Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman, I do not know the facts of the newspaper account. All I know is I have seen the newspaper account. If in fact the administration is giving money that we intended in the Congress to go to fighting crime, COPS on the beat, as advertised, if they are in fact giving that money to people who are swimming and guarding the coral reef in Florida, I want to know whether or not they have a badge on if they swim down there, if they are fighting crime under the waters of Florida. I doubt that they are. I suspect that some of this money in the COPS Program is going for this type of activity, if not this particular one.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for raising this issue. Obviously, I agree that we need to make sure that the funds awarded under the COPS grant program by the administration are in fact being used for fighting crime in our communities. I do not know of any coral reefs that they are guarding. I do not know that we have a problem with crime in the coral reefs. There are legitimate sources of Federal funds for protecting a coral sanctuary, but I do not believe that the Congress intended that the COPS Program be one of them. Further, I would be happy to work with the gentlewoman to develop report language with would help to resolve these concerns, and I congratulate her for bringing this matter to our attention.

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

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

Mr. ROGERS. Reclaiming my time, congratulations to the gentlewoman. She has been a real stalwart supporter of this cause. We congratulate her on this effort. Mr. Chairman, I know of no opposition, no other speakers. I urge adoption of the amendment.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition, urge a ``no'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the following committees and their subcommittees be permitted to sit today while the House is meeting in the Committee of the Whole under the 5-minute rule: Committee on Agriculture; Committee on Banking and Financial Services; Committee on Commerce; Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities; Committee on Government Reform and Oversight; Committee on International Relations; Committee on the Judiciary; Committee on Resources; Committee on Science; and Committee on Small Business. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the minority has been consulted and that there is no objection to these requests.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the further consideration of H.R. 3814, and that I may and include tabular and extraneous material.

Mr. ROGERS

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I think the gentleman has offered an excellent amendment. We are in favor of the amendment. I urge its adoption and commend the gentleman for his career-long work on this project.

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

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Blute].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Boehlert]. (Mr. BOEHLERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes of that 5 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Mollohan], and I ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I do.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I would prefer the latter, that we would call them up as we see fit, as they become ready. Let me reiterate, though, that the only six amendments that we plan to bring up tonight are the ones that I read off: The gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss], the gentlewoman from Hawaii [Mrs. Mink], the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Miller], the gentleman from New York [Mr. Engel], the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter], and the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant]. No votes will be taken tonight. If any votes are required, we will roll them until tomorrow. All other amendments other than these six will be brought up tomorrow, so Members can feel free, if they do not want to participate in these six amendments, to go to their offices or retire. Amendment Offered by Mr. Goss

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, let me make an announcement. There will be no more recorded votes tonight. However, we will be proceeding with several amendments and then roll the votes until tomorrow, and we are asking the authors and speakers who would like to be heard on these six amendments to stay around tonight and let us work. Then we will roll the votes until tomorrow, should any votes be required. The following amendments will be taken up tonight, and we are asking all speakers and authors to remain on hand; the amendment to be offered by the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss], the EDA amendment to be offered by the gentlewoman from Hawaii [Mrs. Mink]; the amendment to be offered by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Engel]; the amendment to be offered by the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Miller]; the amendment to be offered by the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter]; and the amendment to be offered by the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant]. Those amendments will be offered tonight. Any votes will be rolled until tomorrow.

Mr. ROGERS

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House, who has reformed EDA.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Wicker]. (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would eliminate the Economic Development Administration, and I urge a ``no'' vote. We debated this issue on this bill last year and the year before and the year before that. Last year 310 members, representing a majority of both Republicans and Democrats, voted resoundingly to support the work of this agency. I urge the House to turn back this effort to eliminate the EDA for the same reasons we have done for the last several years. First, we have drastically cut this agency back and forced it to target its dollars on projects in truly distressed communities. Right now EDA funding is 21-percent below last year because of the work of this committee and this House. We proposed not one penny more in this bill, and in fact we provide less than the Administration requested. We also tell EDA it must continue targeting its money at the most distressed communities, in line with the reforms the House has already passed. Second, if we do not vote this amendment down, we will deprive hard- hit communities in every State of the vital assistance these programs provide. EDA helps our poorest urban and rural communities to provide for themselves and to raise their standards of livings. EDA also helps communities recover from sudden and severe jobs losses, like factory shutdowns or other disasters. And if your district has suffered from cutbacks in the defense industry, EDA is the major Federal program responsible for helping communities recover from those closed bases. EDA helps fund projects on military bases scheduled for closure so that communities and workers can reuse the base for another purpose. We have cut EDA by almost $100 million from where it was in 1995. We have cut the bureaucracy by over 35 percent. The agency has been streamlined and downsized, and the development and selection of projects has been moved out of Washington, back towards the local and State levels. We have worked closely with the authorizers to achieve those reforms, and they are working. The EDA is helping our truly needy areas to attract the private investments that lead to permanent jobs. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment.