Bobby Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri, who served with Jo Ann as joint president of the Congressional Prayer Breakfast, Mr. Cleaver.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri, the chairman of one of the committees that Jo Ann served on and a past president of the weekly Congressional Prayer Breakfast (Mr. Skelton).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Florida for his support for the bill. And as he has indicated when my distinguished colleague from Virginia pointed out all of the different acts that apply, one of the major problems was that there is no jurisdiction to actually prosecute those claims without this legislation. The standard is high. There is an intent to defraud. I would hope that the House would pass the bill.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the author of the bill, the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie). (Mr. ABERCROMBIE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Reconstruction fraud has run rampant during the engagement of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States has devoted more than $50 billion to relief and reconstruction activities there, and at least $8.8 billion cannot be accounted for. Some of the reports of excessive profiteering are simply appalling. For example, one contractor was hired to build the Baghdad Police College, a facility to house and train more than 4,000 police recruits. After spending $72 million of U.S. taxpayer money, the contractor delivered an engineering nightmare with so many plumbing problems that auditors from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said that during the visit a substance dripped from the ceiling onto an assessment team member's shirt. It's not only construction. There are widely reported stories of contractors double-charging taxpayers for sodas and overcharging the government 600 percent for fuel shipments. Another report has a company running convoys of empty trucks back and forth across an insurgent-laden desert, pointlessly risking the lives of soldiers and drivers so the company could charge the taxpayer for phantom deliveries. Truckers referred to their cargo as sailboat fuel. Inspector Generals have opened hundreds of investigations into fraud and waste in Iraq and Kuwait and Afghanistan involving illegal kickbacks, bid-rigging, embezzlement and fraudulent overbilling. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has more than 70 open and active investigations in contracting fraud and abuse in the war. In addition, private whistleblowers have filed numerous civil claims involving Iraq fraud under the False Claims Act. Despite the breadth of all of these investigations and civil claims, the Department of Justice has chosen to pursue a relatively small number of cases. To promote a more vigorous Department of Justice prosecution of reconstruction fraud, the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie) has introduced H.R. 400, the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007. Although there are anti-fraud laws to protect against waste of U.S. taxpayers' money at home, no law specifically prohibits war profiteering or expressly confers jurisdiction of U.S. courts to hear the fraud cases when our forces and reconstruction efforts are deployed overseas. To clarify the full reach of the U.S. jurisdiction to appropriately punish this conduct wherever it may occur, H.R. 400 would criminalize overcharging taxpayers to profit excessively with the intent to defraud the United States Government or any provisional authority, such as the former Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. This crime would be a felony, with criminal penalties up to $1 million in fines and up to 20 years in prison. In addition to prohibiting fraud, H.R. 400 also criminalizes false statements in providing goods and services in connection with the war or reconstruction effort. This crime would also be a felony, subject to criminal penalties up to $1 million and up to 10 years in prison. The bill before us makes a few technical changes to the bill that was reported out of committee. Among them is a deletion of a provision providing for an alternative fund of twice the gross profits or other proceeds of the crime. This alternative fund essentially duplicates and would possibly displace a stronger current provision in the law, section 3571(d) of title 18 of the U.S. code, which applies to all crimes. But also note that the bill explicitly provides for an extraterritorial jurisdiction. The inclusion of this provision is meant to make it abundantly clear that this statute reaches war profiteering crimes wherever they may occur. However, it is not intended and should not be interpreted to undermine the extraterritorial reach of any other Federal criminal statute. H.R. 400 sends a resounding warning, which I hope would be heard and taken to heart by all relief and reconstruction contractors doing business with the U.S. Government or any provisional authority operating under our control, that is, that contracting fraud not only undercuts our missions overseas, it is illegal. If you engage in it, you can expect to be vigorously prosecuted. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the contributions of a citizen of Portsmouth, Virginia, who has devoted his life to the work of God and helping his fellow man. Today I would like to pay tribute to Bishop Samuel L. Carruth of Holy Light Church of Deliverance in Portsmouth. Bishop Carruth, the eleventh of thirteen children, aspired to be an FBI agent as a child before heeding the call to devote his life to preaching the Gospel. Bishop Carruth was educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attended Benjamin Franklin High School and Temple University. He then served for 2 years as a staff sergeant in the United States Army. Following his discharge from the Army, Bishop Carruth was stricken with tuberculosis in both lungs and hospitalized in East Orange, New Jersey. The doctor's prognosis was grim and the young Carruth suffered much weight loss and pain. Bishop Carruth credits his devotion to God to his full recovery from this horrible disease. Shortly after his bout with tuberculosis, Bishop Carruth heeded the call of ministry and co-founded the Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Philadelphia with the late Reverend Benjamin Smith. He served as assistant pastor in that ministry and in the field of evangelism faithfully for 6 years. During this time, he also received a doctorate of divinity at Jamison Bible University. In 1967, Bishop Carruth and his family left Philadelphia and moved to Portsmouth where he became pastor of the Holy Light Church of Deliverance, which at the time had a humble membership of 13 people. Within 6 months under Bishop Carruth's leadership, Holy Light Church's membership ballooned and became an overflowing powerhouse of activity. With this growth, the original church quickly outgrew its capacity. In 1968, Holy Light moved to a larger building in Portsmouth and expanded again in 1995. Their current facility can seat 1,000 and includes plenty of space for offices and classrooms. For 40 years, Bishop Carruth has been leading God's charge and serving his community at Holy Light Church of Deliverance. Bishop Carruth has been a member of the Portsmouth Community Development Corporation and has launched numerous community outreach programs including the Adopt-a-School program with Emily Spong Elementary School, the Holy Light College of Bible, the Summer Camp for Youth, the Men's Community Breakfast, the HLC Telephone Ministry, and reading and tutorial programs to help at risk students succeed in school. Even as one of the most active pastors in the Hampton Roads area, Bishop Carruth has still managed to have time for his lovely family. He and his wife of 53 years, Mary C. Carruth, have four daughters--Linda, Fayette, Dorene, and Sharron--two sons-in-law, seven grandchildren, and a niece and nephew-in-law.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2740, the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007. I would like to commend the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Conyers, and the author of the bill, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), for their hard work on this bill. We currently have a situation in which many military contractors act with impunity and no accountability because they operate outside of the jurisdiction of the United States criminal code because they are technically outside of the jurisdiction of the United States and outside of the Uniform Code of Military Justice because they are not in the military. In Iraq, our troops have been supplanted by an army of contractors, which is estimated at 180,000, an extremely high number by any account. Last month we learned of a shooting incident involving a private contracting company, Blackwater, in which contractors allegedly shot and killed 11 or more innocent Iraqi civilians. Yesterday we learned that Blackwater was involved in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq since 2005. According to at least one report, their employees fired the first shots in more than 80 percent of these shooting incidences. Madam Chairman, to provide much needed accountability and oversight for these contractors, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) introduced H.R. 2740, the MEJA Expansion Enforcement Act of 2007. When MEJA was originally signed into law in 2000, it did provide the United States Federal Courts with jurisdiction over civilian employees, contractors and subcontractors affiliated with the Defense Department who commit crimes overseas. The bill was later amended in 2005 to include employees of any Federal agency supporting the mission of the Department of Defense overseas. This bill closes a loophole to make sure that all private security contractors, not just those contracted through the Department of Defense, are covered, to ensure that they are accountable under United States law. This change would update the law to better reflect the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which a large number of contractors are present, with contracts written by a variety of different government agencies, including the Department of the Interior and Department of State. Madam Chairman, H.R. 2740 also requires the Inspector General of the Justice Department to complete and submit a report about the identification and prosecution of alleged abuses in Iraq. This section is meant to address the lack of transparency in Department of Justice investigations and prosecutions. In some cases, the Army has investigated the circumstances behind some cases and found probable cause that a crime has been committed and referred the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution. In one example, unfortunately, 17 pending cases of detainee abuse, including the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison by contractors, has remained in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for 3 years. We are not told why these cases against civilian contractors have not been prosecuted or why they are being held up. In comparison, since the invasion of Iraq, there have been more than four dozen courts-martial commenced against uniformed personnel with respect to the law of war issues. Finally, H.R. 2740 requires that the Federal Bureau of Investigation establish an investigative unit to investigate reports of criminal misconduct in regions in which contractors are working. Madam Chairman, I would like to state for the record that at the subcommittee markup of this bill I agreed to work with my distinguished colleague from Virginia (Mr. Forbes), the ranking member, to address his concerns in the bill before it reached the full committee. We did work together and jointly offered a substitute amendment in the full committee that reflected this bipartisan agreement. The bill was then reported out of the committee on a voice vote, without further amendments. The manager's amendment, which will be offered in a few minutes, has additional recommendations from the ranking member. Madam Chairman, H.R. 2740 is a necessary bill. It is long overdue. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), the author of the bill.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chairman, the manager's amendment reflects the compromise and bipartisan nature of the bill, which was reported out of the committee with bipartisan support. But after the bill was reported out of committee, the Department of Justice wanted to completely rework the bill. One of their suggestions would have gutted the FBI investigative units established in the bill and removed the enforcement mechanisms in the bill. Another would have so limited the number of crimes covered by the law that it could have not covered contractor fraud or even sex crimes in prisons. Those are simply unacceptable. The suggestions proposed by the administration, many of which have been incorporated into the manager's amendment, have been described by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Madam Chairman. And finally, I'd just like to point out to my distinguished colleague from Virginia that if he has additional technical and definitional changes and recommendations, those can certainly be accommodated after the bill passes the House before final enactment. They will be accommodated. Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I would like to thank the lady from Ohio for convening this Special Order so that we can talk about the great weekend that we had. The gentleman from Florida, Kendrick Meek, did a tremendous job as chairman of the foundation. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick from Michigan did a great job as chairman of the caucus; Donna Christensen from the Virgin Islands and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina leading the legislative weekend. We had dozens of important legislative seminars, foreign affairs, armed services and veterans, transportation, health care, education, housing, social services, financial issues, civil rights, voting rights. Every aspect of legislation that you can imagine, we had the nationally recognized experts. They were open to the public, the public had an opportunity for questions and answers and input. These were great workshops. I participated in four of them. The town hall forum entitled ``The Cradle to Prison Pipeline'' that talked about the unfortunate situation where so many of our young people start off and gradually, slowly but surely, get in trouble, drop out of school and end up in prison, and how with appropriate investments, strategic investments we can change that pipeline to a cradle-to-college pipeline, which is so much better for humanity, so much better for our communities, and that we could do that in a cost effective way. I participated in a budget forum where we had budget experts talk about the fact that in 1993 we began eliminating the deficit. By the year 2000 we had gone into surplus. And, in fact, in 2001, we had a projected $5.5 trillion surplus over 10 years, and how, unfortunately, over the last few years we have converted that $5.5 trillion surplus to a $3 trillion deficit, a swing of $8.5 trillion. And how, with appropriate changes and some of the changes we're trying to make in Congress today, we can change that back to where we have the surplus and save Social Security, invest in health care, education and other important investments. We had a great workshop on education with the education brain trust. We had one session on desegregation of schools and how, notwithstanding the Seattle and Louisville cases, we can still, with a little hard work, make sure those schools are desegregated. We focused on the importance of early childhood education and the elementary and secondary education and Higher Education Act. We were able to make sure that we invested appropriately in education to make sure that we have a better community. We also had another workshop on the judiciary, juvenile justice and the importance of making the choice between reducing crime and playing politics. We need to make sure that we reduce crime. You were very active in law school admissions, to make sure that law schools' admissions policy was not discriminatory. Great workshops, judiciary, education, budget. The other important workshops. It was a great educational weekend. Madam Chair, I would like to thank you for your hard work and leadership and also the ability to bring us together so that we could discuss the great work that was done over the weekend. Thank you very much, and I yield back.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 340) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives of the importance of providing a voice for the many victims (and families of victims) involved in missing persons cases and unidentified human remains cases.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to thank the gentleman from Ohio for his leadership in introducing this resolution. I urge the House to adopt it. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of House Resolution 340 to express the commitment of the House of Representatives in giving victims involved in missing persons and unidentified human remains cases a voice through advancing DNA technology. The grief of loss of a loved one, particularly a parent's loss of a child, can only be surpassed by the endless torment of not knowing. When a loved one is missing, there is no finality, no way to begin the grieving process so that closure may eventually come and family and friends can begin healing. Going on, often hoping against hope, knowing the news they fear the most may come at any moment is a tormenting experience. But with today's DNA technology, much of this burden can be removed. Over 6,000 samples of DNA evidence have been used to identify remains of missing persons; and with continued and increased funding, we can bring more justice to victims and peace to the families and friends. Mr. Speaker, I further support the continued funding of DNA initiatives because of the incredible part DNA evidence has played both in determining guilt and protecting the innocent. Since 2002, over 200 wrongly convicted persons have been exonerated through DNA evidence, including death row inmates. In fact, just this weekend two incredible stories arose in the Baltimore area. On Saturday, September 22, prosecutors dropped all charges against a Baltimore man who had been held in a rape and assault of a 59-year-old woman just last month. This morning the Baltimore Sun newspaper reports that Baltimore County has solved their 18th DNA-evidence case, a rape investigation open since 1978. After 29 years, a victim will finally see justice. Mr. Speaker, we can and must continue to fund advancing DNA technology because, although there has been much success, there remains much to do. Over 40,000 samples of biological evidence related to missing persons are in laboratories around the country ready for entry into DNA databases with the potential of identifying almost 40 percent of our missing persons. And although DNA backlog reduction grants have cleared more than 60,000 criminal cases, exonerating the innocent and identifying the guilty, the backlog level remains almost unchanged. Police departments and prosecutors recognizing the benefits of DNA evidence have been trained in its collection and are using the technology more than ever before, which adds samples at the rate that the backlog is being cleared. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support continued DNA-evidence backlog reduction grants in identifying missing persons and to exonerate the innocent and to identify the guilty. We have seen what the technology can do, and we have the wherewithal to fund those activities. Justice demands that we view continued funding as a major responsibility. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to pass this important piece of legislation, and I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership in introducing the bill.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1199) to extend the grant program for drug- endangered children.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of this bill, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).