Ralph Regula

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Would the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. REGULA. How much private investment in your judgment will this generate locally, knowing they're getting some assistance?

Mr. REGULA. Thank you.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, we are also prepared to accept the amendment.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. Points I want to make; First of all, we have reduced the level of earmarks. Number two, our title is Representative to the Congress. As such, we have a responsibility to represent the needs of our districts. Earmarks provide a vehicle to do that. Third, earmarks if you follow them through, are great generators of private investment. It certainly happened in my district. A lot of good things get done because we have the stimulus of an earmark. Fourth, we have a right to decide the priorities of our district. We are better equipped to do that than somebody in the bureaucracy and in the executive branch. Constitutionally, we have the responsibility to make policy. Their job is to execute policy downtown. Fifth, Congress has a transparent and open process. This is the result of the efforts of the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. That was the discussion we had. We have accomplished that. This is why the gentleman from California can question this earmark, earmarks generally, because we have a transparent process. People know what the earmark is, what it does, and who sponsored it. We have had Member after Member come in and defend their earmarks today, and that is the way it should be. If you eliminate the earmarking process, you move it solely to the administration, and where is the transparency in the administration; or, we revert to the old days where a few people in conference were adding projects with very little opportunity for the Members of the body to look at them or challenge them. I would think that the gentleman from California would be pleased that we have the transparency that is part of this and allows him or others to question earmarks. I think those who put in the earmarks have to be prepared to defend the validity of what they have offered. So this is a good process, and this is a result of our discussion.

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I am going to include my statement in the Record. I will paraphrase it in the interests of time. First, I want to congratulate Chairman Serrano in being the pioneer chairman of the newly created Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. He has given us great leadership in a bipartisan, inclusive spirit while shepherding this bill through the subcommittee. Additionally, my colleagues on the subcommittee on both sides have provided valuable input and guidance. The chairman has mentioned the hard work of the staff on both the majority and minority. I won't reiterate that, but I will say we have had great staff help for both majority and the minority. I am pleased to present this Financial Services bill. We have taken into consideration the priorities of the President and the Members of the House, and I think we have produced a bill that meets the needs of Americans and our operations of government while staying below the President's budget request, which is somewhat unusual for most of the Appropriations Committee bills. I appreciate the leaders of the Appropriations Committee, Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Lewis, in providing a manageable allocation for the bill. We allocate, as the chairman has said, $21.4 billion in discretionary budget authority. This is $243 million below the administration's request, but it is $2 billion above fiscal year 2007. This is in recognition of some additional responsibilities that we have. It provides funding for a diverse number of agencies that affect the lives of all Americans. Twenty-seven different agencies are funded in this bill: Telecommunications; IRS Taxpayer Assistance; Small Business Administration, an interesting group; the General Services Administration; and also the Office of Personnel Management. I want to mention here that in testimony, I was struck by the fact that the director of the Office of Personnel Management said that in the next 10 years, 60 percent of the workforce will retire. I would say to any young people that are listening tonight there will be a lot of opportunity in the Federal Government. Another point that was made in the hearing was that only 15 percent of the Federal employment is in Washington, D.C., which means that there will be job opportunities all across the country. I would urge young people that are in political science or have an interest in government to think about getting the skills that might be useful in working in Federal employment. This would, of course, be some budget experience, some tax policy and some general policy of government. There will be opportunities and exciting challenges. We have the Small Business Development Centers. Sometimes I think we only think about the big ones in terms of businesses, but it is the thousands and thousands of small businesses that really fuel this Nation's economy. I know in my own district, if you add up the 50, the 75 and the 100-employee businesses, that is a very significant total. Those businesses don't tend to go overseas. They don't sell out and move their operations somewhere offshore. They stay. Therefore, I think it is extremely important that we help small business in every possible way. We do that in this bill. We have $100 million for Small Business Development Centers. This is an increase. It is a method, a way of providing management assistance. Just in Ohio alone, we have over almost 900,000 small businesses. Every dollar we invest in this leverages a couple of dollars in economic activity. Another interesting thing in the bill is financial literacy. We hear a lot of comment about the fact that our young people don't know how to handle credit cards, they don't know how to handle their loans, and they get themselves in financial trouble. We have allocated in this bill $900,000 for the Treasury's Office of Financial Education. This is some $200,000 over the President's request. What I would like to do is urge that Treasury work with the Department of Education and move some of this responsibility to them to work with the schools, the elementary and high schools, in improving financial literacy in this country. Credit is extremely important, and too often young people do not understand the impact of building credit card debt and other types of debt which gets them in substantial financial trouble. So we hope that we can encourage a greater amount of financial education among the students of this Nation. We also hear a lot about the fact that $300 billion of taxes are left uncollected. As Mr. Dreier pointed out on the statement on the rule, most people pay their taxes. The United States is unique, probably in some respects in that we have a voluntary system of paying taxes, but people want to know that if they pay their taxes, they want their neighbor and their fellow citizens to also pay theirs. If there is this $300 billion tax gap, we need to do something to address it, so we have set aside the money for taxpayer support services. And I might say, for those that are listening out in the audience across the country, that many people are not aware of the fact that there is a Taxpayer Assistance Service. It is available in most of the major cities of the country, and they can be very helpful to people who have some type of problem with IRS. We said some years ago that we want to make the IRS more taxpayer friendly, and we have tried to do that in this bill. The chairman mentioned the District of Columbia. I often think about President Reagan, who talked about the city of Washington being the ``shining city on the hill.'' What we try to do in this bill is to move this city a little bit further along in that direction. The District of Columbia, and we recently changed their voting status, is the Capital of this Nation and a city we should all take pride in. So what we have tried to do in this bill, since we fund D.C., their Federal money, is to make it a better city. I want to say I think the Mayor is recognizing the challenge that is before him. They have made a dramatic change in their school system. Now the Mayor is responsible and accountable, and I am hopeful that this will make a vast improvement over a period of time in education. The key to a successful city is a successful education system. One of the things that plagues the cities of America is the fact that they do have problems with their system, and they have a high rate of dropouts. We hope we can change that not only in the District of Columbia, but in every city in America. If our Nation is to remain competitive in the years to come, we have to start with the education system. I am pleased that the Mayor and the city leadership here recognize that fact. We put $35 million for college tuition assistance, $41 million for school improvement, and $10 million to improve libraries. I know the Mayor has selected a new superintendent. We wish her well. We want to do everything we can to make her administration and that of the Mayor a success in dealing with education problems. The chairman mentioned the Election Assistance Commission. This is, of course, designed to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to vote. That is, again, fundamental to our democracy, that people have not only the right to vote, but that we make it as uncomplicated as possible so they do make the effort to exercise their franchise. I think, perhaps, the $300 million is not necessarily required at this time because the Presidential primaries will start in January, and the States are already sitting on $1.3 billion, but we can perhaps address that issue in conference. The loan program, I am a little concerned. We are giving $80 million to help subsidize loans where there is a default. Historically this is funded by a premium on both the borrowers and lenders, and I am hoping that we can work out a program that will encourage people to use the loan program. Private debt collectors, we don't know. We have kept that in place with a very limited amount of money because we are not sure how effective that program is, but I think the Treasury would argue that it has been a successful program. We have maintained the policies on abortion. We have maintained the policies on Cuba. Any change of these would bring about a Presidential veto. I hope that we can work out any differences we might have in conference, and that the bill would be one that the President of the United States can sign. Certainly in terms of meeting his fiscal requirements. We have more than met that challenge by being under his numbers. I urge Members to look at this bill and weigh the importance of it when it comes time for final passage. I know we will have a number of amendments, and we will address those as we move along. Introduction First, I would like to congratulate Chairman Serrano on being the pioneer Chairman of the newly created Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. Chairman Serrano has provided great leadership and a bipartisan, inclusive spirit while shepherding this bill through subcommittee and full committee. Additionally, my colleagues on the subcommittee have provided valuable input and guidance throughout the process. Also, I would like to acknowledge the hard work, dedication and expertise of the subcommittee staff. On the majority side, Dale Oak, Bob Bonner, Karyn Kendall, Frank Carillo, Deb Bilek, Jim Curry and Nadine Berg on Chairman Serrano's personal staff. On the minority side I would like to thank John Martens and Alice Hogans for their counsel in putting together this bill. Overview Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present before the House today the fiscal year 2008 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill. By taking into consideration the priorities of the President and the Members of the House, we have produced a bill that meets the needs of Americans, and the operations of our government while staying below the President's budget request. I appreciate the efforts of the leaders of the House, Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Lewis to provide a manageable allocation for this bill. The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill allocates $21.4 billion in discretionary budget authority. This number is $243 million below the Administration's request and $2 billion above fiscal year 2007. I would like to repeat this to my colleagues who have voiced concerns over extraneous spending in appropriations bills; this bill is $243 million below the Administration's request, while still providing sufficient funds for various agencies to continue their missions and service. The bill provides funding for a diverse number of agencies that affect the lives of all Americans. The agencies funded in this bill regulate the financial and telecommunications industries, collect taxes and provide taxpayer assistance, lend a helping hand to small businesses and disadvantaged communities by providing them with capital, support the operations of the White House and Federal Judiciary, provide Federal payments to the District of Columbia, operate and maintain Federal buildings, manage our federal workforce which is expected to experience tremendous attrition rates over the next ten years, assists in the administration of federal elections and protect consumers and investors from fraudulent practices. SBA-Small Business Development Centers The Chairman has done a good job of highlighting the bill so I will not repeat him, but I would like to mention several items of importance to me. I am particularly pleased at the $100 million for Small Business Development Centers, an increase of nearly $13 million. The Small Business Development Centers account is the Small Business Administration's primary method of providing management assistance to small businesses. In my state of Ohio we have over 889,000 small businesses and every dollar invested in the OHIO SBDC network leverages at least $2.00. This program is vital to the life of small business, and I urge my colleagues to maintain this funding on the House floor today. Financial Literacy I am also encouraged to see $900,000 for Treasury's Office of Financial Education, an increase of approximately $200,000 over the President's request. The increase is targeted toward improving the National Strategy for Financial Literacy and expanding efforts at financial literacy in elementary schools and high schools. Financial literacy is a very important life skill and I look forward to working with the Chairman to further develop this initiative and ensure maximum programmatic impact. Additionally, the bill increases essential funding for the Internal Revenue Service to close the nearly $300 billion tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount actually paid. Closing the tax gap is critical as most Americans do not mind paying their fair share of taxes as long as they know others are doing the same. Furthermore, $3.6 billion is set aside for taxpayer support services activities aimed at tax return preparation, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate and IRS outreach and education efforts to serve taxpayers by helping them understand their tax obligations before they file. These activities have been steadily reduced in recent years and are in need of a boost. D.C. Education I am supportive of the funding appropriated in the bill to improve education in the District of Columbia, including $35 million for college tuition assistance, $41 million for school improvement, and $10 million to improve libraries. The children in Washington D.C. have been at a disadvantage for many years, and I look forward to working with the Mayor to enhance the school system to give the children of D.C. a chance to succeed. Concerns As I mentioned previously, this bill is $243 million below the Administration's request, and Chairman Serrano has done a fair job in allocating these funds to the various agencies within the bill. However, I do have a couple spending and policy concerns, which I would like to outline. Election Assistance Commission Primarily, I am concerned about $300 million added to this bill in unrequested funding for election assistance grants. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 authorized $3.9 billion for grants to the states to improve their voting systems through 2007. This program has not been authorized to receive funding in 2008 and there still remains $1.3 billion in appropriated dollars from the Help America Vote Act that have yet to be spent by the States. Therefore, I believe that an additional $300 million is unnecessary at this time especially with Presidential primaries beginning in January. This is a short turnaround to spend $300 million while the states are sitting on $1.3 billion. Although I am supportive of the Election Assistance Commission, I remain concerned over these unrequested and unauthorized funds. SBA 7(a) Loan Program Another funding item of concern that I bring up with trepidation is subsidization of 7(a) business loans. An amendment in committee was adopted which ignores the fact that the 7(a) loan program has been operating at record levels without a subsidy appropriation since fiscal year 2005. Past practice has proven that subsidies limit access to SBA loans if demand for loans exceeds the availability of appropriations. In past years, SBA has been forced to temporarily shut the program down or impose loan limits to manage within available appropriations. Zero subsidy has proven to be effective and allowed SBA flexibility to manage the program in a user friendly way. I hope to work with the Chairman in Conference to find an agreeable solution regarding 7(a) subsidization. Policy Riders Regarding policy, I have reservations with language attempting to limit the use of private debt collectors. Private debt collectors simply pursue the low hanging fruit that the IRS does not currently devote resources to. Otherwise longstanding policies on abortion and Cuba are maintained in this bill. Any altering of these may bring about a Presidential veto. Lastly, while I have a few qualms with the bill, I believe it is a bill that should be passed by the House and signed by the President, as long as controversial policy riders or substantial funding changes are not made to the bill. I thank the Chairman and ask my colleagues to vote yes with me on House passage of the first Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

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

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the distinguished minority whip to engage in a colloquy.

Mr. REGULA. I thank the gentleman for his concern regarding this important issue. The digital transition will have many consequences, some unintended, such as the situation the gentleman described in Missouri. I look forward to working with the minority whip, the chairman, and the FCC to bring resolution to this issue over the next few months and prior to the enactment of this bill. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. I yield to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Rehberg), a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order.

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

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentleman that the Office of Inspector General at the GSA needs adequate funds to operate. But, Chairman Serrano's mark provided a level of funds that is both responsible and sufficient for the OIG. In the fiscal year 2007 continuing resolution, the Congress provided $6 million in additional funds to the OIG. They were not able to spend these funds in the fiscal year, and have asked for the authority to assess them in fiscal year 2008. This authority has been granted by the committee. Chairman Serrano has made funding the Office of Inspector General and the other oversight offices one of his highest priorities in this bill. I commend him for his work, and oppose this attempt to change the committee mark. I question the ability of the OIG to spend these additional funds this year, and I reiterate the fact that this was taken care of in the previous legislation. Therefore, I urge the defeat of this amendment.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I just want to quote from former President Clinton in a 1994 letter to Congress, where he said, and I agree: ``Maintaining the Selective Service provides a hedge against unforeseen threats.'' And I also agree with the gentleman from Wisconsin that this is not the time, and I certainly urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Feeney).

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. REGULA. Reclaiming my time, and I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Feeney).

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I oppose the gentleman's amendment. I am not going to call for a vote. I think this is something that needs to be studied a little more, and would anticipate that in conference we would try to address the problem. This Executive Order is relatively new. I am not sure what the impact of that would be nor what the impact of this amendment would be. For the record, tonight I oppose it. As I say, I am not going to call for a vote on it, but I think the chairman and I ought to take a second look at it and decide whether we want to address the issue in conference. Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.

Mr. REGULA. On this side we are ready to accept it also.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. REGULA. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.