establish probable cause that the registrant has committed a criminal violation of the Controlled Substances Act. The very point of the administrative inspection authority that Congress provided under the CSA 45 years ago was to have a robust system of administrative oversight that would help to prevent regulatory violations before they occurred, and even more so, before criminal violations occurred. This is because Congress recognized that controlled substances, when abused, can have dangerous and sometimes deadly consequences, and thus that the widespread problem of drug abuse in the United States cannot be solved exclusively through criminal provisions of the Controlled Substances Act. It also bears mentioning that this drug is highly subject to diversion, as it is a narcotic drug that is much sought after by many persons who are addicted to opiates and/or who seek to abuse opiates for nonmedical purposes. Indeed, the heightened risk of diversion associated with dispensing of this drug to a drug-addicted patient population actually warrants greater scrutiny, not less scrutiny, than with many other categories of prescribed controlled substances. So I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Chair, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, the supporters of this amendment claim that this is a states' rights issue. However, it is not that simple, not hardly. Drug manufacture and use is inherently an interstate problem. For example, we need look no further than at one of the two States where marijuana has been legalized. The Colorado Department of Revenue has reported that 45 percent of marijuana sales in the State were to out-of-State ID holders. Indeed, earlier this year, Colorado Governor Hickenlooper said, ``If I could've waved a wand the day after the election, I would have reversed the election and said, `This was a bad idea.' '' In fact, Colorado is now being sued by Nebraska and Oklahoma, which claim Colorado has created a ``dangerous gap'' in the control of marijuana and that marijuana is flowing from Colorado to neighboring States. However, Mr. Chairman, of far greater concern to me is the increased availability of marijuana to children, which will inevitably result from a loosening of restrictions on this dangerous drug. Though my colleagues may not like it, marijuana remains a schedule I narcotic because it has a high potential for abuse and no legitimate medical use. In fact, Mr. Chairman, statistics show that 78 percent of the 2.4 million people who began using marijuana last year were aged 12 to 20. There is little doubt that this drug poses a significant danger to our children, and I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. GOODLATTE. I want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee for joining me in opposition to this amendment. Shield laws for reporters are not a bad concept at all, but this is hardly the way to go about doing it. No State has a law like this language here, where it is so vague that virtually anyone in the United States claiming to be a journalist or reporter--and, by the way, nowadays, when lots of people maintain blogs or posts on the Internet, they could easily claim to be a journalist or reporter--would be covered by this. So no one intends to have that broad an exception that would allow anyone to evade the requirements that they respond to a legitimate subpoena for investigation by law enforcement, a violation of the law. This is far too broad. It is something that clearly should be handled by the authorizing committee, the Judiciary Committee, which worked on this for a long period of time and has struggled with that very definition of journalist or reporter that the gentleman from Florida simply glosses over in this. And then, to give further exception to simply say that that individual who first claims they are a journalist or reporter and then says, Oh, yeah, that is confidential, that would breed criminal misconduct because criminals would be before the court claiming that they were reporters and that they regarded their information as confidential and, therefore, do not have to respond to a subpoena. This is a very harmful, very bad way to go about providing protection to legitimate journalists and reporters and should be defeated. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting against it.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the chairman and the ranking member. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment restores necessary funding for the Federal Prisoner Detention program. The Marshals Service assumes custody of individuals arrested by all Federal agencies and is responsible for the housing and transportation of prisoners from the time they are brought into Federal custody until they are either acquitted or transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' custody for incarceration. The FPD program provides housing, medical care, and transportation for Federal prisoners housed in non-Federal facilities and has an average daily population of approximately 45,000 prisoners. This funding is critical to ensuring that the United States Marshals Service can provide safe, human care and custody for the approximately 204,000 Federal prisoners it will be responsible for in fiscal year 2016. Mr. Chairman, the fiscal year 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill falls nearly $400 million short of the funding necessary to maintain the Marshals Service's prisoner detention operations. This matter must be corrected. My amendment would simply reduce less critical accounts to make up for this astounding shortfall. This amendment reduces youth mentoring programs by $45 million, leaving a generous sum of $50 million for youth mentoring. My amendment also zeros out the new, unauthorized grant program to improve police-community relations. While this concept may have merit, the creation of such a program is the responsibility of the House Judiciary Committee. This amendment also reduces funding for the International Trade Administration by 5 percent and for the Community Relations Service by 20 percent. Finally, my amendment leaves $30 million in funding for the Legal Services Corporation to administer existing grants and to promote pro bono efforts. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), the chairman of the subcommittee, who has worked with my staff very diligently on a number of issues related to this matter, and I would be prepared to withdraw this amendment in lieu of all the difficulties he has in finding funds for the priority he has but, nonetheless, hoping that he will acknowledge that this is a priority that has been shortchanged and that we need to make sure that not only are these prisoners able to be held, and held according to law, but also that it does not give rise to prisoners being released in circumstances where they otherwise should be held in incarceration. So I am hoping that, if the gentleman would agree moving forward to help us try to find additional funds for this account, perhaps the gentleman from Pennsylvania would be willing to help as well, and I would be willing to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to join the gentleman from Texas in thanking the gentlewoman from New York for her good work on this for a long time now, and to thank the ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee, Ms. Jackson Lee, for this bipartisan legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), another champion in the fight against sex trafficking, particularly on the Internet.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a great advocate for human rights here in the House.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), who has also contributed one of the pieces of legislation included in this effort, and I thank the gentleman.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem) who has also contributed a major piece of the legislation before the House today.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We are here today to consider comprehensive legislation that will help address the scourge of human trafficking, generally, and child sex trafficking, specifically, that is occurring in every corner of the United States as we stand here today. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sex trafficking is the fastest growing business of organized crime and the third largest criminal enterprise in the world. One organization estimates that child sex trafficking in the United States alone is a $9.8 billion industry. Criminal organizations, including some of the most violent criminal street gangs like MS-13, have realized that selling children can be more profitable than selling drugs. This is because drugs are only sold once, but minor children can be and are prostituted multiple times a day, every day. It is time for Congress to send a clear message that we won't stand for this. Today marks the third time that I have stood on the House floor urging the passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. The House passed similar legislation in May 2014 and, again, in January of this year. S. 178, the bill we consider today and its predecessors, are comprehensive legislation that, among other things, provide additional resources to law enforcement and service providers through a victim- centered grant program, help to facilitate investigations by providing that child sex trafficking and other similar crimes are predicate offenses for State wiretap applications, address the demand side by clarifying that it is a Federal crime to solicit or patronize child prostitutes or adult victims forced into prostitution, and strengthens the existing Federal criminal laws against trafficking through a number of clarifying amendments. I am very pleased that a number of separate trafficking vehicles that were originally passed by the House Judiciary Committee and then by the full House are contained within S. 178, including the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2015, introduced by Mr. Paulsen of Minnesota; the SAVE Act of 2015, introduced by Mrs. Wagner of Missouri; and the Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2015, introduced by Mrs. Noem of South Dakota. I thank all of my colleagues for their dedication to ending this terrible crime. I also thank Judge Poe of Texas for sponsoring the two previous House versions of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. S. 178 is not perfect legislation, and I thank both House and Senate leadership, as well as the bill's sponsor, Senator Cornyn, for agreeing to fix technical issues with the bill in future legislation, but it is my belief that this legislation will do much good in the fight to end human trafficking. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support the bill and thus send it to the President to be signed into law. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), a member of the Judiciary Committee and a champion in the fight against child sex trafficking and the author of one of the underlying pieces of legislation that led to the bill that we are considering here today.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 178) to provide justice for the victims of trafficking.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on each side?

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on S. 178, currently under consideration.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I support his amendment. The House should not take action to legitimize the President's unconstitutional overreach regarding immigration, especially that of creating a program to defer removal for an entire class of hundreds of thousands of unlawful aliens. The gentleman's amendment is necessary to preserve the Congress' constitutionally guaranteed plenary power over immigration law and policy. Whether and how to deal with unlawful aliens brought to the U.S. as minors by their parents is a question that we should debate thoroughly. And any legislative efforts regarding these individuals should move through regular order in the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over immigration law and policy. Legitimate concerns must be considered when discussing this issue, not the least of which is whether the parents who brought the minor to the U.S. illegally should be able to ultimately benefit from the illegal activity by becoming permanent residents based on the legal status of the minor they brought here illegally in the first place. As the policy currently stands, that will happen if any Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient enlists in the military. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 255, I call up the bill (H.R. 2048) to reform the authorities of the Federal Government to require the production of certain business records, conduct electronic surveillance, use pen registers and trap and trace devices, and use other forms of information gathering for foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal purposes, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, as the Roanoke community prepares to celebrate the 25th Annual Local Colors Festival, I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to my constituent, Pearl Fu, for her leadership of the Roanoke Valley's annual celebration of our diverse heritage. Pearl is a truly special individual and has played an instrumental role in bringing the Roanoke Valley together over the last quarter century. She has offered Local Colors as a special event to remind us that, as Americans, we are one country out of many nationalities that have preceded us on these shores. In Local Colors, she solidified a celebration of the varied cultures that make up the Roanoke region. She helped increase awareness of our history--a melting pot of origins, races, and ethnic backgrounds. Late last year, Pearl marked the culmination of her leadership of this event. Local Colors is known by many for what they encounter at the festival--a day to share food and fellowship; enjoy music, arts, and crafts; and, experience the languages, attire, and traditions of the more than 100 countries whose roots have been planted in Roanoke and its neighboring cities, towns, and counties. However, I also want to recognize Pearl for what she did day in and day out for so many years. Through Local Colors, she worked with many other individuals and organizations to offer language translations and conflict resolution, publicity in the local media, and multicultural education for schoolchildren, community organizations, government officials, and businesses. Without Pearl at the helm, none of this would have been possible. I fondly remember selecting Local Colors as a ``Local Legacy'' project in 1999, bringing national recognition from the Library of Congress that has permitted so many people around our nation and around the world to experience what Local Colors is all about. They can visit the Library of Congress, view the digital recognition on the Internet, or visit the festival to see all that it has become. Local Colors is truly one of America's proud traditions. Pearl can stand assured that she has been responsible for its success and the community is thankful to her for helping them experience such a memorable event over so many years. As Pearl steps away from the leadership of Local Colors, I and so many others will continue to support and experience Local Colors as a way of showing the world that we are truly one nation. I extend my gratitude to Pearl for making it all possible for us and for her deep spirit of goodwill.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation to transfer land from the U.S. Department of Interior to Rockingham County, Virginia. For over 25 years, Rockingham County, Virginia has managed a small area of land in my congressional district as if it belonged to the County to meet the needs of the community and serve the public good. Although this land was already transferred from the Federal Government to the County, it was not done effectively. This legislation will finalize the efforts of a previous Congress and fully transfer this land to the County, while continuing to meet public needs. Since 1989, a little over 3 acres of land and its associated buildings, previously wholly held by the Federal Government, have been maintained by Rockingham County and the Plains Area Daycare Center. In that year, the Department of the Interior deeded this land, which it no longer used, to Rockingham County for public good. Prior to this official declaration, Rockingham County had already been maintaining the lands around the facility. The land and building had been used as a garage and maintenance facility for the National Forest Service. However, it was no longer being utilized, and the County was performing upkeep on the land. PL 101-479 was approved in the 101st Congress to allow the buildings on this land to be used for the particular use of a non-profit day care that serves the County. Unfortunately, because of the narrow way Public Law 101-479 was drafted, any extension or maintenance of the physical structures has required approval by the Department of the Interior. Given that the building is used for a child care facility, this impedes the ability of the day care to move efficiently to make any necessary upgrades. The building is currently in need of repairs; however, because of the terms of the deed, the daycare center has been unable to get a loan to complete the needed renovations. To be clear, the center and the playground are the sole reason that this previously abandoned government land is being used by the public today. The Federal Government no longer has a vested interest in the land. Mr. Speaker, my legislation, which was approved by the House of Representatives in nearly a unanimous manner in the 113th Congress as H.R. 5162, is a simple formality. I have been pleased to visit the Plains Area Daycare Center on many occasions. By passing this legislation and allowing Rockingham County more authority over the land, it will ensure that more children and more of the community will be served by this land. I urge swift consideration of this bill in the 114th Congress.