Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. I would point out to the gentleman, we are under an open rule.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, the only difficulty is, this must be done in the full House, which we will not be in shortly.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Talent), the chairman of the SBA authorizing committee, is a talented chairman and has this very strongly on his mind, and he has conferred with me at great length and numerous times on the necessity of doing what his amendment achieves. He has convinced me of the need for that. And as chairman of the subcommittee, I am in agreement with the amendment and would urge Members to support it.

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

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, we have had a chance to examine the amendment and in fact have worked with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender- McDonald) on the amendment. We think it is a good amendment, and we compliment her, and we accept the amendment.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the remaining time.

Mr. ROGERS. If the gentleman will yield further, the answer is yes.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, we have worked with the gentleman on his amendment. We have no objection to the amendment.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I have a letter in my hands from the Department of Commerce of the administration dated July 31 in which they say that they cannot support, in essence, this amendment. They say that we cannot support further reductions in this account or other Commerce programs, and they say that because they go ahead to say in the letter: ``The committee bill already reduces this account by $88.2 million, and a proposal to reduce PAC by another reduction of $15 million would cause delays and increase costs to the Federal Government for the remaining projects.'' That is satellites, that is weather forecasting of the floods and the hurricanes and the tornadoes and all the other disasters that we are facing already. And so I urge the committee not to yield to the temptation to put more money in clean water, which we would all like to do, but as the gentleman from Colorado says, this is an even higher priority, and that is forecasting the weather for our constituents. So I urge a defeat of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs), a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, funds have already been allocated. All the unobligated have now been taken.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield on that point?

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), my distinguished friend.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. I want to be sure that every Member knows what he or she is voting for if they vote for this amendment. A vote for this amendment is a vote to cut critical Weather Service programs. Ninety-eight percent of the moneys the gentleman proposes to cut pays for the critical equipment and computer systems now being put in your local Weather Service offices as a part of the Weather Service modernization and for the weather satellites that these offices depend on to provide weather warnings and forecasts to your constituents. Fifteen million dollars worth. The other program his amendment would cut is the construction of the National Marine Fisheries Service lab being constructed now at Santa Cruz, California. These are the cuts that are being made by this amendment. I just cannot support cutting these important programs related to the National Weather Service. I appreciate the gentleman's support for clean water programs, and I would say to the gentleman that this subcommittee has been very supportive of these programs. Despite the very difficult funding constraints that we faced, we increase funding for clean water programs by over 17 percent. This bill provides over $70 million for these activities, including an 8 percent increase for grants to States under the Coastal Zone Management Act. While I can appreciate that the gentleman would like to have seen more, I would have liked to have seen more, we simply had to make hard choices and prioritize, and this is the way it came out. Clearly clean water programs were a priority as evidenced by the significant increase that they received in this bill. But our other priority was ensuring that the National Weather Service was adequately funded and that the modernization of your local weather offices would be completed so that your constituents would have the best weather forecasting that we can afford. I think it is foolhardy to cut this priority in order to fund any other program. Therefore, I urge rejection of the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, we accept the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We think the gentleman's amendment makes sense. We have conferred with him at some length on the matter, we think it is a good amendment, and we accept it.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs).

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim an additional 5 minutes and to allot the time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I understand the concerns that have been raised by the gentleman and others. I agree that the USTR should fully enforce existing trade agreements, and expect the USTR to fulfill the commitments she has made to the Members. I will be glad to work with the gentleman and others in the future to ensure that this occurs.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson).