David Price

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank my colleague for her good work on this issue and her very effective pointing out of our unmet needs in the area of surface transportation security. I do, indeed, pledge to work with her as we move toward conference to see what kind of resources we can identify.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, may I inquire how much time we have remaining?

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. We have no further speakers on the floor at this point. There may be one on the way. I would like to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I want to thank our distinguished former chairman and ranking member for those remarks. He is a student of history, as he's just demonstrated. He came to this subcommittee as its founding chairman with a great deal of understanding of just how big this challenge was after 9/11, bringing these 22 agencies together, but also with an instinct for how to put it all together and make this department work. We've made great strides. I agree with him also on the work yet to be done, of course, but over these 7 years we can look back on considerable progress. Mr. Rogers talked about the careers of civil servants and others, the Border Patrol agents, Coast Guard men and women, the people who staff these agencies every day. One of the benefits of the process we had this year, holding more broad-gauged hearings before we had a budget and before we had the agency heads in place, was for us to get a closer look at some of these career people and the good work they've done. We took a broader look at agency operations and gained some appreciation for what is being achieved and a better fix on some of the things that we need to improve. I hope and believe that our bill reflects that experience. It has been put together in a cooperative fashion. We look forward to taking it on from the House today and, by the start of the new fiscal year, being ready to put the program we envision in place. We're delighted to work with the new Secretary and the President's appointees at the agencies who are now assuming their roles. This bill today, I'm confident, is a very positive step in the process of putting this department's program together in cooperation with the new administration for the benefit of all Americans.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chair, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. My amendment, I believe, is noncontroversial. It includes a number of amendments put forth by other Members that we believe would be good additions to the bill, including: First, additional funding for the Firefighter grant program that draws on proposals from Representatives Altmire, Pascrell, Austria, Peter King and Biggert; additional funding for nonprofit security grants, from Representatives Cohen and Weiner; additional funding for the Metropolitan Medical Response System, from Representative Kosmas; additional funding to implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, from Representative Mitchell; ensuring that DHS employees who interact with the public can use personal protective equipment without negative personnel action, from Representative Lynch; a prohibition on funds in this bill being used for first-class travel, with certain exceptions, from Representative Cuellar; and a prohibition of funds in this bill from being used to close or transfer operations of a FEMA recovery office, coming from Representative Hastings. All increases are appropriately offset elsewhere in the bill. While the bill includes earmarks in it, which have been properly disclosed according to House procedures, this amendment does not contain any congressional earmarks. I ask Members to support this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I would like to yield 1 minute to one of the sponsors of one of these amendments that has been included in this chairman's amendment, Representative Altmire, who has been working very hard on the firefighter grant program.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen), who likewise is the initiator of one of our amendments.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I am happy to yield to my friend from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman).

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank the gentleman. Now I yield to Mr. Rothman.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I am happy to yield to the ranking member.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. As with earlier items that we have discussed this evening, there is simply no question that this request underwent rigorous scrutiny, meets the test of being aligned with supporting the missions of the Department of Homeland Security, and I urge my colleagues to defeat the amendment. I am happy to yield at this point to my colleague, Mr. Rothman, to expand on the reasons that this amendment is ill advised.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. The gentleman is aware the company is not listed in the bill. The only place the company is listed is in the report, which is a matter of disclosure, and it is not amendable. It can't be modified here on the floor. The bill, as I read earlier, the plain language of the bill says this will be competed.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank the gentleman, and I yield now to my colleague, Mr. Pastor, to expand on this provision and the reasons that the proposed amendment should be rejected.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I want to very quickly turn to Mr. Pastor, the author of this provision, but I want to assure Members that this provision, like other directed spending, has been vetted down at the Department of Homeland Security. It has been certified to be consistent with the agency's mission; otherwise, it simply isn't eligible. Now, on this item in particular, I would invite the attention of Members to the actual language of the bill, page 6. This earmark is for $800,000 for procurement of portable solar-charging, rechargeable battery systems to be awarded under full and open competition. That language is pretty plain; isn't it? This item is required by law to be subject to a competitive procurement process. And, indeed, any item now in appropriations bills involving for-profit entities are subject to the same requirement. We all need to understand that and read the plain language of the bill. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers).

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. If the gentleman will yield, I want to commend him for his advocacy of these outstanding programs and join him in opposition to this ill-conceived amendment.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I commend the gentleman for looking out for his people, looking out for his home area and crafting an amendment that is responsive to some very real perils. And I will just say, once again, these proposals have been vetted by FEMA. There is no question they underwent rigorous scrutiny. This is consistent with the Stafford Act and will protect lives and reduce property damages in this locality. So I commend him for his advocacy.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank the gentleman. Madam Chairman, I am happy now to yield to our colleague from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I would yield, yes.