Bobby Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for his statement; again, thank the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentlelady from New York for their hard work on this bill. Many children in the future will benefit from the work of these two individuals and the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. With that, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the primary purpose of this bill is to provide, for the first time, specific programs to assist children who are victims of the brutal and devastating scourge of domestic child sex trafficking in this country. S. 2925 authorizes grants to appropriate victims services entities to create comprehensive victim-centered approaches to address the sex trafficking of minors. In particular, this legislation allows funds under the Byrne and JAG Grant Programs to be used to provide education, training, deterrence, and prevention programs related to sex trafficking of minors. It also provides funding to implement the improvements in the National Crime Information Center. In addition, this legislation strengthens laws aimed at apprehending and punishing domestic traffickers, while also improving the ability of law enforcement and other entities to find, rescue, and assist child victims. Importantly, S. 2925 also encourages States to treat minor victims of sex trafficking as crime victims rather than as criminal defendants or juvenile delinquents. We have made steady progress in recent years in addressing international sex trafficking of minors, as well as adults, under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which passed Congress in 2000 on a strong bipartisan basis. It was most recently reauthorized by the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which I was pleased to help develop and shepherd through the House. We have worked for some time through legislation and other efforts, such as the Congressional Caucus on Sex Trafficking, which I cochair with the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Granger), to bring more attention to the need to better address the issue of domestic sex trafficking, particularly trafficking of minors. Unfortunately, we have encountered barriers to having it recognized that these children are victims in the domestic sex trade and not criminals. Now, under the leadership of the Senator from Oregon, Senator Wyden, and House Members of the Congressional Caucus on Sex Trafficking, this is finally changing. We finally have legislation before us that not only recognizes that children caught up in domestic sex trafficking are victims, but also addresses the unique needs of these child victims in being rescued and helping them pursuing a productive life. We are amending the Senate bill to remove certain nonessential elements of the bill, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam 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. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 4748) to amend the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 to require a northern border counternarcotics strategy, and for other purposes.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam 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. Madam Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens), who has been working hard on this particular bill.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 4748 amends the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 to require the Director of the National Drug Control Policy to submit to Congress a northern border counternarcotics strategy. The United States' northern border with Canada is the longest open border in the world, spanning 12 States and over 4,000 miles. The House initially passed this bill 5 months ago, recognizing the increased amount of drug trafficking and related criminal activity occurring near the Canadian border, including on Indian reservations in that area. To combat this development, H.R. 4748 requires the creation of a northern border counternarcotics strategy similar to what has been in place for our southwest border for several years. This will promote more effective consultation and coordination between Federal law enforcement agencies so that we can bring new force to our efforts to curb the flow of illegal drugs across the northern border and the crime it brings in its wake. In addition, H.R. 4748 gives Indian tribes with reservations on or near the Canadian border a consulting role in implementing the strategy on their reservations. This bill is the result of efforts by our colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens), whose district spans 250 miles of the border on land along the St. Lawrence River and on Lake Erie. The Homeland Security chairman, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), helped to shape the bill and bring it to the floor last summer. The Senate has now returned the bill with some modest, but helpful, refinements; and I urge my colleagues to support this revised version so that we can send it to the President. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor veteran Richmond Times-Dispatch journalist Tyler Whitley. Mr. Whitley has been a newspaper reporter in Richmond, Virginia, for the last 50 years. He has spent 40 of those years covering the Virginia General Assembly, including the 15 years that I served there. Mr. Whitley, a Virginia native, is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia. He started his career in 1960 as an obituary writer at the Richmond News Leader. He later became business editor at the News Leader. In 1992, he joined the Times- Dispatch when the News Leader and the Times-Dispatch merged into a single morning newspaper. He has covered nine governors, fourteen national political conventions, and four redistrictings. He has also traveled to ten countries on assignment. Mr. Whitley is well-respected by journalists and politicians in Virginia. He is affectionately referred to as the dean of the Virginia capitol press corps. Last week, several journalists and editors, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and former Virginia Governors James Gilmore, L. Douglas Wilder, Gerald Baliles and Linwood Hilton gathered to honor Mr. Whitley. The presence of these Governors at Mr. Whitley's 50th anniversary celebration is a testament to the admirable professional legacy he has built in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ``If it's true that reporters write the first draft of history, then Tyler has written a lot of history,'' former Governor Baliles told the Washington Post. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to honor Tyler Whitley for 50 years of exceptional journalism.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the bill because its passage will make it impossible to ever balance the Federal budget. This compromise will add about $900 billion to the national debt. That's more than TARP. That's more than the stimulus package. The 2- year cost of the bill is about the same as the 10-year cost of the health care reform bill. At least we paid for that. We need to make tough, unpopular choices to balance the budget. Obviously, letting tax cuts expire would be unpopular. But when we ever decide to get serious about the deficit, we will find that the alternatives are even more unpopular because, after today's vote, the choices will necessarily include cuts in Social Security, Medicare, education, and other popular programs. If we don't have the political will to end the disastrous Bush-era tax cuts now, we certainly won't have that political will during the middle of a Presidential election. The job creation in this bill is paltry--$400,000 a job. We can do better than that. Accordingly, Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to make the tough choice and defeat this bill.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the gentleman from California for supporting bills introduced by this side of the aisle. In light of the change in leadership next year, I hope he continues in that great tradition. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6412) to amend title 28, United States Code, to require the Attorney General to share criminal records with State sentencing commissions, and for other purposes.

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. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to thank my colleagues from California, Mr. Herger and Mr. Lungren, for their advocacy on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support the resolution. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3998) to extend the Child Safety Pilot Program.

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 object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

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

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3353 will allow the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa to be treated as two separate entities for the purposes of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. Currently, these two areas are treated as one State for the distribution of Federal Byrne grants. The Byrne Justice Assistance grants are a leading source of Federal justice funding to State and local jurisdictions. The program provides States, tribes, and local governments with critical funding necessary to support a range of program areas, including law enforcement, prosecution, courts, prevention, education, corrections, and crime victim and witness initiatives. Although this bill does not change the Byrne grant formula, particularly the statutory minimum amount of the 0.25 percent that each State or territory is entitled to, it does change how the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa will be given funding under the grant program. The statutory minimum is granted to a State regardless of its population or crime rates. However, the Byrne grant funding increases if States have larger populations and higher crime rates. The three other territories--Puerto Rico, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands--are presently entitled to the minimum funding, as are all 50 States. The objective of this legislation is to provide the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa with the same statutory minimum to which every other State and territory is entitled. I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Richardson).