Alan Mollohan

Mr. MOLLOHAN

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that reduced-time voting in the Committee of the Whole may span the intervention of a rising of the Committee for the administration of the oath of office to a Representative-elect in the House.

Mr. MOLLOHAN

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, we are willing to accept the gentlelady's amendment.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, first of all, I want to commend the gentleman for raising this issue. Six of the seven sea turtle species are endangered. It is a real concern. It is a real plight. We can be particularly proactive trying to address the endangered status of these turtles in our borders. It becomes far more difficult as we go out around the world. It is important that we address it and we pay increasing attention to it. The gentleman requests an additional $1 million. There is a $9 million program looking at this. We intend to work with the gentleman, if he so desires, to ensure that NOAA is increasingly focusing on the problem, and we will be bringing the gentleman's concern to their attention, and letting them understand that. We will be working with the professionals at NOAA, and we want to give them all of the support that we can and let them know that this is a priority for us. So I commend the gentleman for bringing the issue to our attention, and assure him that we look forward to working with him not only as we process this bill through to completion, but subsequent to that and throughout the year to ensure that NOAA gives it the adequate attention that this issue deserves.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. I yield.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to another distinguished member of the subcommittee, Mr. Ruppersberger.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to another distinguished member of the subcommittee, Ms. DeLauro.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield the remaining time to another distinguished member of the subcommittee, Mr. Kennedy.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Absolutely. And we will take the gentleman's concerns about that to heart as well. We appreciate the gentleman's hard work on this and appreciate the excellent staff work that he has had in bringing this to the floor. Amendment No. 4 Offered by Mr. Rogers of Michigan

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I commend the gentleman for raising this issue. I assure him that I share his concern. I think most members of our subcommittee share his concern with any unwise cuts to Census. That happened in full committee. There was an amendment which used Census as an offset; $25 million came from the periodic census, $5 million came from salaries and expenses. Both of them were very regrettable offsets. We are going to work to restore those offsets as we move forward into conference, and I have a considerable amount of confidence that we will be able to achieve that. Again, I commend the gentleman for bringing this up and giving us an opportunity to express and share our concerns with him and also to make that commitment that we are going to work as hard as we can as we move forward to restore this funding to Census. It is usually important to the Nation that the decennial census move according to a regular process which requires a lot of preparation in the early years. And the gentleman's foresight in seeing that and his insistence on our proceeding accordingly is really appreciated because we want that pressure from the body to make sure that we adequately fund Census.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment which, again, shows there is a run on the Census Bureau; it's as though the Census Bureau wasn't important, and it's crucially important. We have funded the southwest border prosecutors program at $30 million in this bill, and the President requested zero for it in this bill. So I think we're keeping faith with the southwest border prosecutors. And we have kept faith and funded in this bill tremendous amounts of money for State and local law enforcement above the President's request, $1.7 billion above the President's request. So we really are addressing these concerns. We can go anywhere in the bill for any worthy cause, especially all of the law enforcement accounts, they're all worthy causes, and say, oh, let's increase the funding for that. It makes it sound like we are newly addressing an issue where it has been substantively addressed previously in this bill. Now, let's look at the offset. And again, we're looking at Census like it's not important, and it's crucially important. Specifically these cuts that were represented by the offsets to this increase would eliminate the current Industrial Reports Program used by the Federal Reserve Board for the index of industrial production and also used in trade negotiations by our U.S. Trade Representative, the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce's Office of Textiles and Apparel. This amendment will also make it impossible to assess the impact of increased imports on domestic industries. Secondly, this offset would eliminate the quarterly financial reports which are the government's most current and comprehensive reports on corporate financial activity. This break in this valuable time series program, which goes back 60 years, there is a continuity to this program, would erode the quality of our statistical measurements, hinder public and private decisionmakers and eliminate a critical source of information on corporate profits. Next, Mr. Chairman, it would eliminate the Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons, which is the only comprehensive source of information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners. The survey data is absolutely critical to the missions of the Minority Business Development Agency, the Small Business Administration, and other Federal, State and local agencies to assess changes in women and minority-owned business, and to analyze the effectiveness of these programs. And the amendment it would eliminate funding to the Foreign Research and Analysis Program, which generates economic, social and demographic information. Do we see the harm that this amendment and this offset would do to the Census Bureau, to the statistics we gather that are absolutely crucial to business, in addition to the overall attitude about an almost frivolousness as we deal with the important business that the Census Bureau does? Let's respect the Census Bureau. Let's respect the surveys and the reports and economic statistics which it generates, which we rely on in our daily lives for social programs, but also for the important purpose of assessing where we are and where we stand in business in an increasingly competitive world. I oppose the gentlelady's amendment on all of those grounds, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chairman, this bill is currently balanced among the many competing priorities between the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science. The amendment significantly upsets that balance. This Congress has already provided the proper funding mechanism for enhanced 9/11 grants, which is through proceeds realized through the sale of the spectrum space. I have grave concerns about a $5 million reduction to the general administration account of the Department of Justice. The Department may have to lay off its current personnel, reduce key projects that might have to be terminated, and substantially scale back others in order to absorb a reduction in this office. We have to be respectful in the requests and the necessity of having adequate funding and adequate personnel to run these programs, to run the Department of Justice. Let's not be cavalier in these offsets. Just because the account is called ``general'' doesn't mean that it doesn't need funding. It also doesn't mean that we haven't been careful and deliberate as we have looked at the needs and funded these accounts. These are real people we are talking about laying off. They have real jobs, and they administer real programs. So when we offer an amendment and suggest a $5 million offset, we have to be mindful of the consequences of that. DOJ is currently challenged to fill authorized positions at all of its components. We are increasing funding at the DOJ. Partly these funding requirements are the result of chronic gaps between the funding requested and appropriated for the S&E accounts and the true cost of pay raises. Let's be respectful of other people in their jobs as we consider these offsets. I yield to the distinguished ranking member.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I thank the distinguished ranking member for those thoughts. If I have any time left, Mr. Chairman, I would just point out that about 90 percent of the account where the gentleman is seeking an offset, the general administrative account, goes towards operational support for the Department of Justice agencies and their missions, by maintaining and overseeing facilities, for procurement of law enforcement tools for agents and employees, and for management of financial systems. Cutting this account could prevent implementation of a unified financial management system that would limit the fraud, waste, and abuse that everyone in this body talks about. These are not the areas in which we want to make cuts.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. The gentleman attempts to move $2 million out of NOAA, out of the very important programs that fund the National Weather Service--fisheries, oceans, climate--money that is used to do a lot of the research that is extremely important to all of these areas, including climate change. We have tried to fund NOAA in a way that respects its mission this year in the House of Representatives. Typically we don't do that, and the Senate earmarks it. We have tried to go through account by account and look at the National Weather Service, look at the fisheries, look at oceans and look at climate change, and fund these programs accordingly. This money will take away from that effort. Now, where is the money going? It is going to the ITC. During a hearing we specifically asked Chairman Pearson if he got his request, and he got the funding he requested as he requested it, if he would be happy and if he would be made whole. And his testimony specifically to us: ``If you do that, Mr. Chairman, then we are very happy.'' And that's what we did in this bill, so I really don't see the need under any circumstances for increasing the ITC at this time. The gentleman mentioned all of the important missions of the ITC and all of the work it does. And you know what? We respect that, and we have funded it completely in this bill and been responsive to the Chairman Pearson's request. He represented to us at the hearing that if we were to do that, which we did, that he would be totally happy with this funding. I have to say that the gentleman is laboring on behalf of an agency that is fully funded and above that has received all of the funding requested in this bill. So I oppose this amendment to take money from science programs and to take it for no compelling reason from NOAA.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I accept the gentlelady's amendment. The level of funding for this program needs to be increased to help foster and promote traditional indigenous fishing practices. The gentlelady has been a tireless supporter of assisting the indigenous people of Guam, Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific. And this funding provides funds for a competitive grant within NOAA to allow indigenous peoples of the western Pacific to explore new fishing means both which are safe and economically sustainable. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman seeks to increase by a factor of two the hurricane intensity forecast capability. There is a lot of concern with regard to this. We certainly are extremely sympathetic to the purpose of the amendment. We do not like the offset at all. I am wondering if the gentleman would, and I will yield to him for a discussion of this, if the gentleman would like to work with us and secure this funding, do everything we can. I think $2 million we certainly can do as we process this bill forward to conference.

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