Ernest Istook

Mr. ISTOOK

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), and just advise the Chair that I will have no further debate on this. However, I do have, on an unrelated matter, some time to yield for the purpose of a brief colloquy.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to enter into a dialogue with the gentleman regarding this and would advise him that his understanding of the provision is correct.

Mr. ISTOOK. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I would certainly agree to review this provision during the conference deliberations, and I appreciate the interest of the gentleman from Colorado and his patience and understanding that some things, of course, cannot be resolved until we come to conference with the Senate. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume in closing, and I want to echo the comments of the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) regarding his appreciation for the constructive comments that were made during the course of this debate. Social Security is an extremely important issue to all of us. Mr. Chairman, in opposing the amendment that was offered, I think it is necessary that everyone understand that when we are trying to find a solution to a very challenging circumstance, we do not find that solution by saying before we look for a solution, we have got to put on the blindfolds, put on the handcuffs, and put in the ear plugs. If my colleagues do that, they are going to be restricted from the start in what they can do. If my colleagues do that, they are not likely to find something that will resolve the problem; and the problem is very real. As the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) pointed out, it was officials during the former administration, the Secretary of Treasury and HHS and so forth, who made a very compelling case for the major significance of the problem and the need to address it. We cannot address it in a satisfactory way if we say solutions are going to be taken off the table before we even consider them, including solutions put forth by one of the leading Democrats, Senator Moynihan, formerly the Senator from New York. I think we have to understand many people want very different solutions. Sometimes that differs a great deal with age. When talking to somebody who has already retired or who is about to retire, they want to make sure that they have everything that has been promised to them and it is not in jeopardy. I do not think that any Member of this body would want to place the benefits of anyone in jeopardy. I think we all want to make sure that everybody receives what has been promised to them. But at the same time, there are a significant number of Americans who say, I want to control more of my own destiny. For so many years, I put so much into Social Security and I am not satisfied, either with the rate of return or what they deem to be the level of security. And they want to control more of their destiny, just as those who participate as Federal employees in the Thrift Savings Plan and the 401(k) plan have different options from which to choose. It is perfectly possible that we may establish an opportunity for people to choose whether they want to continue in exactly the same thing they have now, or they want to have some choices, but without enabling either one to impose their choice on the other. If we adopt this amendment, we are foreclosing opportunities to be flexible. We are foreclosing opportunities for Americans to have a greater level of choice in this crucially important decision in influencing their retirement. I believe this amendment should be defeated, but I believe the debate has been very healthy. Mr. Chairman, this is the final matter of debate. We will be voting on the amendments held back, and then move on to final passage. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment; but certainly to vote in favor of the bill as we move towards its final passage. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo).

Mr. ISTOOK

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, it would make no sense for this committee to rise at this time to let people try to distract us from the important work of this House. I realize that there is no rule that says you cannot offer a mean-spirited amendment. Now, there is no rule that says you cannot take a cheap shot. There is no rule, as the gentleman from Massachusetts suggested, that says you cannot try to embarrass somebody, whether it is justified or not. No, there is no rule that requires us to use common sense in this body. There is no rule that requires Members of this House to have an electricity meter outside the door of their office so that their constituents can see how much energy are they consuming. There is no rule that says they cannot ask all their constituents to mail to them the people who either did the wrong things or did nothing to let utility rates and fuel prices go up. There is no rule that says you cannot send them your utility bill or your electric bill. It saddens me, Mr. Chairman, it saddens me to hear people being caught with such an obvious ploy trying to take a cheap shot at the Vice President and then stand up in front of the Nation, in front of this body, Mr. Chairman, stand up and try to say, oh, we are not trying to embarrass the Vice President. Malarkey. Do not insult people's intelligence that way. If you were sincere, and you said, well, we just want to make sure that the Vice President is accountable for the utility bills, then you would have said he will pay the bills instead of having the Navy pay them, as Mr. Gore did; he will pay the bills and we are putting money back in the budget to enable him to do so. Because the money that was allocated to Mr. Gore to pay his utility bills, which was $43,000 a year, has been backed out of the Vice President's budget. In addition to that, over the last couple of years, the Navy paid over $200,000 to pay the utility bills of Mr. Gore's residence. Did they offer an amendment that says the Vice President is going to be accountable for his own bills and we will have the money in his budget so that he can do so? No. The effect of this is they want to strip money out of the Vice President's budget so he has to choose between paying the electric bills or doing the job that he was elected to do, because they will take away facilities, they will take away staff, they will take away whatever it is. The money is not in the Vice President's budget to pay his utility bills. That was what was proposed by the Clinton administration, to say have the Navy do it. That is what is in this. And what they are really trying to do is say we want to prevent the Vice President from doing his job. Oh, but we are nice and clean and pure. We are not mean-spirited people at all. They are caught. They are caught embarrassed in front of the country trying to take a cheap shot and come back and try to justify it. You can dress up a pig in as many dresses and designer costumes as you want, Mr. Chairman, but it is still a pig. I am not about to kiss this pig. Vote no on any motion to rise and vote no on the amendment itself. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order against the amendment.

Mr. ISTOOK. I certainly look forward to meeting the dogs and the ponies.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for her interest, which is bona fide, on an important issue. Yes, it is the intent of the Committee that the report provide information on customer demographics and transaction changes such as the gentlewoman described, as well as the detailed cost data, with sufficient detail to allow us to differentiate among all of the major forms in which the public debt is financed.

Mr. ISTOOK. I thank the gentleman from Iowa. I very much appreciate his terrific effort on this matter.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) to engage in a colloquy.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) for the purposes of a colloquy.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Iowa, because I know he has been working diligently to secure the needed courthouse in Cedar Rapids. I want to tell the gentleman that that is indeed the item that is next on the priority list that we have. We are fortunate we were able to go one beyond what the administration had proposed as far as funding courthouses. And again, as the gentleman mentioned, on a professional priority basis, a nonpolitical basis, Cedar Rapids has now moved to the top of the list, and we are looking at the potential of being able to find a way to potentially fund that during this year. Obviously, we have not been able yet to reach that conclusion. We are still not through the entire budget process, but we do want to work together with the gentleman to look at the potential of making sure that moves along rapidly. I do want to assure the gentleman that whether it ended up being this year or next year, it is at the very top of our priority list now.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present to the House H.R. 2590. This is the fiscal year 2002 Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government appropriations bill. As reported, this bill, of course, is within the agreed-upon balanced budget that has been agreed to by the House with the Senate and the President. The bill, compared to the current fiscal year operations, is $1.1 billion above the current operations. It is also some $340 million above the original request from the White House, although that number, Mr. Chairman, was amended somewhat. The supplemental request included funds for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which has been funded through the supplemental and has been reallocated accordingly within this bill. As reported, Mr. Chairman, the spending allocation enables us to do a number of significant things regarding Federal law enforcement in particular. Mr. Chairman, realizing that we have been favored with a positive allocation from the full committee chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), it is a fair question how we have applied the extra $1 billion that has been made available. The short answer is we have sought to address some very significant needs, in particular in Federal law enforcement. Some 30 percent of Federal law enforcement is funded through this appropriation measure. We have also sought to address some very compelling needs regarding information technology. Let me give an example, Mr. Chairman. We are all aware that the IRS has had significant problems dealing with the complexity of the Tax Code and in having a modern information system that will enable taxpayers to have correct information in the hands of the IRS and not be receiving incorrect notices. This allocates significant funding to accelerate the information technology advancement in the IRS. In particular, within the Customs Service, we have what might be fairly called, Mr. Chairman, a rickety computer system that is utilized for handling some $8 billion worth of trade each day that goes through ports of entry with the U.S. Customs Service. That system is, frankly, on the verge of collapse; and we do not need to be losing $8 billion daily in trade because of an antiquated information system in Customs. Even beyond the pace set by the administration's budget, we have put the funding in for what is called the Automated Commercial Environment, which is the new Customs information technology system that ties together some 50 agencies that are involved in the imports and exports handled by the Customs Service to make sure that this trade that is so vital to the economy of the United States of America can flow unimpeded. So those areas, law enforcement, trade, drug interdiction as a key component of law enforcement, and the information technology, are the main areas in which we have provided investments through the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government bill. The bill places, as I mentioned, a priority on counter-drug efforts in law enforcement. Let me mention some the elements by which that is done. We have the Customs Air and Marine Interdiction Program, which has not had the aircraft or the boats to be able to keep up with the degree of smuggling of illegal drugs into the United States, such as in southern Florida, where I visited recently. They are in sore need of modern equipment to be able to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into America. We put significant new investments into the effort, the manpower, expanding the manpower where they are overburdened and overworked, and also expanding the equipment available to them to do that. We have funding for the Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is trying to stem the use of illegal weapons, or legal weapons used illegally, by people in the commission of violent crimes. Both the Youth Crime Interdiction Initiative and the Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy receive significant new funding in this measure. Also significantly increased is what is known as HIDTA, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. Some $231 million in Federal resources is made available in this bill for coordinating the efforts between the State, the local and the Federal law enforcement agencies, which all must work together, especially in the areas where there are significant problems of drug trafficking. We also have, Mr. Chairman, an effort to try to address the accumulated backlog that is clogging up the court system. Federal courthouses are funded in this bill to the tune of $326 million in construction, following the priorities laid out by the administration and the General Services Administration and the Administrative Offices of the Courts, to make sure that we are putting the funding where the courts are most overcrowded. So this includes the funding for site acquisition, design and/or construction of some 15 court houses across the Nation, which is one beyond the number that was originally proposed by the President, but does follow the same priority list as everyone has agreed upon, including the administration. In regard to legislative items, I would like to point out, Mr. Chairman, that we continue the prohibition that is part of current law to make sure that Federal funds are not used to help pay for abortions through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. This also continues the requirement that FEHBP includes coverage for prescription contraceptive services with certain circumstances for concerns of conscience and with key exceptions, but overall a clear policy on the coverage of contraceptives. As we move through consideration of this measure on the floor, Mr. Chairman, I know we will hear different amendments. I will not try to cover them all at this time, rather than give an overview of the bill; but I know we will hear many different policies proposed that, frankly, Mr. Chairman, I do not think will be in order under the bill, or, even though they might technically be in order, will not be proper for inclusion in this bill and should be addressed through other legislation. We hope to keep this appropriation bill clear of any extraneous riders that are not really part of the central purpose of the measure. I wanted to thank my colleagues on the subcommittee for all of their hard work and effort in putting this bill together. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government, has been especially helpful in working together to resolve differences; and, frankly, Mr. Chairman, we have been able to come to agreement on some things that sometimes there are significant policy differences on, but a lot of hard work with the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and everyone else has gotten us through that. I want to thank his staff members, including Scott Nance; the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and his staff; Rob Nabors; and of course, I would be remiss if I did not thank the excellent staff that we are able to enjoy on the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government: the chief clerk, Michelle Mrdeza; Jeff Ashford; Kurt Dodd; Tammy Hughes; and, on a delegated status from the Secret Service, Chris Stanley. It has taken a lot of hard work to go through the details in this bill, having as many different Federal agencies that are at the heart of the executive branch, including the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration, Office of Personnel Management, the Treasury Department itself, and many of the core Federal agencies, including in particular law enforcement. I believe this is a good bill, Mr. Chairman, which merits people's support. It advances our objectives to combat the flow of illegal drugs, yet to improve the flow of legal commerce. It tries to address significant problems of overcrowding in the Federal courts by making sure that facilities are available to them. Mr. Chairman, I would ask every Member of this body to support this bill, and look forward to working with the Members in considering amendments that they may offer. Mr. Chairman, I include the following for the Record. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH25JY01.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH25JY01.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH25JY01.003 Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISTOOK. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am very well aware of the important work being done at Glynco and of FLETC's critical role in providing the very highest quality in consolidated law enforcement training to Federal law enforcement organizations, as well as others that participate. I applaud the strong personal support of the gentleman from Georgia for FLETC's work to achieve this mission. We have indeed addressed some important construction requirements at FLETC to keep it on its necessary construction schedule. I certainly want to assure my colleague that I look forward to working with him further to ensure that additional FLETC funding is going to be given every consideration as the bill does move through the process.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I understand the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) has made his presentation and is prepared to have the Chair rule on his point of order.

Mr. ISTOOK

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during consideration of H.R. 2950 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 206 no further amendment to the bill may be offered except: Pro forma amendments offered by the chairman or ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate. The amendment numbered 8, which shall be debatable for 30 minutes. The amendment by Representative Filner of California that I have placed at the desk which shall be debatable for 40 minutes. Each such amendment may be offered only by the Member designated in this request, the Member who caused it to be printed, or a designee, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, and shall not be subject to amendment, except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations, or a designee, each may offer one pro forma amendment for the purpose of further debate on any pending amendment.

Mr. ISTOOK. Any such unanimous consent is fine with me. I believe it is necessary before we return to Committee that we do this.

Mr. ISTOOK

Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 2590, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.