Silvestre Reyes

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It appears to me, Mr. Chairman, we are talking on one level, and my colleagues are talking on another level. We are saying that we do not have the military resources and do not have the luxury of doing exactly what my colleague from Colorado just talked about. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), a former sheriff who knows and understands and lives in a border community.

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, who has the right to close?

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just say to my colleague, the argument is made here that the effort in Iraq is part of homeland security and extending protection of our homeland there. Now we are hearing comments that this proposal retracts that to the homeland security border. We cannot have it both ways. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), who has made repeated trips to the border and knows and understands what these issues mean to border communities.

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time, and I thank our chairman for always working together in a very strong bipartisan manner on this very important committee as it involves the national security of our country. Mr. Chairman, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee has jurisdiction over some of the most contentious and controversial issues considered by the overall committee, including ballistic missile defense and nuclear weapon development programs. While we did not reach complete bipartisan accord on these two issues, the subcommittee and the committee generally had substantive and cordial debates on all of these matters. I am somewhat disappointed, Mr. Chairman, that even though the bill contains $10 billion for various ballistic missile defense programs, no amendment was made in order to allow for legitimate debate and a vote on important policy issues related to those programs. I am, however, pleased that we will have an opportunity to debate the wisdom of developing new nuclear weapons. The mark contains the President's budget request for both the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator and an initiative to study new nuclear weapons designs called Advanced Concepts. I will encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of the Tauscher amendment which would transfer these funds to a more realistic and conventional alternative to ``bunker busting.'' Our committee reached bipartisan agreement on the space programs within this mark. We reduced funding for the Transformational Satellite Communications program by $100 million and prevent the Air Force from downselecting a prime contractor on space-based radar until they provide a report to Congress. Members on both sides of the aisle are concerned about the affordability and the technological readiness of these programs. Overall, the mark of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee is one that I support. I am especially pleased that we were able to reach a bipartisan agreement to add funding for THAAD, which is critical and important to better protecting our troops in the field of theater-range ballistic missiles. I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Everett), my partner and my chairman, for his leadership on this issue and our subcommittee in general. Even on those areas where we disagree, he has always been a straightforward and fair individual, and it has been a pleasure to work with him. I also want to state today my concern about the number of troops in our armed services. I am pleased that the bill increases the end-strength levels for the Army and Marine Corps over the next 3 years, but I remain concerned that this surely is not enough. Simply put, we do not have enough troops to sustain our commitments around the world, facing the current challenge. We are starting to crack around the end-strength issue, and this may be an indicator that we may have to reevaluate and reprioritize the various theaters.

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), a fellow Texan.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res 598, sponsored by my colleague Mr. Hayes of North Carolina. The resolution recognizes the valuable contributions of military impacted schools, teachers, administration, and staff for their ongoing contributions to the education of military children. The federal Impact Aid program has been assisting school districts since its inception in 1950. The Impact Aid program provides financial assistance to school districts that are limited in their ability to raise local revenue by the presence of tax-exempt federal property, and must educate larger numbers of children because of the presence of federal employees. The program provides formula grants to cover a portion of per pupil education costs, as well as grants to support construction and maintenance needs. This program has been a life-line for many school districts like the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), which I represent, whose annual budget includes a significant amount of federal Impact Aid funds. Fort Bliss, Texas, also located within my district, is home to the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center as well as the Army's Sergeant Major's Academy. Fort Bliss is also a major employer in my district. The children of troops and civil servants at Fort Bliss attend EPISD schools. I ask my colleagues to support our troops, their families and this resolution. I would also urge my colleagues to support H.R. 932, a bill sponsored by my colleagues Mr. Kirk and Mr. Larson. This bill would make Impact Aid an entitlement for our local education agencies. This is a fair, just and more efficient way to fund our federally impacted schools.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time, and I am here to support and endorse this bill to congratulate the Air Force Academy. My first term in Congress I was a member of the Visitors Board of the Academy; but most importantly, the Air Force Academy offered my son an appointment. He wound up going to West Point, but it was not an easy decision for him to make; and it was always, for us, a great point of honor to have that offered to my son and, also, more than that, to see the quality of young men and women that come through that great facility. The academy, I think, symbolizes the best that this country has to offer through its national defense and its military. I also, if I could, would like to mention that I strongly endorse the bill that reimburses our military personnel for their R&R expenses, travel expenses here as they come back from Operation Iraqi Freedom and the operations in Afghanistan; and in addition to that, I think it is vitally important that this people's House endorses and supports awarding a different campaign medal for Afghanistan from one for Operation Iraqi Freedom and the battle in Iraq. Those are all important issues for all our military personnel. With that, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for yielding me this time. I rise this afternoon on behalf of military families. I am particularly concerned today that the current statutory cap on the housing privatization will hurt our military families because this cap will be reached by November of this year, and it stands to affect nearly 50,000 military families from all services, families like the one that is pictured here, families that are currently living in substandard housing in all of these military facilities. Mr. Chairman, this past Monday my wife and I were visiting my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in Fredericksburg, Virginia; and coming back on the train, we saw two young mothers with two toddlers and a baby struggling to get on that train. We helped them and we found out subsequently that their husbands are serving this country proudly in Iraq. In talking to them, they mentioned to us that one of the biggest challenges that they face is substandard housing, substandard housing for our military families while our brave men and women in uniform are fighting and dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Unconscionable. We need to lift this cap and allow these 50,000 families to have decent housing. In fact, just to end with this, Mr. Chairman, in my district there is a segment of military housing that is known as Bedrock. When I asked why is it called Bedrock, they said because the housing is akin to that that was found in the ``Flintstones.'' That is shameful. We need to change it. We need to think about our families.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, this resolution asks that the House affirm that the United States and the world is a safer place today with the removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power in Iraq. Who can argue with that? Saddam Hussein, a tyrant that is responsible for so many thousands of deaths, a tyrant that has used weapons of mass destruction in the past. There was a famous frontiersman who said, Be sure you are right, then go ahead. That was reported to be Davy Crockett. I think that is what we are about a year later, after going to war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq. A colleague of ours mentioned earlier, this whole thing was about judgment. Well, I would submit that it is also about responsibility, it is also about accountability, and it is also about credibility. Why do I say that? Because when we talk about the world being a safer place today, I want us to remember that 55-some-odd families are without their loved ones today that have been killed in Iraq carrying out this war. I saw into the eyes of Sergeant Rico's widow who asked me why. And I told her that we were very proud of the sacrifice that had been made by her husband and by her family. But she continued to ask me why. And that is why I think it is about responsibility. Did we do the responsible thing by attacking Iraq and Saddam Hussein when we knew that he had nothing to do with 9-11? It is also about accountability. A year later, we are finding out that he did not have weapons of mass destruction. And, obviously, it is about credibility, because if we as the last superpower are going to benefit from credibility, we have to be patient, we have to understand what the threat is, and we have to act responsibly. That is what I think this is about. I am going to support this resolution, as I support the men and women in uniform. But this whole issue is about those three words: responsibility, accountability, and credibility.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution honoring the men and women of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on its 30th Anniversary. The DEA has played a vital role in the battle against the drug epidemic in our country. Before being elected to Congress, I was a federal law enforcement officer in the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for 26\1/2\ years. Twelve of those years were spent as El Paso Sector Chief of the United States Border Patrol. One of the most important and most dangerous missions I had in the Border Patrol was the interdiction of illegal narcotics. I had the opportunity to work closely with the DEA in that mission, and can personally attest to the hard work, dedication and professionalism of DEA personnel. Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to represent the city of El Paso, Texas, a border town in the western-most tip of Texas. This area plays a critical role in our country's war on drugs. Last April my colleague Mr. Souder of Indiana, who is the sponsor of the resolution before us today, held a field hearing in my district to highlight the impact of drug trade in our area. Mr. Sandy Gonzalez, DEA Special Agent in Charge in El Paso, was a witness at this hearing. As one might imagine, DEA has a significant presence in my district. The DEA-led El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC, was established by the Department of Justice in 1974 as an intelligence service center to be staffed by representatives of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), U.S. Customs Service and DEA. Initially, EPIC focused on the U.S.-Mexico border and its primary interest was drug movement and immigration violations. Today, EPIC has the same mission, but has broadened its scope to include all of the United States and the entire Western Hemisphere. Mr. Speaker, I can personally attest to the value of the DEA in El Paso. I urge every Member of this House to join me in congratulating the DEA for 30 years of service in our country.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Madam Speaker, on October 13, 2003, America was saddened by the death of Willie Shoemaker at the age of 72. Born in Fabens, TX, which I represent, Shoemaker has truly been an inspiration to his family and his community alike. Arguably the most successful jockey in the history of horse racing, ``Shoe,'' lead the life of champions. Competing for the first time at the age of 18, Shoemaker retired in 1990 with an impressive 8,833 victories. Accomplishments such as winning four Kentucky Derbies, five Belmont Stakes, and three Preakness Stakes established Shoemaker among the elite; Willie Shoemaker is a member of thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame and the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame. On April 8, 1991, just over a year after his retirement, Willie Shoemaker was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Paralyzation did not diminish Shoemaker's character or spirit. As an honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Paralysis Project of America, the progress toward finding a cure for paralysis, by spinal cord injury, was greatly accelerated. I would like to thank the lead cosponsor of this resolution, Mr. Dreier of California, for his work on this resolution, as well as the Chairman and Ranking Member for helping bring this resolution to the floor. Madam Speaker, I am proud to honor such an outstanding individual from my community. I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution. Our strongest condolences goes out to his family and friends as we honor the life and legendary career in horse racing of Willie Shoemaker.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 743, the Social Security Protection Act. I support provisions in the bill to better protect Social Security beneficiaries from fraud. However, I cannot support the legislation because it would also seriously harm the retirement of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other State and local government workers in my congressional district of El Paso, Texas by subjecting them to the government pension offset. Some public employees in my State have found a way to protect their retirement benefits from the unfair government pension offset, which targets public servants by refusing them their full spousal benefits under Social Security. The bill before us today would block these employees from protecting their benefits, subjecting them to the government pension offset and denying them the spousal benefits they rightfully deserve. Among those hardest hit by this legislation will be women, and particularly widows, who very often rely on spousal benefits to make ends meet in their retirement. Many are not aware of the government pension offset, and will only learn of it as they prepare for retirement, when it is too late to make alternative plans. We need to do more to support those who have dedicated their working lives to serving the public, rather than undermining their opportunity for a secure retirement with this bill. Therefore, I have cosponsored H.R. 594, the Social Security Fairness Act, which would allow all public employees to collect full spousal benefits. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to show their support for teachers, and all of our hard-working public servants, by opposing this terribly unfair bill.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, it is with great regret that I rise in opposition to the conference report on the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003. I regret that I must do so, because I have long been a strong advocate for providing America's senior citizens with an affordable, comprehensive prescription drug benefit under Medicare. Unfortunately, however, the bill before us today would harm rather than help the more than 77,500 Medicare beneficiaries in El Paso County, Texas, which I represent, and millions of others like them across the country. For example, instead of a comprehensive, continuous prescription drug benefit, the bill offers a benefit that has a $2,800 gap in coverage that will leave about half of Medicare beneficiaries without any prescription drug coverage for part of the year, even though they will still be paying monthly premiums. While without coverage, many Medicare beneficiaries in my district will have to pay the entire cost of their prescription drugs out of their own pockets, which is the very circumstance we are supposed to be remedying. Rather than doing more to help low-income seniors, this bill fails to ensure that they will receive the prescription drugs they need under the proposed new program. The bill would, for the first time, prohibit federal Medicaid funding from being used to pay for drugs not paid for by Medicare. In Texas alone, it is estimated that 389,400 Medicaid beneficiaries would pay more for their prescription medications under the bill. In my congressional district, where approximately one in five people over age 65 lives below the poverty line, this change could be devastating. At the same time, the bill requires states to make large annual payments to the federal government, offsetting the savings states would have realized by having the federal government provide drug coverage for low-income seniors under Medicare. In short, for the first time ever states will have to fund a federal Medicare benefit, at a time when my state of Texas and many other states are facing budget troubles. Insteaad of expanding re-importation of prescription drugs, with appropriate safety checks, the bill blocks re-importation. By doing so, it ensures that Americans will continue to subsidize low drug prices in other countries, while paying the highest drug prices in the world here at home. Rather than empowering Medicare with the authority to use its purchasing power to negotiate better drug prices, as the Veterans Administration currently does, the bill specifically prohibits Medicare from doing so. As a result, the pharmaceutical companies benefit, but hard-working taxpayer will have to foot the bill for the higher costs. Perhaps most troubling, the bill puts us on a path toward privatizing the entire Medicare system, breaking our government's solemn promise to America's senior citizens to provide guaranteed, quality healthcare under Medicare. Two generations of seniors have relied on Medicare and Social Security to ensure their quality of life in their retirement years. For many poor seniors in my district, these programs are their only safety net. To jeopardize that safety net would be unconscionable. This bill, with all its shortcomings, will cost the American people nearly $400 billion over the next decade. It does include a few provisions that I strongly support and have voted in favor of repeatedly--most notably provisions providing increased Medicare reimbursement rates for healthcare providers and funding to reimburse local governments and emergency medical providers for providing care to undocumented immigrants. However, the bill would do such significant harm to Medicare recipients and the Medicare program that, on balance, I find that I cannot support the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report, so Congress can instead offer America's seniors that kind of Medicare prescription drug benefit they desperately need and truly deserve.

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I have a long been a strong advocate for an affordable, comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit, but I am opposed to this bill. I am opposed because the bill before us tonight would harm, rather than help, more than 77,000 Medicare beneficiaries in my district by breaking this program's promise of guaranteed quality health care for our seniors. In my district, where approximately one in five seniors live below the poverty line, Medicare and Social Security are their only safety net in retirement. To jeopardize this safety net would be unconscionable. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report so Congress can instead offer America's seniors the kind of Medicare prescription drug benefit that they need and more than anything that they deserve.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for yielding, and I also want to commend our chairmen and ranking members for the great job that they do under what, I think, are very difficult circumstances. And I would also associate myself with the comments of my colleague, the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons), about giving good compensation for great work that is being done around the world for our national security by the intelligence community employees. Having said that, I also want to state that I rise in strong support of this rule for H.R. 2417, but I also want to note that there are many of us that have concerns about issues that are vitally important to our national security, the lack of diversity in the intelligence community, and certainly the lack of a good solid plan to diversify and understand and recruit people that know and understand and speak different languages and come from different cultures. Those are critical and important in light of the attacks of September 11. I would urge everyone to support this rule, but at the same time I also think it is vitally important that we continue to focus. And as my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), made mention, it is difficult in this environment because we operate in a closed oversight manner and we do not have the benefit of outside input and scrutiny. So it is critical. And I know that our chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss), and the ranking member are committed to continue to work in these two critical areas, diversity and language proficiency. So with that, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman of our committee and ranking member for their commitment to working in a bipartisan manner on the very important work that this committee has to do. I rise today in strong support of the conference report for H.R. 2417, the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2004. Conferees and staff worked together closely to craft a bill that provides new and better capabilities to fight the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism, as well as to address a range of global intelligence challenges that we, as a country, face today. I want to highlight two features of this very important bill. The first one is the requirement that the Director of Central Intelligence submit an Iraq Lessons Learned Report to the intelligence committees as soon as possible. Tuesday we debated the merits of the lessons learned in Iraq. I argued that Iraq must not become another Vietnam. We need to know from the intelligence community what has and what has not worked, and what has and what has not gone well in Iraq. Better intelligence is essential to defeating the expanding insurgency that we are seeing there today. I am pleased that the bill underscores the urgency of intelligence lessons learned. This bill also establishes a pilot project within the intelligence community to enhance the recruitment of individuals with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, skill sets, and language proficiency. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence recently held a rare public hearing on this very issue of diversity. A panel of experts highlighted the capabilities that a diverse workforce bestows upon the intelligence community. It brings added language capability and better understanding of foreign cultures. I am pleased that this bill encourages diversity in the intelligence community. In a similar vein, this bill also fences a portion of the funds authorized for the community management account until the Director of Central Intelligence submits a report to this committee outlining his plan to improve diversity throughout the intelligence community. I tried also to include in this bill conference language urging that the Drug Enforcement Agency to make funds available for the El Paso Intelligence Center's Open Connectivity project. That language unfortunately was not included. Nonetheless, I still feel that EPIC has an important role to play in countering terrorism, and I hope that it is recognized for that role in this committee and others in the near future.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the motion to instruct offered by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman). I traveled in Iraq in May of this year to observe the situation firsthand and to see how our soldiers were fairing in the aftermath of major combat operations. The situation was still tense back then, and today I think it is even worse. I served in Vietnam, as the Members know, and it is an eerie feeling to see how similar the situation in Iraq today is to the situation back then in Vietnam, insurgents who blend into the local population, the constant danger our soldiers face every day, and the steady stream of American casualties. The Secretary of Defense has said that Iraq will be a ``long, hard slog.'' Our soldiers deserve much better than that. We cannot let Iraq become another Vietnam. To me that means that we must all be learning lessons as we go along, the military, the intelligence community, policymakers, and Congress. The Defense Authorization bill asks for a ``lessons learned'' report from the Department of Defense by March 31 of next year on military operations in Iraq. However, the intelligence community should be preparing, I think, its own report, not a year from now, but as soon as possible. In that vein, let me also reiterate a point that was made by our ranking member. The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, on a bipartisan basis, already knows that there were serious deficiencies in prewar intelligence on Iraq. In fact, I had such concerns about prewar intelligence even before we went to war with Iraq, which prompted me to write a letter to the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Goss) and our ranking member (Ms. Harman) prior to the initiation of that war. Specifically, my concern was about the connections between Iraq and al Qaeda the intelligence community wrote about just as the administration was trying to build its case for war in the fall of 2002. The intelligence community had not yet previously brought these connections to the committee's attention, even though I had been asking questions along these lines for some time. The intelligence community must review the analysis that it produced in this regard and determine whether there are lessons that need to be learned. Our soldiers deserve nothing less. Our country deserves nothing less.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2359, the Basic Pilot Extension Act. The existing Basic Pilot Verification Program assists employers in verifying the authenticity of new employee's eligibility information. The program operates in six States, including my state of Texas. Authorization for the program expires next month. The bill before us today would go a great deal further than extending the pilot program in its current form. It would expand the program to all 50 states, despite the fact that a recent Immigration and Naturalization Service-funded report concluded that the Basic Pilot Program is not ready for nationwide implementation. The report cited concerns about invasions of privacy and factual inaccuracies. We need to address these problems before we extend the program to the rest of the United States. Also, the bill expands the program beyond the area of employment, allowing any government agency to use the system to verify the immigration status of any individual for any purpose authorized by law. Expanding the program in this way would only magnify privacy concerns with the current Basic Pilot Program. Finally, it is unfortunate that this bill is being brought before the House under suspension of the rules. Legislation of this magnitude requires far more than careful consideration that we have been afforded the time to have here today. Madam Speaker, for all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote no on H.R. 2359, the Basic Pilot Extension Act.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, tomorrow we will vote on spending 86.9 billion dollars of American taxpayers' hard-earned money on our on- going military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. This massive request for supplemental funds to pay for our activities in Iraq and Afghanistan brings home--to the pocketbooks of every American taxpayer--the cost of our involvement in these countries. If this bill passes tomorrow, we will have spent a total of 175 billion dollars on Iraq and Afghanistan--38 billion dollars more than we are spending for Federal health, education and labor programs here at home. And 47 billion dollars more than we are spending for our veterans, housing, economic development, NASA, environmental protection and scientific research here at home. I am not going to argue about our activities in Afghanistan--they are wholly appropriate and necessary in order to dismantle the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. However, Iraq is different. We have gotten ourselves into a situation in Iraq that is both dangerous to our troops and critically important to our worldwide leadership duties and responsibilities. The situation is now so serious that, to me, it is less important that we arrived at this point by serious miscalculation, perhaps manipulation and half-truths, than to understand that ``failure is not an option.'' We have the most professional, most dedicated, best-trained and best- equipped military in the world. It is absolutely necessary that we supply anything and everything to support and ensure the safety and success of our troops. They represent the best this country has to offer, and their sacrifices should never be taken lightly or for granted. As commander in chief, the president committed them to this war, and now we must provide them with all the resources and support they need. I support every penny of this request that supports our troops. And in addition to supporting them this week, we must also remember to fully support and fund the veterans programs that they will rely on in the future. The Administration is asking us to support a request for reconstruction in Iraq of 18.6 billion dollars that, according to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer (administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority), is probably just the down payment. Bremer has indicated that reconstruction costs alone may top 60 to 70 billion dollars. This bill would provide 5.7 billion dollars to rehabilitate Iraq's electric power infrastructure. In my district, which includes the city of El Paso, and in other districts on the U.S.-Mexican border, hundreds of thousands of our own citizens don't have electricity. Never mind that a failure in our own power grid caused a huge blackout in the Northeast recently, and that Hurricane Isabel left hundreds of thousands in the dark, while many of my colleagues were told by Federal disaster relief agencies that they don't have the funds to help. Also included in this bill is 793 million dollars for health care programs and upgrades to hospitals and clinics. El Paso, a city of 700,000, is in desperate need of affordable health services and is in the midst of a health care crisis caused by severe budget cutbacks at the State and Federal levels. This bill includes 4.3 billion dollars to expand access to safe drinking water and improve sanitation. Hundreds of thousands of people along our Nation's border don't have safe drinking water or sanitation services. In fact, nearly 5,000 households in the El Paso area lack complete plumbing. This supplemental includes another 500 million dollars for transportation and telecommunications projects in Iraq. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 households in the El Paso area have no telephone service available for their use. Mr. Speaker, there are those in the Administration who talk about our ``responsibility'' to provide these services to rebuild Iraq when we along the border are constantly told there is not enough money to assist in the development of these services here at home. What about the responsibility to our own citizens in our own country? This Administration comes to us and the American people expecting to receive a blank check with no questions asked. It seems to think the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, can be used to ramrod anything and everything. It acts as though it is unpatriotic to ask for justification and accountability. Mr. Speaker, it is not unpatriotic to ask for justification and accountability for the taxpayers' money--it is one of the most patriotic actions a member of this body can take. The request for funds to rebuild Iraq is bundled together in this bill with the money essential to support our troops. At the same time that their sons and daughters are being wounded and killed in Iraq, the American people are being asked to pay the bill for programs and projects in Iraq that are desperately needed here. I intend to support this flawed supplemental request, but only because the safety of our brave men and women in uniform depends on it.

Mr. REYES

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have a high degree of respect for my colleague. I have been on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence finishing up my third year, and the bottom line is that we have not seen a strategic plan to, in fact, diversify the workforce or specifically address issues dealing with language. My purpose in offering this amendment is to continue to highlight the critical nature and the imperative challenge that we face when we do not have this as a priority for our country. That is really why I left this at $5 million because I did not want to try to hurt any one program or this account in particular, but I specifically wanted to highlight the critical need and the lack of a strategic plan by our intelligence community to work in this particular area.

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, in deference to my colleague, I would close by saying I hope we can have a recorded vote, so that we can understand the importance of the issue. I hope the gentleman is in agreement. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment is designed to address serious shortfalls in two critical areas to our national security, foreign language proficiency and diversity in their workforce. Specifically, my amendment will cut $5 million from the general intelligence community management account and add $5 million for programs designed to increase language proficiency and workforce diversity in the intelligence community. Success in the global war on terrorism and in Iraq demands that our Nation have the best intelligence collection and analysis possible. Officers with only a marginal understanding of the language and the culture of intelligence targets will only be marginally effective for this country. The report of the joint inquiry into the events of 9/11 reflects my long-standing concerns about the lack of progress that has been made by the intelligence community in enhancing language proficiency and diversifying its workforce. Specifically, it recommended that the intelligence community implement, expeditiously, measures to identify and recruit linguists outside the community whose abilities are relevant to the needs of counterterrorism. The joint inquiry further recommended that the intelligence community should enhance recruitment of a more ethnically and culturally diverse workforce and devise a strategy to capitalize upon the unique cultural and linguistic capabilities of first-generation Americans. To address these critical needs, my amendment will provide funds for training in critical foreign languages and language maintenance and award programs. It will also fund scholarship programs, recruitment efforts and other nontraditional programs that are designed to enhance the recruitment and the retention of a diverse workforce. The intelligence community must have a diverse set of people that have the cultural awareness, the language familiarity and the skill sets that will allow our Nation to succeed against an increasing number of formidable foes around the globe. My amendment will provide funds for increasing diversity of the workforce and language proficiency, two vital and important national security imperatives. I hope that I can get the support of all my colleagues on this very critical amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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