Hal Rogers

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, our nation's history is filled with countless stories of people from humble beginnings who turn their challenges into triumphant success. These stories have a familiar ring: ambitious and hard-working young people from rural communities making good in the big city. These inspiring stories, however, sometimes have a down side. In southern and eastern Kentucky, for example, the hope for bigger and better things has at times created an `outmigration' of our best, brightest and most effective young people. At the same time that they were seeking a better life away from rural areas, the friends and family members they left behind continued the struggle at home to improve the qualify of life in their communities. Today, Mr. Speaker, I want to salute a Kentucky citizen who made the choice to stay and fight--helping thousands of people in one of the most remote regions of the nation. Please join me in this salute to my constituent, Dr. John M. Smith, Jr., of Beattyville, Kentucky. More than a half-century ago, as a young medical student, John Smith faced the common problem of how to finance a medical education. In 1942, after graduating Phi Beta Kappa with an undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served with distinction through the war years until 1946. He saved, scraped and borrowed money to begin his coursework at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, but he needed much more financial help. Fortunately, he learned about the Rural Medical Fund, sponsored by the Kentucky State Medical Association. The idea of the scholarship fund was simple: a student would receive a year of financial assistance at the U of L medical school in exchange for a commitment to practice one full year in a rural county that was short of doctors. After graduation, and service as a medical intern in the U.S. Navy, Dr. John Smith, Jr., chose Lee County, Kentucky. The Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper recognized Dr. Smith in an October 26, 1952, article by Joe Creason, which I ask to be inserted in the record at the conclusion of these remarks. In that article, the essence of Dr. Smith's commitment to Lee County and the people of Beattyville is clearly expressed: ``If John Smith is a fair sample, then the Rural Medical Fund can be pronounced quite a large success. He has now served his year of obligation, owns a home in town and shows no signs of leaving, which is exactly what sponsors of the fund were hoping for. They reasoned that if they could get young doctors into rural areas for a year or so, some of them, at least, would settle down to permanent practice.'' Mr. Speaker, Dr. John Smith had the opportunity to serve his year in Lee County and move onto a more lucrative practice elsewhere. Instead, he chose a career that now spans 50 years. He has helped thousands of people in a mountainous and remote area who would otherwise have been forced to travel many miles for medical care. Most folks who drive down country roads need a map to find their bearings. Dr. Smith could find his way simply by knowing the homes of the countless patients he visited over the years. Since opening his practice in Beattyville on July 16th, 1951, he has been a distinguished member of the Kentucky medical community. He is the owner and operator of The Smith Clinic in Beattyville, which provides primary medical care to families in Lee County and beyond. Since 1985, he has served as the medical director for Lee County Constant Care, Inc., a nursing home facility, and is the medical director of the Geri-Young House, a senior care facility. His outstanding record of accomplishments has earned him the award of Citizen of the Year from the Beattyville/Lee County Chamber of Commerce. Tomorrow evening, surrounded by his family, friends, colleagues, patients and admirers, Dr. John M. Smith, Jr. will be honored for his 50 years of distinguished and dedicated medical service. I regret that I am unable to join this celebration personally, but know that I join literally thousands of fellow Kentuckians who extend our congratulations and our humble gratitude. Most of all, we are grateful that Dr. Smith made that choice 50 years ago to stay among us--choosing to help make our home a better place to live. Mr. Speaker, Dr. John M. Smith, Jr. has been a success beyond measure. His dedication, his professionalism, and his generosity has enriched us all and will continue for years to come. He is an outstanding Kentuckian and American who has earned the respect of this House. I thank you for joining me in this recognition today. [From the Courier-Journal, Oct. 26, 1952] Beyond the Call of Duty (By Joe Creason) John M. Smith, Jr., had a pretty good idea he'd be in for some unusual times when he hung up shingle and started the practice of medicine in Beattyville, Ky. After all, he knew beforehand that Lee County was one of some 40 in Kentucky that was critically short on doctors, having then--in 1951--only one for a population of more than 8,000 people. And he knew six other neighboring counties of mountainous East-Central Kentucky--Clay, Owsley, Jackson, Wolfe, Powell and Menifee--likewise were on short rations indeed, so far as doctors were concerned. So he must have suspected he'd face a lot of situations and experiences not generally covered in medical textbooks. But, even with all that forewarning, it's extremely doubtful if Dr. John M. Smith, Jr., expected the time would come when a tractor would be the only way he'd be able to get into a remote area to see a patient. Or that he'd have to cross the rain-swollen Kentucky River in a rowboat in the dead of winter with a half-blind woman at the oars. Or that he'd ever take country hams--at the exchange rate of $1 a pound--in line of payment for medical services. Or that a dozen and one other unusual experiences would come his way in less than a year and a half. For that's just the length of time Dr. John M. Smith, Jr., one of the first 12 products of the Rural Kentucky Medical Scholarship Fund, has been practicing in Beattyville. The Rural Medical Fund, sponsored by the Kentucky State Medical Association in co-operation with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, was started in the 1946-47 school year. The purpose of the fund, raised by public subscription, was to provide better medical care for the people of rural Kentucky. Medical students needing financial help may borrow from the fund and make repayment on the basis of a year of practice in a doctor-short section for each year of aid. To translate the intention of the fund into a real situation, John Smith received help from it for one year-- 1946-47. That was his first in medical school and the year the first of his two sons was born. Having very little he could use for money, he borrowed in order to get started in school After that he needed no help. In return for that year of financial assistance, he was obligated to devote one year's practice to a county approved by the State Board of health as needing doctors. After looking over the field, he chose Lee County. If John Smith is a fair sample, then the Rural Medical Fund can be pronounced quite a large success. He now has served his year of obligation, owns a home in town and shows no signs of leaving, which is exactly what sponsors of the fund were hoping for. They reasoned that if they could get young doctors into rural areas for a year or so, some of them, at least, would settle down to permanent practice. During his year-plus in Lee County, Dr. John Smith has given medical help to hundreds of people from a rather populous and mountainous seven-county area who, conceivably, would have had none otherwise. Moreover, the people he serves are the kind who don't go rushing off to the doctor with every stomach-ache, or some such. ``Most of these folks are stoic and will suffer a long time before coming in,'' he says. ``Why, I've had patents with pneumonia walk in to the office from seven or eight miles away. ``I do all I can for them and send them to the hospital-- the nearest one is in Richmond, 52 miles away--only in emergencies,'' he adds. ``After all, many of my patients can't afford to go to the hospital with every ache and pain like city folks.'' Sponsors of the fund actually got a more than somewhat rare bargain in John Smith. They didn't get just one rural doctor--they got two. For his wife also is a doctor, a 1945 medical graduate of New York University, and she recently opened an office at Booneville, 12 miles south in adjoining Owsley County. Although there were two doctors in Booneville, both were old. One had suffered a stroke. Smith was receiving so many patients from that area it seemed a perfect spot for his wife to open a office to relieve some of the strain. Now that he's settled in Lee County, John Smith has become a family doctor in every sense of the word. He's known as ``Doc'' everywhere and can call most of the folks he passes on the road by their first names. He can point to children he brought into the world. He is taken into confidences, sought out for advice on every conceivable situation. Since opening his office, he has been too busy even to attend a single movie. The only days he has been away from work was once during a medical meeting and the couple days he was out last winter with the flu. Incidentally, that case of the deep sniffles came in the line of duty. He was called to see a woman in the Oakdale section of the country who was sick with pneumonia. He had to follow a narrow path above an ice-laced creek in reaching the home. As he inched along the bank, it suddenly caved in and he was dunked, bag, baggage and pill bottles, Smith keeps a pair of galoshes in the back of his car for hiking over terrain not suited even for the most sturdy horseless carriage. And it's quite often that a car can't make it back into a particularly rough, hilly section. As, for instance, when the husband of a sick woman had to ride him in and out on a tractor, the only transportation that could make the trip. Then there was the boat ride last winter that he--a veteran of three years of destroyer-escort duty in the Navy--never will forget. He had gone to call on a patient who lived on the other side of the North Fork of the Kentucky River some distance above Beattyville. The only way across the river was by boat. The return was long after sundown and in inky darkness. The pilot was a partially blind woman. ``I crouched in the bottom of the boat,'' he recalls, ``and wondered about my life insurance.'' ``How she hit the tiny landing on the other side of the river in that darkness and pulling into a swift current, I'll never know.'' Numerous times he has been called to see patients in parts of the area he doesn't know. In such cases, the family of the sick person will more or less blaze a trail for him. They'll place a forked stick at the place he's supposed to turn off the main road and leave assorted other signs along the way. He gets night calls, of course, but not as many as might be expected. ``These folks are sturdy, and they'll usually stick it out until morning,'' he says. But the night calls do come. This spring he was 'roused at 1 a.m. He went with the caller to see the man's wife, gave her some pills and returned home to bed. Less than 30 minutes later, he was brought out of bed again. It was the same man. ``Better come again, Doc,'' he urged, ``she ain't a bit better.'' Lots of patients have been unable to pay cash for doctor- work. So Smith has taken almost everything in payment. He keeps well supplied in ham, chicken and farm produce. ``At first my wife had a little trouble understanding what some patients were talking about,'' he says. ``Folks would come in and say, `Take a look at this kid, Doc, he's been daunceyin' 'round,' and she'd have a hard time figuring what they meant. ``But since I was born in Perry County and grew up in Jackson County, I knew when they talked about `daunceying 'round' or `punying 'round,' another very descriptive bit of speech, they meant the child was sort of dragging around and showing little life.'' Since he opened his office, another young doctor has come to Beattyville. Sam D. Taylor, born there, and also a U. of L. graduate, returned home in August to start practice. The two have worked out a scheme whereby one day a week they take the other's office calls. That allows them to get one day all to themselves. Smith has his office in what was an old drugstore across the street from the Courthouse. He has divided the gunbarrel- shaped space into a reception room, office, drug room, examination room and delivery room. He delivers babies at homes, but prefers to have expectant mothers come to his office where he has all necessary equipment, including oxygen. He keeps them 10 to 12 hours after the delivery and sends them home in an ambulance. Beattyville has no pharmacist, so Smith has to dispense his own pills and medicines. Neither is there an X-ray machine in town, although he hopes to install one soon. Besides his unusual doctoring experiences, Smith has the rather unique distinction of having served as an officer in two different branches of the Navy within a five-year period. After being graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1942, the 30-year-old Smith went into the Navy as a line officer. Upon his discharge, he entered medical school and was graduated in 1949. Then, following his intern work, along came the war in Korea and he volunteered to go back into the Navy, this time as a medical officer. He served for more than a year in Louisville at the recruiting station. His second discharge came July 6, 1951. He opened his office 10 days later. In the nearly seven years since the Rural Medical Fund was set up, 64 students have received $100,450 in financial help. Twelve of those students, including Smith, have served at least one year in rural areas. Nine are still there. Of the three who left the rural field, one is in the Army, one is sick and one moved to another state. Besides Smith, other fund-helped doctors with at least one year in rural practice are O. C. Cooper, Wickliffe; Carson E. Crabtree, Buffalo; Oscar A. Cull, Corinth; William G. Edds, Calhoun; Clyde J. Nichols, Clarkson; Benjamin C. Stigall, Livermore; William L. Taylor, Guthrie, and Loman C. Trover, Earlington. Six other doctors who were helped by the fund completed their intership in July and now are practicing in the country. ``Rural practice gets next to a fellow,'' John Smith says. ``You have to make a lot of changes from what they say in the books--you have to be down-to-earth and forget all about dignity and professional manners at times. ``But there's an awful lot of satisfaction in serving people who really need help.'' Which pretty nearly describes the country doctor.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following material that updates the statement of the managers to accompany the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001 to reflect changes made by the pending bill and other minor technical corrections. It has the support of my good friend, our ranking member, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano). This matter should be used to determine questions of intent with respect to our bill. DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, let me assure the gentleman that we will work with him and others to improve the language in the bill. I assure the gentleman that his interest will be protected.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton). (Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Latham), a distinguished member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary. (Mr. LATHAM asked and was given permission to revise and extend remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) chairman of Subcommittee on Immigration Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from southwest Virginia (Mr. Boucher). (Mr. BOUCHER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. The gentleman's understanding is correct.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection in the House. (Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I am not the chairman of the authorizing committee that writes the laws for immigration or naturalization. One would think that this bill, from the comments of the last speaker, is the committee that writes authorizing legislation. We are not that. We are the committee that appropriates the funds for the various agencies that we cover. If we were the authorizing committee, we could entertain all sorts of authorizing legislation such as the gentleman has just mentioned. But we have an authorizing committee, and the chairman of that subcommittee will speak momentarily, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith). He does not like the fact that this bill, the appropriation bill, sometimes tries to authorize in his jurisdiction. The minority leader has just made a great case that he needs to present to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary where those issues belong. We are the appropriators. We are not the authorizers. Give us a break.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte). (Mr. GOODLATTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, he can count me as one of the original sponsors of the bill.

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

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), a hard-working member of our subcommittee. (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson), one of the more studious Members of this body.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, this conference report contains the agreement between the House and Senate on the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations bill. The agreement we are bringing before the House is the result of a long and arduous process of negotiations with the other body and the administration. It is a sound compromise that represents the interests of both bodies, and we think the administration--and I hope the House will endorse it by its vote today. Before explaining this agreement, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all of the members of the subcommittee for their hard work, their contributions, their patience, as we have moved this bill through the House and then negotiated with the other body and the White House. I also want to thank our full committee chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), for his steadfast support and leadership and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking minority member of our full committee, for his cooperation and assistance on a number of issues that required long and repeated negotiations. Mr. Speaker, I especially want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), my ranking member, who has done an excellent job and whose friendship I appreciate greatly. Mr. Speaker, finally, I want to thank the tireless work of our staff on both sides of the aisle without whom this product would not be before us now. They put in enormously long hours. They were here all night, Mr. Speaker, and into this morning; and they have done an excellent job. On the majority side, Gail DelBalzo, Jennifer Miller, Mike Ringler, Christine Ryan, John Martens, Kevin Fromer, Greg Laux, and our committee staff director, Jim Dyer. On the minority side, Sally Chadbourne, Lucy Hand, Pat Schlueter, Nadine Berg, and Scott Lilly. Mr. Speaker, this conference agreement provides a total of $37.5 billion for the agencies and programs in our jurisdiction. That is below the President's request for this year, and it is below last year's level. At the same time, we have provided for the critical needs of law enforcement, diplomatic security, trade and export promotion, small business assistance and other very important programs. For law enforcement, we were able to reverse a number of very significant reductions made by the other body in its version of the bill, restoring critical funding for the FBI, the DEA, the U.S. attorneys and the INS. The agreement also provides new program increases for a number of high-priority law enforcement initiatives for the FBI and U.S. attorneys. The bill provides additional resources for the prosecution of violations of gun laws, cybercrime and terrorism. Mr. Speaker, we provide new funding for DEA to address the war on drugs. We beef up programs to address the threat of domestic terrorism, including a $69 million increase to train and equip State and local first responders so they are prepared for incidents, if, and when, they should occur. At the INS, we provided increases totalling over $500 million for additional border patrol agents, increased the detention space to hold criminal aliens, and for Interior enforcement personnel. This includes over $1 billion for the processing of immigration benefit applications. That is a 16 percent increase over last year and $70 million for this purpose, more than the President, himself, requested. This bill in an unprecedented way will help solve the backlog and applications for citizenship and other immigration benefits at the INS. To help your State and local police and sheriffs fight the war on crime, we were able to maintain the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant and Juvenile Accountability Block Grant, the Byrne Formula Grant Program and the Truth In Sentencing State Prison Grant programs. Mr. Speaker, for the COPS program, the agreement provides $1.03 billion, a major increase from the $595 million in the House bill. Funds are included to continue established programs such as the COPS hiring program, law enforcement technologies, bulletproof vests, and methamphetamine lab cleanup. Within the COPS program, we have also included money for new initiatives to prosecute cases involving violent crimes committed with guns and violations of gun statutes in cases involving drug trafficking and gang-related crime. We establish offender reentry programs and provide funds to support police integrity training. All in all, this agreement goes beyond the call of duty in making sure that Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies have every penny needed to battle crime, drugs, illegal immigration and the wave of emerging threats to our domestic national security. Mr. Speaker, for the Department of Commerce, we preserve the critical functions of the National Weather Service, provide increases for our national trade protection and promotion programs, and we fund the completion of the decennial census. Within NOAA, the agreement continues important coastal ocean and fish habitat protection programs, including implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and grants to the affected States. After long negotiations, we include a total of $618 million for a number of programs related to the CARA agreement on the Interior appropriations bill. For our Federal courts system, we provide necessary funding to address its ever-increasing caseload. The agreement authorizes, consistent with past practices, cost-of-living adjustments for judges and provides a new increase in the hourly rate we pay court-appointed panel attorneys who represent indigent defendants. For the State Department, we provided funding above the requested level to ensure the safety and security of our people overseas, including monies needed to replace our most vulnerable embassies. Finally, we provide ample support for the work of a number of independent agencies: the FCC, Securities and Exchange Commission, FTC, Legal Services Corporation, SBA, and so on. Mr. Speaker, we were faced with major differences between the House and Senate bills, and we spent an enormous amount of time in trying to craft a compromise that is fair, fiscally responsible and responsive to the needs of our Members and the people they represent back home. We have come a long way. We have an agreement that can and should be adopted, in my judgment, by the two bodies and signed into law. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the conference report. The conference report contains a provision (Section 629) which clarifies that the Interstate Horseracing Act permits the continued merging of any wagering pools and wagering activities conducted between individuals and state-licensed and regulated off-track betting systems located in one or more states, whether such wagers are conducted in person, via telephone or other electronic media, provided such wagers are placed on a closed-loop subscriber-based service, which would include an effective customer and age verification process to ensure that all federal and state requirements and appropriate data security standards are met to prevent unauthorized use by a minor or non- subscriber. The amendment clarifies that the Interstate Horseracing Act permits wagers made by telephone or other electronic media to be accepted by an off-track betting system in another state provided that such types of wagers are lawful in each state involved and meet the requirements, if any, established by the legislature or appropriate regulatory body in the state where the person originating the wager resides. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.010 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH26OC00.012 Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 7 minutes. (Mr. ROGERS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, today, as I speak, in Brentwood, Tennessee, the family, friends, and loved ones of Joseph Roe Crawford Smith are celebrating his life, which was so tragically and prematurely ended this past Friday in a freak outdoor accident. Mr. Speaker, I am taking the unusual step of bringing before the U.S. Congress the news of Crawford's passing because Crawford was such an extraordinary 22-year-old young man and because his death seems so senseless and inexplicable. In fact, this was a double, horrible tragedy, because the same accident took the life of his friend and fellow University of Tennessee senior Chris Dowdle, also of Brentwood. Mr. Speaker, perhaps one day we will know why these model young men were taken, in their prime, just as their preparation for adult life was so nearly complete. Maybe, ``in the sweet by and by'' in the words of that hymn. But, for now, we are hurting and terribly saddened. I knew young Crawford. He was handsome, personable and brilliant. He was a devout Christian. He was devoted to his parents Joe and Claudette and to his sister, Frances. He was a model of good behavior and courtesy. He was an inspiration to his colleagues and to adults like this Member who had the good fortune to know him. Why, oh why, did he have to go so soon? Mr. Speaker, in special tribute to Crawford Smith, I have requested that an American flag be flown over the United States Capitol this day in his honor. Mr. Speaker, our hearts are hurting for Joe and Claudette and to Chris Dowdle's parents, Douglas and Anita. They are living through a parent's worst nightmare. I know all my colleagues join me in praying God's most merciful presence with them as they travel through this valley of the shadow of death.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, when they write the book on the model congressman, I think Herb Bateman should be chapter one. Here is a gentleman who, although soft spoken most of the time, when he saw a wrong-headed position being taken or he saw the Nation's interest being flaunted, there could be no more forceful speaker than Herb Bateman. We have all seen him in our caucus and on this very floor. He would take the floor infrequently, but when he did, we knew something was on his mind, and he spoke it very, very well; and he was forceful. He was a man, a Representative who I think, in the truest sense of that word, represented his people extremely well here in this body. He paid attention to the needs of his people back home. He knew their problems. He worked their problems. He tended to his people's business here in a most efficient way. He truly was a representative of his people. Then on national issues, Herb was one of the House's experts on military matters, of course a very forceful advocate for a strong national defense in the Committee on Armed Services and on the floor of this body, and indeed, as the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) has said, in places like the NATO Council and the international bodies that he attended overseas, representing this House and representing our country in a most effective and heartfelt way. There is no more reasonable person than Herb Bateman. There can also be a Herb Bateman that could let you know exactly how he felt from the tip of his toes all the way up. This body will miss this great statesman. We will miss this personal friend. We wish for Laura and the family all the very best.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has yet to release its biological opinion for the Lower Snake River. Ultimately, it will be the Congress that decides whether to breach the Snake River dams. The amount provided in H.R. 4690 does not include funding for engineering and design, or other post-feasibility phase activities including economic mitigation studies, associated with breaching the Lower Snake River dams. I appreciate the Gentleman's concerns on this matter, and thank him for bringing this issue to my attention.

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). (Mr. SPRATT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROGERS

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against the amendment, because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriations bill and, therefore, violates clause 2 of rule XXI, because the amendment imposes additional duties. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, which amendment is this, Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman, I have no objection, but I do reserve a point of order.