Rick Renzi

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 3085, introduced by Congressman Zack Wamp of Tennessee and amended by the House Resources Committee, would amend the National Trails System Act to update the feasibility and suitability study originally prepared for the Trail of Tears in 1987 to provide for the inclusion of new trail segments, land components, and campgrounds associated with the trail, particularly the Bell and Benge segments. As my colleagues are aware, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail encompasses the primary water route and northern land route used during the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from its homelands in the Southeast United States to Indian Territory, which is present-day Oklahoma. I urge adoption of this bill Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Zack Wamp, the author of the bill.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. I will be happy to suspend, sir.

Mr. RENZI. I thank the gentleman for his leadership. The law is a little bit of a sticky wicket. There are a lot of claims being made on the other side of no oversight and that the President hasn't properly informed the Congress. Nancy Pelosi was properly informed; the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, properly informed. Harry Reid, properly informed. What does the law say? The law says the President shall keep the intelligence committees informed. The implementation clause, and I would recommend it to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the President and the congressional intelligence committees together shall establish these procedures. Who established them? Harry Truman, 1947. Who established the Gang of Eight and used it more than any other President? Jimmy Carter prior to September 11. The law and history is a sticky wicket.

Mr. RENZI. No, I won't yield. I was only given a few seconds.

Mr. RENZI. It's my time. I only get a few seconds. The New York Times and the business of leaking is beginning to have a cumulative effect. By their own account, they have leaked the government's most closely regarded secrets. They said that it has only led to a few potential terrorists. Let me close with this: a few potential terrorists did damage to this country on September 11. A few terrorists can help to take down and destroy this Nation and wound this Nation. They are not the ultimate arbitrators of how you declassify information. We all agree on that. They can't hold themselves above the law. They have got to allow and work with us. This is the second time we have passed a resolution asking the media to work with us. I feel, my opinion, that those in the administration, this administration, those in government agencies, those in the media and those in both the Democratic and Republican Party who leak information should be prosecuted. We have got to put an end to this charade. We have got to do it together.

Mr. RENZI. Whoa.

Mr. RENZI. Will the gentleman yield to correct a fact?

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the chairman for working with me on this amendment. My amendment increases the funding for tribal law enforcement through the COPS program by $5 million, while decreasing the funding for the United Nations. I appreciate your help on this. I represent the largest land mass of poverty in America. And many of my colleagues also represent areas in America as shown on the 2000 census that are poverty ridden. Some of you represent areas that have more concentrations of poverty than I do, but I represent an area the size of West Virginia that is the largest land mass of poverty in America. You want to see children malnutritioned with extended bellies? You do not need to go to Africa. You can go to Kaibito in the Navajo Nation. You want to see children who have not seen a doctor in 30 days, whose jaws are so swollen shut, so infected with pus because they haven't seen an oral surgeon in 30 days, you can go to San Carlos Reservation. The map proves it and shows it. And you lay on top of this poverty the fact that there is a lawlessness that has come back. The days of the Wild West are back, and they exist on tribal lands. They have no police officers, no equipment. They do not have the tools to bring back the rule of law. On the Navajo Nation, the size of West Virginia, there is one police officer per 4,000 residents. Do you know what the rest of us have in America? We get one police officer for every 800 residents in America. I am really sorry to interrupt your conversation and bother you all back there. Not real funny. The people of the San Carlos Reservation, 1.8 million acres, they have five police officers at any time patrolling the San Carlos, 13,000 residents, 20,000 offenses reported last year. Do you know that 25 percent of their babies are born testing positive to meth? Fifty percent of the babies born in the San Carlos test positive to drugs or alcohol. The gangs have taken over. It is a lawlessness. If you are a felon in Los Angeles, do you know where you run to hide? Do you know a safe haven in America? The Navajo Nation. Safe haven. Do not tell me about terrorist safe havens. I got you a safe haven in America right here in our backyard. All of us share this responsibility. Now, I realize this bill and the parameters of the bill and the fact that we needed to cut and eliminate pork and earmarks and Members' spending, and this bill is reduced $3 million from last year for tribal law enforcement. My amendment simply says, give back a little bit, one first step towards helping tribal law enforcement, those police agents out there in tough areas in the Wild West trying to pull back a whole generation of Native American youth who are losing their heritage, who are losing their culture, who have become so addicted that no one can even help pull them back. This is a first step. I ask my colleagues, please, to help me and join with me. I beg on behalf of the Native Americans for $5 million from the U.N. Before you spend it overseas, let us spend it at home. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank all of you for helping me on this. It is something that is so big, it is something that is so severe, it is going to need all of our help. Patrick, you have come out and you have seen San Carlos. Your family has visited there. There is a school named after your uncle there, and that schoolyard is filled with gang leaders right now. So I need your help, and I need the ranking member's help and all of those who weighed in on this issue, and I am grateful for it. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you also for your understanding on this. This money doesn't go to Arizona or for me. It is for all of us. It is for the gentlelady from South Dakota. It is for the gentlemen from New Mexico and Arizona, everyone who represents our first Americans, who are watching them become addicted. They are watching the gangs take over. They are watching their whole culture be destroyed, be wiped out. Much like in the 1800s when they were wiped out by alcohol and smallpox, the same thing is occurring with methamphetamines. They are more susceptible to it. I also want to want to say I also appreciate the view on the gaming issue. The Hopis and the Navajo don't engage in gaming. It is against their spiritual foundations. So there are no extra revenues to pull in, and I recognize the social ills tied to that. But these are safe havens for drug dealers and for felons. When you have five police officers on the San Carlos Reservation, 13,000 people, there is lawlessness, there is no rule of law, and the gangs are running the show and the rats have taken over the ship. And I need help on this issue.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. I thank the chairman. I have respect for the gentlewoman from California. I also listened to her words carefully, and I want to remind her that on October 9 she spoke about Saddam Hussein and his development of weapons of mass destruction, saying that he is impulsive, irrational, vicious, and cruel and that left unchecked, he will grow stronger, only to develop the capability to match his disdain for America and his Middle East neighbors and that he poses a clear and present danger. Those were the words of the ranking member. That was the belief of Bill Clinton. That was the belief of Hillary Clinton. That was the belief of Madeleine Albright. And yet we are told today that this is a press release. al Qaeda is a cancer. It has metastasized itself throughout the world. There is a lot of negativity, whether or not we want to join and take the war in Iraq and link it with terrorism. It is a cancer. It needs to be carved out, and the American people need to show the will and the endurance. Our troops do. Our people at home, I believe, have that will. I believe there should be no arbitrary date set for withdrawal and yet no permanent, unending deployment. No cut and run, yet measured progress in helping a people who want to be free without an illusion of overnight success. This enemy wants to take the fight into the later rounds. They want to prey on what they perceive is our lack of concentrated focus, and their captured documents refer to the U.S. being worn down and quitting. Today's resolution is very similar to Rosie the Riveter. We bring out and ask the American people to stay strong. During World War II, we fought an enemy whose goal was to invade and dominate the land and the geography and to gain power and spread fascism. Terrorism is like fascism. While different tactics may be in place, Islamofascists want to establish a caliphate covering Southeast Asia, Southern Europe, and North Africa, very similar to the same geography that we saw in World War II. Zarqawi died in Iraq. Saddam was pulled out of a spider hole in Iraq. The Taliban was defeated in Afghanistan. Taking the fight to them works. With continued detainee reporting, coalition and allied sharing of intelligence, the Iraqi people working with us to identify safehouses, and the greatest group of unsung Americans sequestered in the backrooms of our intelligence agencies, we can keep the pressure on. This resolution is about prevailing against our enemies, about achieving a shared success, Republicans and Democrats with the Iraqi and the Afghanistan people. This is about taking the fight to those who will strike America again and will wound this Nation and kill our innocent civilians. America must endure, endure and prevail.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4013) to amend the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 to provide for conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in Juab County, Utah.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4013, introduced by Congressman Chris Cannon, allows Juab County in Utah to become eligible for specific water supply funding under the Central Utah Project. Currently, there are five counties in the State that are eligible to receive such funding, and this legislation adds Juab to this list. Water is scarce in southern Utah, and allowing Juab County to receive these funds will help maximize surface water flows and groundwater sources through what is known in the water arena as conjunctive use. This practice is commonly used in our parched Western States, and its popularity increases each year. I commend Mr. Cannon of Utah for introducing this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this noncontroversial and timely bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4162) to provide for an exchange of lands between the Secretary of Agriculture and the United Water Conservation District of California to eliminate certain private inholdings in the Los Padres National Forest, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4162 would provide for the exchange of lands between the Los Padres National Forest in the State of California and the United Water Conservation District of California. Mr. Speaker, the land exchange will eliminate some private inholdings within the national forest and would also aid the local water district by consolidating land it needs to more easily deliver water to its users. More specifically, the conservation district would receive approximately 440 acres and the Los Padres National Forest would receive approximately 340 acres. The lands to be exchanged are of approximate equal value. The amendment proposed deletes a portion of the bill concerning environmental analysis objected to by the minority. With this change there is no objection to the bill. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this important noncontroversial legislation, which was considered by the House of Representatives during the 108th Congress. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.