Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Walker], the very distinguished and hard working chairman of the Committee on Science.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, the committee's recommendation for the transfer of border patrol agents from interior locations assumes that these personnel will be backfilled with INS investigators to ensure that document fraud and the removal of illegal aliens that are already here continues to be addressed. [[Page H 7630]] I can assure you that Members will be consulted before allocation of any new positions or the relocation of any current INS personnel occurs. I will also work with the Commissioner of INS to ensure that the INS regional directors are involved in this process, and that criteria such as detained illegal aliens are used in these decisions.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Texas [Mr. Smith], the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Regula]. (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his very kind and generous remarks. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, on August 26, 1994, the President signed into law the fiscal year 1995 Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill and said this: ``This Act marks a bold first step in our effort to combat violent crime in America.'' Today, Mr. Chairman, we bring to the floor the second, even bolder, step in our effort to combat violent crime in America, a step that adds over $2 billion in Federal, State and local resources to the fight against crime. We have done that in the context of a bill that, first, reduces general discretionary spending by some $700 million in budget authority and more than $1.1 billion in outlays from the current year; second, reduces the Commerce Department to basic programs; third, supports the State Department; fourth, provides funding for over 20 other independent agencies. Overall, this bill provides $23.1 billion in regular discretionary budget authority, which is $722 million below the current year and $3.4 billion below the President's request. For the crime trust fund, the bill provides almost $4 billion in budget authority, which is $1.7 billion above the current year, and $28 million below the budget request. For law enforcement, one of the prime responsibilities of the Federal Government, this bill provides $14.5 billion, an increase of $2.2 billion over the current fiscal year, an 18 percent increase, to support key programs, Federal, State, and local, to fight violent crime. Of that, $4 billion is from the violent crime reduction trust fund, an increase of $1.7 billion over the current year, to provide substantial new resources to our local communities, including: $2 billion for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, passed by this House on February 14, 1995, to reach 39,000 law enforcement agencies around the country. This program provides funding for local officials to decide what they need to fight crime--cops, equipment, drug courts, prevention programs, whatever they believe important--not Washington telling them what they need, rather local officials tell us what they need. Mr. Chairman, this program has come to be known as the ``COP- TION'' program, ``COPS'' with a local option. It also provides $525 million for the Byrne State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grants, very popular with our local officials; $500 million for the Truth-in-Sentencing Grants for State prison construction, to help States lock away violent criminals, a brand new program; and other programs providing more than $3 billion in resources to State and local communities to aid in their fight against crime. The bill also provides major new funding initiatives for immigration, anti-terrorism and Federal law enforcement. For enforcing our Nation's immigration laws, the bill provides $2.3 billion, an increase of $730 million, including a $378 million increase for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to hire 3,000 more employees. It means 1,000 more Border Patrol agents and 400 more inspectors on the border, and doing that with no new border fee as the administration has proposed. It means over 1,450 more investigators and detention and deportation personnel to locate, apprehend and remove illegal aliens from the United States. Spending on Federal law enforcement and the Judiciary will increase by 4 percent, up $438 million, including [[Page H 7615]] funds to sustain the 750 DEA and FBI agents we restored in fiscal year 1995; and $236 million to provide 1,100 staff to activate 10 new and expanded prisons scheduled to open in 1996. In addition, the bill provides $243 million for anti-terrorism resources requested by the President in a budget amendment submitted just last Monday, July 17, in response to the tragic Oklahoma City bombing. Overall, Mr. Chairman, this bill is the toughest anti-crime appropriations bill this House of Representatives has ever produced. But as tough as the bill is on crime, it is even tougher on low priority spending. Every other title of this bill is down, and down significantly: Commerce, down 17 percent; State, USIA, and Arms Control and Disarmament, down 9 percent; related agencies, down 23 percent. In the Department of Commerce, the bill provides $3.4 billion, down $715 million below the current year and $1.3 billion below the President's request. For many, we have not cut enough. For many, we have cut too much. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is down $350 million, from $750 to $400 million. No new funding is provided for the Advanced Technology Program, but bill language is included to assure that the $180 million in anticipated unobligated carryover funding is used for a 1-year closeout of prior year commitments. It maintains $81 million for manufacturing centers and $263 million for our NIST's premiere internal research program. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is down $200 million to $1.8 billion. Its basic functions, though, are preserved. EDA has been cut 25 percent, as is the Minority Business Development Agency. U.S. Travel and Tourism gets $2 million through the October White House Conference and then it is abolished. It regroups the functions of the Commerce Department into three basic functions which we think will help as we consider what we do with the Commerce Department: first, trade and infrastructure; second, economic and statistical information; and third, science and technology. We hope this sets the stage for the decisions about the Department's future that will be made through the authorization process. For the State Department, and other international accounts, the bill is down $500 million from $5.7 billion to $5.2 billion, conforming international spending to the budget realities we face here. Funding is at or below all the authorization levels in the House-passed bills and includes some major reductions, particularly for the USIA. Peacekeeping contributions at the U.N. are funded at $425 million, down $108 million from last year and $20 million below the request. The bill includes language requiring notification by the President to the Congress of any new or expanded peacekeeping mission. The bill merges the Inspectors General of State and USIA ahead of schedule to begin consolidation of those agencies right away. On related agencies, we reduced the Legal Services Corporation by one-third to $278 million. We impose real restrictions to end abuses by the LSC. As an interim step, while the authorization process gears up, the bill imposes restrictions on what LSC-funded attorneys can do, including: requiring a competitive bidding process for those local grants; timekeeping requirements on the local field agencies; independent auditing, so the Congress knows how funding is spent; prohibitions on representing cases on redistricting, lobbying, class action suits against the government, prisoner litigation, representation of drug dealers; and subject LSC grantees to Federal waste, fraud and abuse standards. We have reduced the SBA by $333 million to $590 million, preserving its core functions of assisting small business, but at less cost to the taxpayer. Overall, Mr. Chairman, the bill provides $27.6 billion: $23.1 billion in discretionary budget authority, down $723 million; $4 billion in the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund, $1.6 billion above last year. Mr. Chairman, we produced a bill, I think, that is as tough on crime as any we have ever produced and even tougher on low-priority spending programs. I want to thank all the members of the subcommittee who worked with us under very difficult circumstances to craft a bill that, I think, most of us can support. Mr. Chairman, I want to pay special tribute to the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Mollohan]; the ranking member of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston], the chairman of the full committee, who has just done yeoman's work assisting us; the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey], the ranking Democrat; and 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 Colorado [Mr. Skaggs], and the gentleman from California [Mr. Dixon]. Mr. Chairman, these are hard times. I have said before that in this bill this year we are eating bugs and drinking rainwater. We attempt to reduce overall spending, but preserve what is important. I have told our members that this is a year for hard choices, but the rewards are enormous. The American people have sent us here to do a job, and that is what we are trying to do. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this bill for what it is: a bold step in our effort to combat violent crime in America and a bill that is tough on crime, but even tougher on spending. [[Page H 7616]] TH25JY95.000 [[Page H 7617]] TH25JY95.001 [[Page H 7618]] TH25JY95.002 [[Page H 7619]] TH25JY95.003 [[Page H 7620]] TH25JY95.004 [[Page H 7621]] TH25JY95.005 [[Page H 7622]] TH25JY95.006 [[Page H 7623]] TH25JY95.007 [[Page H 7624]] Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, I accept the amendment.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman]. [[Page H 7627]] (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Taylor], the very distinguished member of the subcommittee, in fact, the vice chairman of the subcommittee who has helped us a great deal this year, especially. (Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum], the chairman of the Crime Subcommittee.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Manzullo].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the very able gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum], the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Barr].

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. 2076) making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, and for other purposes, and that I may be permitted to include tabular and extraneous materials.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Jones].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Baesler], the only tobacco farmer in the House of Representatives.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Ewing], chairman of the Subcommittee on Risk Management and Speciality Crops.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Gordon].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Burr]. (Mr. BURR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Bishop].

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from western Kentucky [Mr. Whitefield] to explain that there is no tobacco subsidy anymore.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Hefner]. (Mr. HEFNER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)