Michael McCaul

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I thank the chairman. I rise today to offer an amendment that will partially restore the administration's funding request for the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement account in the FY08 State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations bill. This amendment would add $30 million to the account, halfway between the committee funding level and the President's request. This is a bipartisan amendment. I would like to thank my colleague on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Cuellar, for his support as an author and cosponsor. Earlier this month I attended the U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group in Austin, Texas, and for 3 days we talked about issues important to the United States and Mexico. The major topic discussed was the issue of increasing violence and lawlessness along the U.S.-Mexico border. The drug cartels have taken control over northern Mexico and law enforcement has become corrupt and ineffective. Since his inauguration earlier this year, President Calderon has begun a renewed effort to reestablish law enforcement's control over his country and their borders. However, the drug kingpins are ruthless in their efforts to retain control and the Mexican Government's law enforcement capabilities are sorely outdated. Just recently, the drug cartels brazenly ordered the assassination of a Mexican state legislator. I would like to take a moment to commend Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Wolf for including $27.5 million in the bill for this effort and for recognizing in the report language of the bill the need to address this problem which so devastatingly impacts our southern border, our national security and the citizens of this country. However, I believe that additional funding would go a long way to eradicating the drug cartels. The offset in this amendment is a $30 million reduction in the contributions to the international organization's account. I believe it's a worthwhile transfer of funds that will benefit not only our border with Mexico but also our counterdrug efforts worldwide. One of the most important international peacekeeping efforts today should be on the southern border against the violent criminal enterprise of the narcotraffickers. The cartels control the corridor routes into this country, exporting drugs and human trafficking across our southern border. The intersection between these criminal enterprises and potential terrorists could be deadly. In the post-9/11 world, we can no longer continue to ignore this threat. At a time when the newly elected Mexican Government has stepped forward and made a commitment to reform its law enforcement and combat the drug cartels, it is important that we provide as much funding and resources as possible to the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement program. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2638, as currently written, prohibits the use of funds for additional unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, until the Customs and Border Patrol informs the House and Senate Appropriations Committees that their use is cost-effective. I submit today that they are worth every penny. My amendment would strike that provision which would otherwise be protected by the rule. These eyes of the sky bring exceptional operational capabilities to the table. They can stay airborne for 30 to 40 hours and can carry state-of-the-art technology through day and night cameras, radar tracking systems, and other surveillance tools. UAVs working the borders have flown over 2,000 hours and aided in the arrests of nearly 3,900 illegal immigrants and the seizure of over 13,000 pounds of marijuana. UAVs are not in sufficient quantities to provide economies of scale and, as such, will always be more expensive to operate than a pilot in a small aircraft. But, Mr. Chairman, cost is not the only consideration. On March 20, 2007, a UAV detected and tracked six illegal aliens trying to cross the southern border. When border officials arrived on the scene, they seized 395 pounds of marijuana and arrested all six. Among the six was a fugitive wanted in Kings County, Washington, on charges of third-degree rape of a child. We should be providing our border authorities with more technology and tools. We talked a lot about the fence but this is the technology piece. More technology and tools, not less. Had a UAV not detected the entry of those illegal immigrants, how many more children may have been victimized by sexual predators? I think this is an important piece to our overall security of the border, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of my amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, let me simply just say we obviously do not have enough manpower down at the border. These ``eyes in the skies,'' as we call them, provide the surveillance technology that is just absolutely critical to surveilling the border to stop this flood of illegal immigration and potential terrorism. Mr. Chairman, with that, I would yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray).

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, section 531 prohibits the implementation of MAX-HR. MAX-HR is the human resources program that allows DHS wide latitude in personnel matters such as transferring workers to areas where they may be needed during a national emergency. Congress gave the Department this ability so that it could move quickly to protect the country from terrorist threats. While some authority is currently under judicial review, the bill as currently written would enjoin the entire program until courts decide. If this section were to pass as written, it would result in an action that is not consistent with the purposes of Homeland Security. My amendment would strike section 531 of this bill and allow current regulations to continue until the courts make their final judgment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I respect the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, but I would say I believe it's important that we let the courts decide this matter. It's under judicial review, just a small part of the human resources program at the Department of Homeland Security. I think it would be a tremendous mistake for us in the Congress, as a separate branch of government, to essentially enjoin, essentially enjoin the executive branch in the human resource program that has combined 22 agencies, developed the human resources program that has been efficient in many respects, only because the courts have enjoined a very small portion. Again, let's let the courts decide this issue, and let's let the rest of the program go forward. I know that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would like to move the Department into a more unionized system that is not merit based. My view is that that would cripple our ability to respond in emergency situations. That was the view of the Congress at the time that we developed the Department of Homeland Security, and that is the view of this Congressman at this time.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. In response to the issues raised, the DNDO has reached an agreement in principle with State and local stakeholders, and it is about 95 percent there. I submit we cannot wait another year for the appropriations cycle to take place. This amendment is important. It restores $40 million to the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. The lack of these funds threatens to delay the completion of the radiation portal monitor program and significantly impair the implementation of securing the cities initiative. Both of these initiatives aim to strengthen the Nation's defenses against a terror attack by a nuclear device or a radioactive ``dirty bomb.'' There is no doubt that the risks are real. We know that nuclear terrorism is the number one threat facing our country and that the economic costs associated with a dirty bomb could reach about $1 trillion. We know that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network have been attempting to acquire a nuclear bomb. We also know that hundreds of tons of the necessary ingredients of nuclear weapons are dangerously insecure all over the world. There have been numerous documented cases of theft of weapons-grade nuclear material. But nuclear terrorism is, in fact, preventable, and we should be spending Homeland Security dollars on preventing what could be a catastrophic attack against the United States. Twenty million dollars of the cuts to the DNDO comes out of the radiation portal monitor program. It would delay the completion of these until the year 2013. Acquisition of systems for five ports of entry, including the Port of Houston in my home State of Texas, would be delayed, and this means that more unscreened cargo would get into this country. Such a delay is unacceptable. And the best deterrence against terrorism is to disrupt the ability of terrorists to do what they want to do, and that is to kill Americans. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I too am a member of the Homeland Security Committee. I was also a Federal prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section in Washington, and I also serve on the Ethics Committee. I would respectfully submit that we are not muddling up the process but rather trying to restore ethics and integrity to the process and to this institution. In my view, this is Congress at its worst. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have created a secret slush fund with billions in secret earmarks hidden from public scrutiny. This comes on the heels of many broken promises that we heard, promises such as from Speaker Pelosi: ``We will bring transparency and openness to the budget process and to the use of earmarks.'' The majority leader, Steny Hoyer, said: ``We are going to adopt rules that make the system of legislation transparent so that we don't legislate in the dark of the night.'' Yet that is exactly what is occurring in this body. CNN, not exactly a conservative think tank, actually said that the Democrats promised reform and it is not happening: ``The `anti-earmark reforms' are just for show. Mere window dressing.'' This process signals a retreat in the secret dealings and a guarantee of fiscal and ethical abuse. Earmarks should always be open to public vetting, full debate, and floor challenge, as we attempted to do in the last Congress. Now, Mr. Obey and the Democrats are stuck between the pork and those campaign promises that they made. And so those promises are given away. The majority wants this Congress to operate behind closed doors in dark corridors where the precept of Justice Brandeis that ``sunlight is the best disinfectant'' is hardly known. The powerful impact of public debate and a free press are critical features of an American democracy and they are missing, Mr. Chairman. They are missing here today in this Congress. Secrecy creates a breeding ground for corruption. Openness is an important part of ensuring that government officials are acting in the best interest of the public and that the citizens are not being manipulated by special interest groups. Here we have one man, one man and an unelected staff, determining the power of the purse for the United States Congress, acting on behalf of 435 Members elected by the United States. Yet we have one man to make all the decisions about the spending for the United States Government. This is not, I submit, a democracy. This is a monarchy. And to quote James Cooper: ``A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring a costly parade, and he who depends on his own power to rule must strengthen that power by bribing the active and enterprising whom he cannot intimidate. ``A nation is truly corrupt, when, after having, by degrees lost its character and liberty, it slides from democracy into aristocracy for monarchy; this is the death of the political body . . . '' Someone said: ``The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of democracy should be the weapon of openness.'' That is what we are trying to achieve here today. I will close with a quote from Lord Byron, and I think he sums up this debate better than any quote I have heard when he said: ``The Cardinal is at his wit's end; it is true that he had not far to go.''

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill. I also rise as a former Federal prosecutor who prosecuted, under the Federal firearms statute, gun cases. I want to commend Chairman Dingell, Congresswoman McCarthy, and the National Rifle Association for reaching what I consider to be a good result on a bill that, in my view, is necessary. It has been illegal for various individuals to purchase firearms for many years, illegal aliens, mentally defective individuals, those using illegal drugs, and people convicted of crimes of domestic violence. But for too long, in my experience and many of my colleagues whom I worked with in the Justice Department, the system, the background check system was not accurate. The information was not fully put into the system. In my view, if we are going to have a background check system, we ought to do it right. So let's get the system right. I think that is what this bill does. It gets the system right. It provides the Federal funding necessary to get the system right. And at the same time, it protects law-abiding citizens, those who are law abiding who want to purchase firearms. It protects their second amendment rights, and it keeps guns out of the hands of the bad guys. I prosecuted cases under the Exile Program, which was a program sponsored by the National Rifle Association, and what we found was that it was bad guys that possessed firearms that caused the crime in this country. And we found when we locked up the bad guys who possessed these firearms that the crime rate actually went down. So with that, I, again, give my support to this bill.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I want to first thank Mr. Lipinski and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their strong support of this bill, which I introduced in the last Congress; and I'm pleased to see it get to the House floor in this Congress. The National Academies' Rising Above the Gathering Storm report echoed the call of many in the academic and business community for greater need to recruit and develop scientific and engineering talent to work on solving problems of national need. Like many Members of Congress, I'm concerned about America's dependence on foreign sources of energy. Our reliance on imported energy only serves to increase our vulnerability to both external events and the actions of regimes that are, in many cases, openly hostile to the interests of the United States. One of the ways we can reduce the need for energy imports is to use our energy more efficiently. Buildings consume more energy than any other sector of the economy, including industry and transportation. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, American buildings consume 39 percent of our Nation's primary energy and 70 percent of electricity. However, energy efficient building practices are not being fully utilized, in part because of a lack of awareness about energy efficient technologies and design practices among building professionals. That is why I introduced the Green Energy Education Act. This legislation authorizes the Department of Energy to partner with the National Science Foundation to support graduate education and curriculum development to advance DOE's broad energy technology development mission. Working through NSF, DOE will help develop the next generation of engineers and architects to produce buildings incorporating the latest in energy efficient technologies. In order to reduce the likelihood of duplicative and wasteful programs, this bill also allows the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation to combine their efforts to find workable solutions to the issues surrounding building efficiency that then can be transferred to the marketplace. Specifically, H.R. 1716 will authorize DOE's Office of Science and applied energy technology programs to contribute funds to the NSF's successful Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program, which is already doing great work in this area. This bill also authorizes the DOE to contribute to NSF's curriculum development activities in order to improve the ability of engineers and architects to design and construct more efficient and durable buildings. I urge my colleagues to support this important step towards increasing America's energy independence. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first I rise in support of this bill, and I am pleased that our troops are being supported with the funding necessary. But I also rise in my capacity as ranking member of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee to make an important observation about this supplemental appropriations bill. The funding included in the prior supplemental that would have provided $800 million for advancing the national strategy for pandemic influenza are not in this supplemental. I'm perplexed as to how the strategic threat to this Nation of a pandemic influenza outbreak declined in the past 2 weeks. We all voted to include it then, and now it is gone. I bring this up to remind all of us that emerging threats are best addressed with preparation before the outbreak. Once an outbreak occurs, it is too late. I cannot tell you the day or week when the pandemic influenza will occur, but all the experts agree that it will. Our only strategy, therefore, is to prepare now so we will be ready when it does happen. We run catastrophic risks in delaying this pandemic influenza preparation, and I strongly encourage the House to include this funding in the next appropriations vehicle. The risks here are simply too great to postpone our preparations.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I thank the chairman.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of an important amendment to H.R. 1427. As we all know, the underlying bill creates an Affordable Housing Fund. In addition, the bill provides for the establishment of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, should Congress decide to create one in the future. All the moneys from the Affordable Housing Fund would then be transferred into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. While I have serious concerns that a fund like this creates the opportunity for fraud, waste and abuse, and detracts from the bipartisan goal of GSE reform, I would like to commend the chairman of the Financial Services Committee for including in the bill a list of prohibited uses for the housing fund grants. These prohibitions include political activities, advocacy and lobbying. I know that my friends on the other side of the aisle agree with me when I say that government grants should not be used to fund political activities of any sort. If they didn't, they would not have included it in this bill. My amendment simply applies the exact same restrictions on any future trust fund. While an argument can be made against this amendment that the prohibitions are implied in the text of the bill, it is important in my view that when we are dealing with the taxpayers' dollars that we are as clear and explicit as possible. I thank the chairman.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the Nation about one of the finest and most dedicated members of America's law enforcement community, and one of the best sheriffs to ever have served in the 10th Congressional District of Texas. For 29 years, the good people of Lee County, Texas, trusted Joe Goodson to be their sheriff. He passed away last month, but left those he protected with a safe, friendly and God-fearing community. Sheriff Joe, as he was known to the thousands of people who called him a friend, worked hard, not just for the people of his county, but for all Texans and for all Americans. His fellow Texas sheriffs chose him to lead the Sheriffs' Association of Texas. He was a member of the Auto Theft Task Force, the Narcotics Task Force, and he was the head of the cold case review people team. But it wasn't just that he was among the finest lawmen in Texas that made Sheriff Joe so well liked and so respected. Sheriff Goodson always treated others the same way he wanted to be treated, and the thousands of people who knew him respected him for it. Law enforcement ran in Sheriff Joe's blood. His dad, Vernon Goodson, served as sheriff in Lee County for 25 years before his son Joe was elected and took over the position. And as Buddy Price, the editor of the Giddings Times and News in Lee County, will tell you, they were both dedicated to their jobs and loved the people they served. While they both enforced the law vigorously, they also used commonsense and resolved situations peacefully whenever they could. One of the things Sheriff Joe is best known for is a responsible, some would even say the conservative way in which he ran his sheriff's office. He saw the money entrusted to him and his deputies as the people's money. He ran a tight ship and accounted for every dollar his department spent. But once again, I have to go back to who Sheriff Goodson was as a person. As his family will tell you, one of the things he loved most was leading the Blue Santa Program to provide gifts for needy families during the Christmas season. He helped raise money for Blue Santa with auctions, and he even served as an auctioneer. To Joe's wife, Robyn, and Joe's entire family, and to the good people of Lee County, you have the thanks of a grateful Nation. We are indebted to you, and we mourn your loss. So to the good Lord above, I hope you are ready for one more angel up there because Sheriff Joe is on his way.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today not in opposition to what this legislation stands for, but out of concern for what this legislation fails to include. Numerous provisions that were part of the authorization bill which were approved unanimously and reported by the Committee on Homeland Security were removed from the legislation that is before us today. And these provisions were largely eliminated without any real policy justification for their removal. Never in the history of the Homeland Security Committee has such an action been done. One of these provisions stripped from the authorization bill before us today was based on a piece of legislation I introduced which authorizes the National Bio and Agro Facility, or NBAF. The text of this legislation was unanimously approved at the Committee on Homeland Security authorization bill markup. I am at a loss as to why my colleagues across the other side of the aisle unilaterally decided to eliminate the NBAF provision from this bill, especially when some of my Democratic colleagues on the committee, including Chairman Thompson, were original cosponsors of the NBAF legislation. The need for the NBAF is clear and immediate. Its establishment is crucial to defending our Nation from agroterrorism and naturally occurring animal diseases. Currently, there's not one Biosafety Level 3 and BSL 4 livestock laboratory in the United States, and the NBAF provision would have authorized a facility to fill that gap. DHS is conducting a site selection process right now. Eighteen sites have been looked at across the country, one close to my district at Texas A&M. They are investing significant resources in the competition. I'd also like to note that some of the other sites being considered lie in or near districts represented by Democratic colleagues. Congress has already provided $46 million for pre-construction NBAF activities, and yet, DHS currently does not have the legal authority it needs to even procure the land. Because the enactment of this legislation is crucial to the establishment of the NBAF and to defending the Nation against the threats of agroterrorism, and because this legislation was eliminated from the authorization bill before us, I urge my colleagues to work to move forward in a bipartisan way to help secure our homeland and to pass H.R. 1717.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support this bill and thank Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall, a fellow Texan, for their hard work and leadership on this issue. I think we can all agree on the importance of ensuring America is competitive in science and engineering. As the National Academy of Sciences report ``Rising Above the Gathering Storm'' warned, this country is in danger of losing its leadership role in these fields. Last year I sponsored the Research For Competitiveness Act to address this issue. Unfortunately, that legislation did not come to the floor of the House after being passed by the Science Committee. However, I am pleased in this Congress in a bipartisan fashion to note that H.R. 363 incorporates sections from last year's bill that establish early-career grants for young scientists and engineers. These grants will encourage scientists and engineers in the early stages of their academic careers to establish innovative lines of research. This approach continues the successful model of partnership between the Federal Government and America's universities. As you know, many of the technologies we enjoy today, such as breakthroughs that enabled e-commerce to become a reality in the 1990s, are based on research initially conducted at universities like the University of Texas in my hometown of Austin. When we fund programs such as these, we are investing in minds and helping create the next generation of America's high-tech workforce. Therefore, I strongly support this legislation and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I want to thank my colleague from Texas, Mr. Green, for introducing this bill. It has been a real honor to work with you on this bill. I am proud to be a lead sponsor and to have played a role in terms of whipping votes on my side of the aisle and getting this bill to the floor of the House where it stands today. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this important piece of legislation which honors a former President of the United States and his commitment to better educate the future generations of America. Today, we will vote to name the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building. And, by doing so, we honor a son of Texas who left a positive mark on me, my family, the State of Texas, and this country. Born on August 27, 1908, in Stonewall, Texas, Lyndon Johnson's family knew that he was destined to do great things. The future President got his experience in Washington first as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleburg. Shortly after that, Johnson met Claudia Alta Taylor, a woman the world has come to affectionately know as Lady Bird. In 1937, after the death of Congressman James Buchanan, Lyndon Johnson entered a special election for the 10th Congressional District of Texas, a district which I am proud to represent today. Representative Johnson beat nine other candidates to win the seat, an experience that I can personally relate to. In addition to his tour of duty during World War II, LBJ would spend the next 23 years in the Congress as both a Congressman and Senator. During his career in the Congress, Johnson would serve as Senate minority and Senate majority leader. As President Kennedy's Vice President, Johnson served as the chairman of NASA and the Presidential Space Committee. Lyndon Johnson early on earned a reputation for getting things done for the betterment of our Nation, and he used that intensity to lead America to land a man on the moon and continue America's dominance in space. But it was Lyndon Johnson's steady and calming leadership after the assassination of President Kennedy which helped to lead our Nation through one of its most turbulent and tragic hours. Taking the experience he had gained from his younger days as a teacher, President Johnson focused on working with the Congress and passing several landmark education bills. These initiatives served as a foundation for a new standard of education in America. Among them were programs such as Head Start, the first Federal aid to public schools and the first Federal student loan programs. President Johnson recorded in his memoirs, he said, ``I remember seeing in the folder of reading material I took to my bedroom one night, the account of a 62-year old man who learned how to write his name after years of making an X for his signature. He was so excited that he sat for a whole hour just writing his name over and over again.'' Johnson said, ``Reading about this man whose life had been so enriched, I was almost as excited as the man himself.'' Now, that sums up so much of the man President Johnson was. In his story, our striving for increased opportunity and education took shape and became real and valid. It is this love and dedication to education that makes this bill the ideal way, in my view, and my judgment, to honor President' Johnson's memory. While President Johnson will always be remembered as a champion of the Civil Rights Act, it was President Johnson's wish that the education papers from his Presidency be the first set of records to be made public because he believed, and I quote, in his words, ``You can't get your civil rights without your education.'' This is why, in my judgment, he will always be known as the first ``Education President.'' One of the greatest honors I have had during my tenure in the Congress was the opportunity to sit down with Lady Bird Johnson, who I am proud to have as a friend and a constituent. I spoke with her about my intention to see this bill through the Congress and have the Department of Education named for her husband. And the excitement and the gratitude in her eyes that she responded with will be a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. As the Representative of President Johnson's former congressional district, I have been inspired by his dedication to the American people. I specifically look back to his work in supporting the space program and education as I consider ways to further improve our great Nation. So I urge my colleagues to honor this great Texan and to support the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Act. May God bless Lyndon Johnson, and may God bless our national treasure, Lady Bird, may God bless Texas, and may God bless the United States of America.

Mr. McCAUL of Texas

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.