Marcy Kaptur

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. I respectfully ask for the Chair's ruling on that.

Ms. KAPTUR. Maybe I need a few more. I thank the gentleman for that good advice. I would just say to the gentleman this is the type of insertion in a bill that breaks down camaraderie, and the proposal that I want to debate on this floor had bipartisan support in the committee. It is a program that has been operating since 1988. We are being denied that opportunity, and you are being given special privilege. I really think it is wrong of the Committee on Rules.

Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman for that advice. The amazing thing is I am not fighting for my district. I am fighting for 435 congressional districts. I asked for the opportunity to be heard.

Ms. KAPTUR. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Ms. KAPTUR. I think the gentleman should think long and hard about what he is doing because you are taking a personal privilege, in a sense, going to the Committee on Rules, and obviously your party controls that committee, but for a special project in one place in this country that is unauthorized. You are being given a special privilege when Members here on this floor are being denied the opportunity to debate major portions of this bill which apply to everyone.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey].

Ms. KAPTUR. To further clarify, Mr. Chairman, in no case would either of those votes occur before 10 o'clock tomorrow morning; is that my understanding?

Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the Chairman. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Sabo].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, further reserving the right to object, I thank the gentleman for responding. I would hope that, as you discussed, that our amendment concerning drug elimination would be one of the first votes in the morning, since we discussed that at length today and I think the Members are waiting for it.

Ms. KAPTUR. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.

Ms. KAPTUR. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Ms. KAPTUR. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Ms. KAPTUR. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman, I doubt that I will object, but I did want to ask the chairman, at what point will our amendment No. 2, the one that was rolled until tomorrow morning concerning drug elimination, at what time in the proceedings might that come up tomorrow, please, in view of these recently announced time limits?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment, No. 2.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, let me just say, in response to the gentleman from Florida who spoke about will the FEMA account be whole, I served on the Committee on Appropriations for three terms now. There are funds in the FEMA account. In fact, we have moved other funds from the FEMA account, because they were unexpended, to other purposes within the bill. In addition to that, these dollars for the drug elimination program do not spend out at a 100 percent rate, they spend out at a 7 percent rate, which means that the drawdown would be very slow and measured. I think it would be very unwise of us, however, to zero out an account that has been in existence and working since 1988 and having success throughout this country in every State in the Union, in towns and cities whose names you will recognize on this list of beneficiary communities. In my own community of Toledo, Ohio, I can tell you that in one year the presence of this program resulted in a 20 percent reduction in crime associated with drugs in the neighborhoods that benefited from the program. Security cars, police monitoring, work with the sheriff, all of the various patrols that were necessary have made an incredible difference. Mr. Chairman, I think that for those of our colleagues who may not be familiar with this program, please think carefully before you vote on this. It is likely your community is on this list. If you are not sure, come and see me, but, in any case, over 2,000 communities across this country are benefiting today. The other dollars in the accounts that exist in this bill have been cut substantially by almost 25 percent. The dollars are not there for your mayors to choose between will they take care of the homeless when those funds are cut by half or will they deal with drug dealers in these neighborhoods. We must earmark these dollars. The money is there in FEMA. We are not asking for a whole lot. This will make a tremendous amount of difference. Let us put these people in jail and clean up our streets. Please vote ``yes'' on the Kaptur amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Fields].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, would the Chair advise me how much time I have remaining?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Charles Rangel, the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means, who knows more about this terrible, terrible problem than anyone I know.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I respect the gentleman's opinion. There are sufficient funds in FEMA to cover natural disasters that have occurred. Would the gentleman agree that there are human disasters occurring every day where drug lords control the neighborhoods in which we live?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the amendment we are offering has been redrafted from this afternoon, and I doubt that there will be any points of order that will be able to be raised against the amendment. Essentially what this amendment does is to maintain the successful anti-drug program that has existed since 1988 when Jack Kemp, in the Bush administration, began this program. In the Case bill, Mr. Chairman, this program was completely zeroed out. During the deliberations of the full committee, I attempted to restore these funds, and we came within five votes of doing so on a bipartisan basis. Sixteen members of the committee were absent for that vote. We went to the Committee on Rules attempting to get a rule that would permit us to offer an amendment concerning this program on the floor. This is what we are attempting to do this evening. Our amendment will shift $234 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account and shift it to the public housing modernization account, where it is earmarked for anti-drug activities. This is a budget-neutral amendment, and in fact, even with our amendment passing, this program will have $54 million less in it than in the prior years during which it has been funded. I do not think any person in this Chamber could agree with me more when I say that there is no greater scourge affecting our country in every city, town, and neighborhood, than the scourge of illicit drugs and drug trafficking. No Member here wants to be in the position of turning back the progress that has been made in this extremely successful program. Every Member, before they vote, should call their mayor, they should call the director of their local housing authority, and ask them how successful this program has been. I stood in Chicago when Charlie Hayes served in this Chamber and watched snipers on the roofs of those housing projects in Chicago controlling the activities of thousands of people who lived in those buildings and in the surrounding neighborhoods. Mr. Chairman, this program cleans up those streets and projects that were out of control. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts, Joe Kennedy, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Banking and Financial Services.

Ms. KAPTUR. Let me further ask the gentleman then, what gives you special privilege on this floor over any other Member?

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I was listening very carefully to what the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], chairman of the Committee on Rules, just said. As the chairman knows, I came before the Committee on Rules in an attempt to get my amendment in order on this floor to have a full debate on the Drug Elimination Program. Mr. Speaker, this bill eliminates the Drug Elimination Program, which I think is absolutely wrong for this country. It affects the town of the gentleman from New York, my town, every city and town in this country. I was denied the ability to bring that amendment up on the basis that this rule waived points of order.