Alan Mollohan

Mr. MOLLOHAN

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, we accept the amendment.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Let me make my point. It is my time. I will let you respond to me. Under the distribution, the first distribution of moneys under this program was $43 million. California got $33 million, Florida got $1 million. Under my amendment, Florida gets $1.5 million. It is a net gain for the State of Florida and for every other State if this money is put through the Byrne grant program, and Florida can spend the money, if they want, on incarceration of illegal aliens. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Luther].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the amendment that I propose today to the body, I think, is about fairness in the distribution of scarce crime fighting dollars. It is really at the heart of it. Mr. Chairman, for Members who do not know, or for whom, perhaps, it would be helpful for the purposes of this debate to refresh their memory, in the crime trust fund we have approximately $4 billion that is allocated. Mr. Chairman, out of that $4 billion, approximately a half a billion is spent on the Federal level, and that includes enhancements to the immigration initiative. It is enhancements to the FBI, to U.S. attorneys, to the DEA, to the Border Patrol, and to the Judiciary, and a number of other miscellaneous programs. Out of that $4 billion, that is about half a billion dollars. Then, Mr. Chairman, there is about $116 million in budget authority for prevention programs. So, we are getting close up to a billion dollars there. Then, Mr. Chairman, when we go into the State and local assistance accounts, which are the biggest accounts, there is $3.3 billion. Out of that $3.3 billion, $2 billion goes into this program, the block grants, and last night we argued strongly that that $2 billion be apportioned to the COPS Program. Then that leaves about $1.3 billion. Out of that $1.3 billion, Mr. Chairman, approximately $475 million, about half a billion dollars, is apportioned for the Byrne Grant Program. Now, all of my colleagues know about the Byrne Grant Program. It is an extremely flexible program, getting money down to local law enforcement, which is used for a variety of purposes. There are about 21 authorized purposes for Byrne grants and they are very good, because they are very flexible. Subsequently, they are very popular. For example, the DARE Program is funded through Byrne grants. The drug task forces are funded by Byrne grants all across this country in every State of the country. Byrne grant money is used for flexible purposes at all levels of Government. There is a half billion dollars in here for that Byrne grant money which is available to every State in the Union. Mr. Chairman, out of that approximately $1 billion left, we take the Byrne grant out and now we have just a little more than a billion dollars. $500 million, or half a billion dollars, is appropriated in this bill to reimburse States, seven States, Mr. Chairman, and really principally one, for incarceration of illegal aliens; to pay for prison guards, if you will. I am not suggesting during this debate, that we should not reimburse States for incarceration of illegal aliens. I think that is a proper purpose of the Federal Government within this crime trust fund. I do not object to the funding. I do question the level of funding, because I think it is disproportionate. It is, in fact, not fair. We have the Byrne Grant Program, which is about half a billion dollars, which is apportioned to all of the States, and we have the incarceration that goes to seven, and 80 percent of it to one State, to California. Mr. Chairman, in committee I offered an amendment to combine these accounts. The Byrne Grant Program, money is sent out to all the States on a formula basis, based on population essentially. So, every State shares proportionately in the Byrne grant money. Every State, based on its population, receives money. We cannot get any fairer than that. Under the Illegal Alien Program, it goes to States that incarcerate illegal aliens. The amendment that I offered in full committee would combine that money, send money to all the States, that billion dollars, and send that to all the States to be apportioned more fairly so that States have money to fight what is their particular crime problem, what is their particular priority. Now, we lost that pretty much on a party line vote in full committee and we could not get a rule to offer it. So today this amendment that I offer is far more modest than that. Mr. Chairman, we take out of the $500 million for incarceration of illegal aliens only $30 million and we apportion it to the Byrne Grant Program which funds it at its authorized level of $505 million. Mr. Chairman, this means more money for every State in the Union for the Byrne Grant Program. More money to every State, even the seven States that receive money from incarceration of illegal aliens. It does mean that the incarceration of illegal alien account is reduced by $30 million. The only State in the Union that receives less total dollars is California. But let me emphasize, Mr. Chairman, California gets 80 percent of $470 million; 80 percent of $730 million if my amendment is adopted. Mr. Chairman, it is a simple amendment, really. It is about fairness, it is doing what we can to get dollars apportioned across this country so that every jurisdiction can use these dollars for crime fighting. The benefits are set out in a handout that I will have for Members at the time of the vote, and it shows State by State, the benefit and the difference that this amendment would mean to the States and the difference is additional dollars to go into the Byrne Grant Program for local community law enforcement. California gets $3.6 more million for Byrne grant. New York would get $2 million more for Byrne grant. Illinois would get $1.3 million more for Byrne grant. West Virginia would get $208,000 more, which may not sound like a lot of money, but $208,000 for local law enforcement is a lot of money, particularly when it is used more efficiently for the Byrne Grant Program. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise], the ranking member of the authorizing committee.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of objection. the CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Continuing my reservation of objection, Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Rogers].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman, would the Chair explain that arrangement to me again?

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, we have to objection to the amendment.

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

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Towns].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes. Mr. Chairman, I rise in very strong opposition to the Hefley amendment. No other agency, no other program, Mr. Chairman, in the Federal Government has the flexibility of EDA to respond to unique community needs. EDA programs target funds in areas of need and assistance across the board. For communities who are experiencing structural economic changes, and many across the Nation are, EDA provides flexible assistance to help them design and implement their own local recovery strategies. For communities who are experiencing long-term economic distress, EDA provides funding necessary to repair decaying infrastructure, and it is doing so in virtually every congressional district across the Nation. Mr. Chairman, defense conversion has been on the lips and minds of every Member of this Congress, and we have had strategies to try to address the massive job losses associated with defense downsizing. It is EDA that has the flexibility to step up and address those concerns. Mr. Chairman, over the last 30 years EDA has invested $15.6 billion in our Nation's distressed communities. I really urge my colleagues to think strongly about this amendment. Oppose the Hefley amendment.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, there have been some comments made about meeting our obligation to fight the illegal alien problem, and I would say in this bill, with the chairman's leadership, we have provided resources to do just that. We have provided resources under the INS for illegal alien problems: 700 new Border Patrol agents, 400 new inspectors, 945 new detention personnel, and 750 new investigators, and that is very robustly funded to the tune of about a half-billion dollars in the crime trust fund. We have provided $500 million in this bill for reimbursement to States for incarceration of illegal aliens. There is only $30 million out of that to spread around the country.

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, how much time remains?

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Beilenson]. (Mr. BEILENSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California [Ms. Eshoo]. (Ms. ESHOO asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds], who knows an awful lot about this issue.

Mr. MOLLOHAN

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Olver].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Fazio].

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Berman]. (Mr. BERMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)