Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Delaware [Mr. Castle].

Mr. ROGERS. I have already agreed to do what the gentleman wants.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that any amendment otherwise in order under clause 2(f) of rule XXI that affects a paragraph in title I, and the item Legal Services Corporation, be in order at a later point in the reading of the bill notwithstanding that the affected paragraph of title I may have been read.

Mr. ROGERS. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman, we have a great number of items to take up. I want us to air this fully, but I would hope that we could conclude.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum], the very able and hard working chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. We would consider Mr. Hyde's amendment tonight but roll any vote on that until tomorrow.

Mr. ROGERS. I am sorry; I did not hear the gentleman.

Mr. ROGERS. That is correct, until tomorrow or later in the bill, to take it out of order.

Mr. ROGERS. So, Mr. Speaker, Members would be advised that barring a motion to adjourn or some such very important matter there would be no further votes this evening.

Mr. ROGERS. I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, shortly we will be calling up the appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice, and State Departments when we go into the Committee of the Whole. It is our intention, and we have conferred with the minority on this point, it is our intention to have general debate tonight, and debate the Hyde amendment to title 6, but postpone any vote on that matter until tomorrow. Then we would read through title I of the bill and debate any amendments thereto until 9 o'clock, or if we finish title I before 9 o'clock, stop at the conclusion of title I, roll any votes that may occur to title I until tomorrow, and then pass over any amendments in title I dealing with Legal Services Corporation until tomorrow. We would debate and vote LSC tomorrow. That is our general intention, and I have conferred with my dear colleague, the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Mollohan], the ranking member of the subcommittee, and if he would like to discuss it, I will yield to him at this time.

Mr. ROGERS

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Smith], the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman raising this issue so that I can eliminate any confusion over the matter. There has been some confusion. The bill provides $70 million for climate research and prediction activities. Of that amount, $4.9 million has been provided to continue the TOGA observation system, as well as a $2 million increase over the current funding level for additional climate research, including research into the El Nino phenomenon.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Latham], one of the new members of our subcommittee who has done a great amount of work in formulating this legislation.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Forbes], a very hard-working member of our subcommittee. [Mr. FORBES asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2267, the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary appropriations bill for fiscal year 1998, is the centerpiece of action by the Congress this year to: First, continue the war on crime and drugs; second, make our neighborhoods safer for families and children; third, bring our borders under control; and fourth, address skyrocketing rate of juvenile crime with an aggressive new initiative in this bill. Mr. Chairman, the determination of this Nation to reduce crime is paying off. The Nation's crime rate today is lower than any time since 1985. In 1996 serious reported crime in the United States declined 3 percent, including an 11 percent decline in murder rates. The Congress deserves substantial credit for beginning to turn the corner on crime after many years of effort. Over the past 2 fiscal years, this subcommittee and the Congress have increased funding for law enforcement programs by $4.5 billion, a 30 percent increase, and this year we redouble those efforts. Overall, our bill provides $31.7 billion. That is an increase of $750 million or 3 percent over fiscal 1997 in discretionary spending, and another $750 million from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund. But 90 percent of the increase in this bill is for law enforcement programs. For the Department of Justice the bill provides $17.6 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion, 7 percent over current year, $339 million more than was requested by the administration for law enforcement. We provide an increase of $726 million for State and local law enforcement, $738 million more than the President asked of us. We restore the Local Law Enforcement block grant at $523 million to provide direct funding to our communities for their most pressing needs. The President proposed to eliminate it. We disagreed. This bill attacks the growing problem of juvenile crime, a crisis that must be addressed by the country. Twenty percent of those arrested for violent crime are less than 18 years of age, 70 percent higher than it was 10 years ago. Weapons offenses and homicides are two of the fastest growing crimes committed by juveniles. This bill faces that issue straight on. We include a total of $538 million for new juvenile crime initiatives. We provide $300 million for new juvenile crime block grants, compared to $150 million requested by the White House to fund H.R. 3 that passed the House by a 2 to 1 margin. Another $238 million in the bill is for juvenile crime prevention programs, $64 million over last year, $7 million more than we were requested, and that funds H.R. 1818, the bipartisan bill that passed the House in July, an initiative again of the Congress. For violence against women programs we provide $306 million. That is a $109 million increase over current spending, $57 million more than the President requested. For the war on drugs we provide a $200 million increase, including a $134 million increase for the Drug Enforcement Administration; a $34 million initiative in the Caribbean, a main route into our Nation from South America of hard drugs; a $51 million increase for the Southwest border, the other big avenue for drugs coming into our country; and $46 million to combat heroin and the reemergence of methamphetamines as a scourge on our young people. To control our borders that are still allowing 300,000 more illegal immigrants into the country each year, we provide a $272 million increase for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. That includes a thousand new border patrol agents, which is twice what we were asked for by the White House. We provide $25 million to restore integrity to the naturalization process, ending the fingerprint scam that has contributed to felons receiving the most precious grant that we have, citizenship in the United States. We require criminal record checks before they are granted citizenship, and we revoke citizenship wrongfully granted to criminals by the dozens of thousands just last year. The bill also authorizes and directs the Attorney General to fire on the spot any INS employee who does not follow department policy on granting citizenship or who willfully deceives the Congress, as has occurred in the past year. Six hundred million dollars goes to States for their costs in jailing illegal aliens, a $100 million increase over last year and over the President's request. This bill, Mr. Chairman, does not let up in the war on crime, drugs, and illegal immigration, and we break new ground on juvenile crime and juvenile crime prevention. For the balance of the bill, with very few exceptions, funding is provided at or below current levels. For the Commerce Department, the bill provides $4.1 billion, a $332 million increase, and that is related to the ramp-up for the decennial census in the year 2000. On the 2000 census, Mr. Chairman, the issue is whether to spend more than $4 billion in the next three years for a census that abandons for the first time in our history an actual head count before we know whether or not such a procedure is constitutional and legal, or whether to do the most prudent and logical thing and get the courts to tell us beforehand whether or not sampling, if you will, is constitutional and legal. The bill provides $382 million for the census. That is an increase of $298 million over current spending and $27 million more than we were asked, so there can be no question of our willingness to spend what it takes to conduct the census in the right way, in the way it has always been done, every 10 years in the history of this Nation. The Administration wants us to abandon our history and take off on a new, untested, and many of us think, illegal, or unlawful, and unconstitutional process. The issue is what is required by our Constitution and the laws on the books. It is a legal question, and the bill assures there is a fair and impartial answer from the only body that can provide that, the Supreme Court. The legislative branch and the executive branch of government differ on this point. They say it is legal; we say it is not. The third branch, the Judiciary, under our Constitution, is the only body that can deliberate that question and answer it. Before billions of dollars of taxpayers' monies are put at risk for the first time in a sampling process that we think is unconstitutional, the Congress, the Administration, and, most importantly, the public deserve to have the dispute resolved beforehand, and that is what we do in the bill. For the international programs in the bill, State Department operations, the United States Information Agency, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, for all practical purposes, the bill level funds them. The only new initiative is $40 million to fund a 24 hour broadcasting operation to China through Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, an initiative proposed by the Speaker and endorsed by the President. For international organizations and peacekeeping the bill provides $3 million less than in fiscal 1997. Within that reduced amount, we provide $100 million for United Nations arrearages, but only if an authorization bill passes the Congress and only if that authorization bill contains real and substantial reforms of the United Nations as a condition for release of the money. It has been this Subcommittee all these years that has been the driving force in pushing for reform of the United Nations, and it is beginning to work. Reforms first, and only then the first step toward payment of the arrearages. For the Legal Services Corporation, the bill provides $141 million, which is half of the current level. We keep the restrictions on these funds to ensure that they are spent only to provide civil legal assistance to the poor, and adds a new one to give LSC more authority to sanction grantees that violate those important restrictions. I want to thank my very able ranking minority member, the very able gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Mollohan], who has been a very helpful and wise helpmate in drafting of the bill. I want to thank our full committee chairman, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], who has been especially helpful, as well as the ranking full committee minority member, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey], for being very helpful, and, of course, all the members of our subcommittee who have been able and helpful workmates in preparing this bill. We appreciate their help and support, more than we can say. Mr. Chairman, this bill will give the American people a stronger domestic defense against crime, while exercising restraint and insisting on reform in the balance of the bill. It is a bill that I commend highly to our colleagues, and urge their support. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.010 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH24SE97.012 Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. I would be happy to work with the gentleman.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume to join the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Mollohan], my ranking member, in also thanking staff on the subcommittee and our personal staffs for the excellent work that they have done in getting us to this point. Were it not for them, we would not be here, obviously. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Regula], one of the very able and hard-working members of this subcommittee, who also is chairman of one of the subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, the Subcommittee on Interior, and who also does a wonderful job there. (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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. 2267) making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1998, and for other purposes, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, we have one other amendment that is pending that is going to take some time. We are under a time constraint as it is, and we are on the verge of that time constraint. Can we conclude debate on this fairly soon? I think we all know how we are going to vote anyway. Can we conclude this right away, Mr. Chairman?