Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. And does the gentleman agree with that?

Mr. ROGERS. And that the decision would be made in February of 1999.

Mr. ROGERS. I ask the gentleman, was it not the agreement of the President and the Speaker of the House that the decision on how to proceed on the census would be postponed for the first 6 months.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Census.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for bringing this issue to our attention. I look forward to working with her and all of the involved Federal agencies on the issue.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology of the House Committee on Science.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum), the very able chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, there have been a number of calls into the cloakrooms from Members inquiring about whether or not there will be further votes this evening. For the convenience of the Members, especially, I would like to state that there will be no further votes tonight. We will conclude general debate on the bill, and consider the legal services amendment, debate only. The vote will be postponed until tomorrow, and after that debate, the committee would then rise, so Members can know there will be no further votes this evening.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the very able chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Latham), one of the very able members of our subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS. We will do what we can to accommodate the gentleman's concerns as we work in conference with the Senate.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me just say that I appreciate the gentleman's concerns. The gentleman is a very valued member of this subcommittee, as we have mentioned, but one of the most valuable contributions that the gentleman makes and has made has been the intellectual firepower that he brings to very technical subjects like this, which this subcommittee desperately needs. But the gentleman has been a very tireless and effective advocate for these types of programs over the years, and we are going to miss his counsel on this and many other subjects on the subcommittee, not to mention his friendship. Of course, we could go on and on about the gentleman, because after all, his ancestry is from that great Commonwealth of Kentucky, if I am not mistaken.

Mr. ROGERS. I understand that is what the gentleman wants and I will abide by that. I would hope, would like, to proceed through title I and roll all the votes until tomorrow. And I see no reason why we should not do that, but I will abide by the agreement that the gentleman mentioned.

Mr. ROGERS. As I said, we would take up general debate and the Legal Services amendment only. I would have hoped that the gentleman would have agreed that we could do all of title I, and I would be happy to proceed with that if the other side would so agree.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this will be of interest to the Members on the schedule for the rest of the evening so that Members may be guided about the rest of the evening's activities. It is the intent of the majority to proceed to the consideration of the Commerce, Justice, State appropriations bill and to do general debate and to take up the Legal Services Corporation amendment but to roll any votes that might be ordered until tomorrow, so that there would be no further votes this evening, in which case, then, the Committee would rise after the consideration of that amendment.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the able chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), one of the very able members of our subcommittee who also serves as chairman of Subcommittee on Interior of the Committee on Appropriations. (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 4276, the Commerce, Justice, State and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 1999 provides the funding for a multitude of programs that directly benefit the people that all of us represent and that we are sworn to uphold, programs that fight crime and drugs, secure our borders, protect against terrorism, and administer justice; programs that affect our daily lives and livelihood, like the National Weather Service; programs that support our Nation's diplomacy throughout the world; and programs that put people back on their feet after a natural disaster strikes and that aid our Nation's small businesses. But if this bill sets one priority, it is to provide increased funding to fight crime and empower Federal, State and local law enforcement with the resources they need to enforce our laws and prevent crime. Mr. Chairman, the determination of this Nation and this Congress to reduce crime is showing results. In 1997, serious crime fell in the United States for the sixth year in a row by 5 percent. Due to the decisions of this Congress which over the last 3 years has increased funding for justice programs by $5.5 billion, a 45 percent increase, our citizens are a little less at peril than they were before. But as the shooting of our two brave and heroic Capitol Police officers a week ago Friday demonstrates so devastatingly, we do have yet a long, long way to go. With no warning, crime can occur anywhere, any day, any minute, and our law enforcement officers and our citizens are at risk. We cannot let down our guard. This bill puts the lion's share of the resources available to us into law enforcement and crime prevention, and that is a priority that I believe every member of this House shares. Overall, this bill provides $33.5 billion, $1.4 billion over the current year, and $1 billion less than the request. Of the total, $18.3 billion is for the Department of Justice, an increase of $524 million over current spending, to fight crime and drugs, strengthen our borders and protect against terrorism. We provide $4.9 billion for State and local law enforcement. These are your policemen, the sheriffs and State police and local law enforcement agencies through your cities, $400 million more than we were requested and $47 million more than current year spending. We restore the local law enforcement block grant which the President tried to eliminate. We put that back in at $523 million. And, Mr. Chairman, we included a quarter of a billion dollars for the juvenile crime block grant program for your localities. We provide $283 million for juvenile crime prevention, a $44 million increase. We provide $1.4 billion for the COPS program. We direct $170 million of unobligated balances to be used for initiatives that include a new $25 million program for bulletproof vests for police officers all across the country. For the first time we are providing for this new program. And $20 million to help communities stop violence in our schools. We also provide $279 million for the Violence Against Women Act, an increase of $9 million over current spending and over the Administration's request. We provide $104 million in new funding to help States and localities be prepared against chemical and biological terrorism, which is new money, for a new program. We provide more than $8.4 billion for the War on Drugs, including a $95 million increase for the Drug Enforcement Administration, $31 million more than was asked of us. We increase the Drug Courts funding by $10 million. And we give $10 million for a new program to help small businesses create drug-free workplaces. We provide a $216 million increase for controlling illegal immigration, including 1,000 new Border Patrol agents. We include a $47 million interior enforcement initiative to fund 50 quick response teams, one in each State, to force the INS to respond to your State and local police in every State when they find suspected illegal aliens. As it is right now, your State police, your local police, arrest a vanload of illegal aliens, they call the INS for help in removing them to the Federal jurisdiction, there is not even an answer on the telephone. INS does not even answer the phone. We in this bill create 50 new quick response teams to respond to our local officials and take the illegals off our hands and deal with them on the Federal level, as we are supposed to do. We also include $62 million in offsetting collections from fees to fund backlog reduction action teams to mobilize in those districts with the longest naturalization backlogs, since the INS cannot seem to manage this on their own. For the Department of Commerce, Mr. Chairman, we provide $4.8 billion which, setting aside the increases for the Census, is at the 1998 level. For the 2000 decennial census we provide $956 million. That is an increase of $566 million as part of the ramp-up for the preparation for the Census in 2000. That is $107 million more than the administration asked us to appropriate, but we do that so that the Census can be conducted as the courts may or may not declare later on under any scenario, hopefully including an actual enumeration. The Congress and the administration must come to an agreement on how the 2000 Census will be conducted. Based on high-level discussions last fall, higher than any of us in this room, the agreement was reached to make the decision next spring. Consequently this bill includes language to ensure that the decision is made at that time by reserving the last 6 months of funding until the President submits to the Congress a request by March 31 to provide the funding and we agree to vote by that time. For the State Department and international organizations, United Nations arrearages aside, we provide $5 billion, $84 million below the current year, in part due to savings from the new overseas support system the Congress enacted last year called ICASS. For U.N. arrearages we provide $475 million, the amount included in the State Department's authorization conference report but subject to authorization. This ensures that U.N. reforms will have to be agreed to before this money can be released. For the Legal Services Corporation we provide $141 million. We continue the restrictions that have been enacted previously by the Congress. For the Small Business Administration the bill rejects the administration proposal to fund disaster loans out of the hides of disaster victims. The administration proposed zero funding for disaster loans. They propose zero funding for disaster loans and instead propose to raise by 50 percent the interest rates on loans to the very people who have been devastated by a hurricane or by flooding or by other disaster, people who by definition cannot borrow money on a commercial basis. We disallow that. Instead we provide $100 million to help those that are in need, and we are directing the administration to proceed accordingly. Mr. Chairman, before I close I want to thank the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), my very able ranking member, for his help and support in drafting this bill and bringing it to this point. I also want to thank all the members of the subcommittee: The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Forbes), the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Latham), the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs), the gentleman from California (Mr. Dixon), and to pay tribute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs), who is making his last go-round on this bill. He has been a valued member of this subcommittee. He has chosen to leave this body after this term; he will be missed on this subcommittee especially. Finally, I would just like to say that as we wind our way through the issues on this bill, and there are many, when it is all said and done, the funding in this bill, particularly the funding for law enforcement and prevention programs, are targeted to make the neighborhoods and cities and towns across the country safer, more secure places for the people we are elected to represent. It is a life and death issue, Mr. Chairman, and that is something everyone of us are now so painfully aware of. I urge the Members of this body to support this bill. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH03AU98.008

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the bill, H.R. 4276 and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.