Mike Simpson

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SIMPSON. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise. Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the further consideration of H.R. 2584, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. SIMPSON. The gentleman brings up the point I tried to make. This is a shot across the bow. All of these programs need to be reauthorized. We had to start somewhere.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SIMPSON. I move to strike the last word in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate what the gentleman is trying to do. This amendment would limit the BLM from spending $10 million in offsetting collections for oil and gas fees and put the funding into the EPA's geographic programs. I understand what he's trying to do, and I'm sympathetic with what he's trying to do. I'm not necessarily opposed to increasing this program, and we recognize the challenge of the Asian carp in the Great Lakes. We have many invasive species in Idaho, so I certainly understand where the gentleman is coming from and the challenges that they face. With that said, we worked hard to balance funding in this bill. We already funded invasive species in the Great Lakes at $43 million, and the total for Great Lakes geographic programs is $250 million. It makes little sense to take funds from offsetting collections for the cost to administer the oil and gas programs. In other words, these programs are paid for by the industry, not by the taxpayers. So while I don't necessarily oppose what the gentleman is trying to do, it's the offset that the gentleman has created to put the $10 million in there. We've tried to create a balance between these different programs with limited funding. I think we've done a good job in the Great Lakes, the best we could in this bill; and I would oppose the amendment and ask my Members to oppose the amendment.

Mr. SIMPSON

Mr. SIMPSON. We are prepared on this side to accept the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. SIMPSON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chair, we don't have any problem with this amendment. This is kind of new territory in our bill, but I appreciate the gentleman from Arizona's work on this and his interest in providing quality education for our Native American brothers and sisters all across this country. It's a deep concern that I share also, and I look forward to working with him to make sure that this does what is intended and that it provides what is necessary for our Indian population so that they have the advantages that all of us have. I thank the gentleman for offering the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SIMPSON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SIMPSON. I would say that I think the gentleman has stated the case as it is. It is an earmark, and that's a whole other story we can talk about. But I agree with what the gentlelady is trying to do here. And I will tell you that both the ranking member and I will work with the gentlelady from the District of Columbia to try to resolve this in conference so that we can do what you're trying to accomplish here because I think it is important.

Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chairwoman, this is the same debate over again. We're taking money from the Office of the Secretary, which is down some $30-odd million, $33 million, I think it was, from the budget request of this year; then we've taken $20 million out of that already to put into the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This would take more money out of the Office of the Secretary. It seems like every time somebody has an amendment that they want to offer to fund some program that they believe is important--and oftentimes they are important--the savings account that you get it from is the Office of the Secretary. Not only in this bill, but in other bills. We take it out of administration. That's always the easiest thing to do, but the fact is that the Office of the Secretary has taken a pretty good hit in this bill both during the markup and here on debate on the floor, and so I'm afraid I have to oppose this amendment because I think it hits an account that is already substantially lower than what was requested. I would oppose the amendment.

Mr. SIMPSON. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. SIMPSON. I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept the amendment. While the gentleman from Virginia offered an amendment on H.R. 1, which was several months ago, it was $50 million. We didn't have that kind of money. Because of the bipartisan support for this program, we did fund it to keep it alive at $20 million. And I have no problem putting the additional funding in, if the gentleman requests, depending on where he takes it from. So I support the gentleman's amendment and would hope that my friend from Virginia would think twice and support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SIMPSON. I would have to say I don't know. I don't know what the Senate is doing, what their allocation is going to be. They have not passed a budget, so they have no 302(b) over there to work with. But certainly we realize that the EPA has taken the largest hit within this budget. A lot of that was due to the fact that they had the largest increases over the last couple of years. But certainly we will be looking at all of these accounts when we go into conference with the body across the Rotunda trying to come to a compromise that can pass both the House and the Senate.

Mr. SIMPSON. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SIMPSON. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chairwoman, you're going to hear from the entire Dental Caucus tonight. Congressman Gosar from Arizona and myself are the two dentists that are in Congress, so it might not surprise you that I support the gentleman's amendment. I appreciate his sincere efforts to address the obligations, both trust obligations and treaty obligations, and moral obligations, that we have with our Indian brothers and sisters across this country. One of the things I'm proudest of in this bill, as I said in my opening statement during general debate, was to be able to carry on the work that had been done by Chairman Dicks when he was chairman of the committee, Chairman Moran when he was chairman of the committee, and now that I'm chairman of the committee, to meet those trust obligations that we have with our Indian brothers and sisters across this country. One of the areas in this bill, one of the two areas, that actually got increased funding was Indian health services because we do have an obligation to meet these things. Dental decay is the most prevalent disease in the United States; and as the gentleman from Arizona said, it's 300 percent more likely in Native Americans than it is in the general population. That's unacceptable. We have to do something about it. It means that we have to meet the contract obligations that we have had. There's a saying that's been said around the country that if you live in Indian Country, you need to get sick before June, because the contract support costs run out about that time. One thing we've made a concerted effort to do on a bipartisan basis is try to fund 100 percent of the contract support costs for Native Americans. We haven't reached that goal yet. I think in this bill we're about at 93 or 94 percent, something like that. The contract support in the BIA that does the police work and those types of things are fully funded. We are going to continue to work to make sure that we meet those obligations that I think we all as Americans have. I appreciate the amendment offered by the gentleman from Arizona, and I truly appreciate his support for our Indian brothers and sisters. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the remainder of the bill through page 56, line 22 be considered as read, printed in the Record, and open to amendment at any point.

Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.