Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5230, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 6 minutes. I rise today to present H.R. 5230, which provides immediate, short- term funding to address the southwest border crisis. In total, this bill provides $659 million to meet urgent border security and humanitarian needs for this fiscal year ending on September 30. Thousands of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied children, have flooded our borders and overwhelmed our current facilities and personnel. This includes a staggering number of children, arriving with no family, who are being smuggled across our borders by criminal organizations, subject to abuse and violence. We need to put safeguards in place to prevent them from taking this dangerous journey, as well as provide the resources needed to take care of them and process them appropriately. The President must take the lead on this by mitigating this crisis, turning back the tide of illegal immigrants, and fully enforcing our laws. This problem has, without a doubt, been exacerbated by the administration's policies on immigration, and it is up to the administration to find a way to fix that problem. In the meantime, however, Madam Speaker, it is plain that something must be done to ensure that our law enforcement personnel and Federal agencies have the resources needed to deal with this dire situation in the short term. The $659 million in funding in this bill focuses on three areas-- border security, humanitarian assistance, and prevention--to meet the most pressing needs. Of this total $659 million, $462 million is provided to increase security and enforce our laws, boosting personnel, and increasing detention space to the largest capacity in our history. Part of this funding will help accelerate judicial proceedings by increasing the number of temporary judges and outfitting all immigration courtrooms in the Nation with teleconferencing equipment that would allow them to be able to join in the process of adjudicating those cases on the border. There are some 332 of those courtrooms around the country. We have doubled existing funding for the National Guard to bolster their presence along our border, as they assist Customs and Border Protection with surveillance, investigations, and humanitarian efforts. The bill also provides $197 million to take care of these unaccompanied children, ensuring they have proper housing, meals, and temporary care while they are in U.S. custody. Madam Speaker, to stave off the continued influx of illegal immigration, the bill redirects existing State Department funding to ensure that countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador must quickly accept and repatriate those returning from the U.S. This bill draws a hard line on spending, scrubbing the President's request to focus on the most immediate needs. It does not including funding for longer-term needs or unnecessary programs, like cash subsidies for coffee farmers. Any additional funding for this crisis can and should be addressed under the regular appropriations process for fiscal year 2015. In addition, to make sure that this bill doesn't add a penny to our deficit, Madam Speaker, every dollar spent here is fully offset from somewhere else by making noncontroversial rescissions of unused, excess prior-year funds. Lastly, the bill includes several policy provisions recommended by the Speaker's Working Group on the Border Crisis, led by the chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, Representative Kay Granger from Texas. She will speak soon. This includes a change in a 2008 law to ensure that all unaccompanied minors arriving in this country are treated the same as Mexicans and Canadians for the purpose of removal. It also strengthens the law prohibiting immigration status to criminals convicted of serious drug crimes and prohibits the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture from restricting Customs and Border Protection apprehension activities on Federal land on the border, and it expresses congressional intent that detained aliens awaiting processing should not be housed on military installations. Madam Speaker, this is a good bill. This is a fair, sensible, and reasonable address of the most immediate needs on the border. It also puts in place much-needed policy changes that should stop the flow of unaccompanied children who are being put at risk during their long, dangerous journey through Mexico. It is our congressional duty to quickly pass this bill in short order. Therefore, I ask all Members to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH31JY14.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH31JY14.002

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. May I inquire of the gentlewoman from New York if she has further speakers? I am prepared to close. If the gentlewoman has one additional speaker, then I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent), a member of our committee.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the time remaining?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Will the gentlewoman briefly yield on that point?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. The 145,000 additional people coming across the border, that number came from the Department of Homeland Security. So those are governmental estimates, if we do nothing on the law change. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Do you understand that the experts have told us that if we do nothing, if we don't change the law, that another 145,000 people will be with us next year alone? Is that not correct?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Just focusing on the money part of this, the gentleman from Arizona is saying, if we don't change the law, we can expect to pay another few billion dollars a year----

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. To care for that continuing stream of people coming across?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute. Will the gentleman from Arizona yield?

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Well, I would think that not only conservatives would like it, but that everybody would like that kind of savings.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. That is not this bill. Reclaiming my time, this bill has been available to you since Tuesday. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the time we have remaining.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, we have a crisis on our border with Mexico right now. It can't wait. It is a humanitarian crisis. It is also a failure of our border. It is an open border now unless you fix it. If we don't change the law to treat Central American children the same as we treat Mexican children at the border, you are going to be flooded. The amount now on the border will pale into insignificance because Homeland Security tells us they anticipate another 145,000 children next year, on top of the tens of thousands of adults and families flooding across that open border. So we have an immediate crisis today. This bill is an urgently needed bill. It provides immediate funding for critical border security and these humanitarian needs. The money will be there immediately. If we do not pass this bill today, you are going to risk these resources running out. Then your hands will be tied. More and more immigrants will continue to flood across that border if you fail to act. This bill will allow the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Guard to tighten security and restore the border. It will allow the Department of Justice to process the cases that may be needed more efficiently. It encourages repatriation in the countries from which these immigrants came, and it provides much-needed shelter and care for the thousands of unaccompanied children who have recently crossed that border. We must act today before we leave town, not only to protect our borders, but to help these unaccompanied children who are being brought here by criminals, no less, on a long, dangerous, arduous journey, subject to abuse, injury, and death along the way. How can you turn away from these faces? This bill directs responsible levels of resources toward the front line, toward the highest priority needs. The bill puts policy measures into place that keep criminals out of the country and helps encourage children not to make that very dangerous, life- threatening journey. The President's request would do nothing to enforce our laws and make this Nation a safer place. Help the problem. Stop the crisis. This bill does it. Vote for it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I don't know where the gentleman gets his information, but this bill was filed Tuesday. You have had since Tuesday morning to study this bill, and that is the appropriate--under our rules, that is the appropriate time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 696, I call up the bill (H.R. 5230) making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Salmon), a member of the Speaker's task force that investigated the border problem.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to support this bill. This is a good bill. It provides $21.3 billion to fund many, many important programs and services that help our government function and our economy grow. For example, the bill includes $862 million for the Small Business Administration, to assist our small businesses--and we all know those small businesses are the backbone of our economy--to help them prosper. It also includes $6.7 billion for our Federal courts, to ensure the faithful execution of our laws and the timely processing of Federal cases. The bill also demonstrates a commitment to keeping poor-performing or misbehaving agencies and programs in check. It cuts funding for the IRS, as the chairman has said, by $341 million from last year, nearly 12 percent below the President's request. This funding level will allow the agency to perform its core duties, but will require IRS management to streamline and make the very best use of its allocated dollars. We have also included language that will help ensure that each and every dollar spent by the IRS is spent legally, responsibly, and appropriately. For instance, the bill prohibits funding for the production of inappropriate videos and conferences that many of us have seen on television and for employee bonuses or awards, unless their performance is considered. The bill also prohibits funding for the IRS to implement the ObamaCare individual health care mandate on the American people. In light of the chaotic and dysfunctional rollout of the Affordable Care Act, I don't see how, in good conscience, we can possibly allow the IRS to fine American citizens when many are just trying to comply with this flawed law. Due to the past inappropriate actions by the IRS, we have also prohibited funding for certain activities to prevent a repeat of these abuses, including targeting individuals based on their political beliefs, determining the tax-exempt status of organizations under 501(c)(4), and several other provisions that will help preserve the First Amendment rights of all Americans. The bill is designed to make sure the government works for the people, not against the people or our laws. Bill-wide, the bill includes stringent oversight, accountability, and transparency measures to make sure each and every agency toes the line. This includes prohibitions on funding for the Executive Office of the President to prepare signing statements and executive orders that contradict existing law and a provision that will bring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of Financial Research under the annual appropriations process, so we can have oversight for the American people, ensuring that these agencies will remain accountable to the taxpayer. These actions fulfill our congressional duty to the American people, to act as faithful shepherds of Federal tax dollars, to force these agencies to respect our laws and our budgets, and to encourage a more streamlined, efficient Federal Government. Now, I want to take a minute to thank Chairman Crenshaw and Ranking Member Serrano for their dedicated work on this bill. This is a tough bill to write. In fact, this is the first time, Mr. Chairman, that the Financial Services bill has been brought to the floor, I think, since 2007, roughly; and so these gentlemen and the staff and members of their subcommittee--and gentleladies--have worked hard. They have worked together. I know Mr. Serrano is not perfectly happy with every provision in the bill. None of us are perfectly happy with it either. However, we need to thank them for their hard work. We appreciate it very much--and the staff, of course, who labored mightily to bring this bill out. This legislation, I think, reflects commonsense decisions to prioritize programs and services that are effective, efficient, and responsible with taxpayer dollars. I urge all the Members to support it.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Chairman, I rise strongly to oppose the amendment of my friend. The funds my colleague seeks to remove are administrative costs that the Department of Energy needs to conduct oversight of its existing loan portfolio. The recent loan guarantee to create the first new nuclear facilities in over 30 years at the Vogtle plant in Georgia will create thousands of jobs and will need oversight to ensure funds are spent properly. In April, the Department made available $8 billion of loan guarantees to accelerate advanced fossil energy technologies on the cusp of development. These loan guarantees, among others, need administrative support for decades to come. Without those administrative costs, the Department would not be able to monitor risk, manage projects, or provide the proper financial analysis that a loan guarantee needs. These activities are essential to ensure that taxpayer funds are protected in the existing loan portfolio. For these reasons, Madam Chairman, I cannot support our colleague's amendment, and I urge Members to vote ``no.'' Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.