Charles Taylor

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we will soon, I think, hear from our chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, who will be speaking on this. I know that the error that was made is being taken care of in this legislation, in 2005 with $1.5 billion, and in 2006 with another $1.5 billion to make the entire $3 billion. Every year, Mr. Speaker, we have raised benefits for American veterans, and rightly so. Some 68 percent of our veterans are from World War II and Korea, and we know when we go out on the plaza and see the monument to the World War II veterans the sacrifices paid. We all have relatives who served in World War II, and we know they saved this world with their dedication. We know also how much our other veterans give to this country, those who fought in subsequent wars right up through the current time with our own children fighting in Iraq. So all of us want to provide the materials and the health care benefits for our veterans, and this amendment will be one of the steps in providing that. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Walsh), chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, a member of the party which, as we all know, has supported our veterans with increases every year.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 415 and 416, I was detained in a conference with the Senate. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall No. 415 and ``aye'' on rollcall No. 416.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the accomplishments of outgoing Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William H. Donaldson. Chairman Donaldson has announced his retirement, but he leaves behind a legacy of hard work, integrity, and achievement. Mr. Donaldson was certainly well prepared to lead the SEC. He is a veteran of the Marine Corps and a graduate of Yale University. The Chairman has more than 45 years of high-level business and government experience. He is the founder and former CEO of the investment banking firm Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and is the former Chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. Chairman Donaldson has over five decades of government experience, including service as Under Secretary of State to Henry Kissinger. When Mr. Donaldson took the helm of the SEC on February 18, 2003, our faith in corporations and financial markets was severely strained. The Chairman immediately set out to remedy these ills by advocating internal reform of the Commission and external reform of securities markets. Chairman Donaldson has accomplished his primary goals of improving disclosure and transparency, protecting investors by helping to eliminate conflicts of interest and self-dealing by brokers, detecting and punishing securities fraud, and making the SEC more effective, efficient and cooperative. In addition, Chairman Donaldson has taken the agency from a re-active to pro-active posture. Donaldson once said ``look over hills and around corners'' and introduced a risk- based approach to actions. Through the principle and diligence of William Donaldson, the agency completed the Sarbanes-Oxley rulemaking process, strengthened mutual fund oversight to alleviate potential fraud and abuse in the future, and reinforced the SEC's enforcement and examination programs. During his tenure the SEC hired 1,200 new employees and also promoted teleworking and a virtual workforce. Perhaps most impressively, under Mr. Donaldson's leadership the agency prosecuted more than 1,700 enforcement actions, the two highest annual totals in the SEC's history. During this time the SEC authorized more than $7 billion in penalties to companies which have not played by the rules. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's financial institutions are stronger and more secure because of the due diligence of William H. Donaldson. I know that my colleagues in the House of Representatives wish him well in his future endeavors. But at this moment and at this time in our country's history he and his staff have made a great contribution.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2361.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chairman, today we present for consideration by the House the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year 2006 Appropriations bill as approved by the House Committee on Appropriations. The bill provides a total of $26.2 billion in funding for programs for the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Forest Service, Indian Health Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and several other environmental and cultural agencies and commissions. The bill is $823 million below the fiscal year 2005 level, and $435 million above the administration budget request. This is a balanced, bipartisan bill. It provides significant increases for our national parks, Indian schools, hospitals and clinics, wildfire programs; forest health is a high priority, and the Healthy Forest Initiative is fully funded. The Payments in Lieu of Taxes program has a healthy increase of $30 million above the budget request, and more than $3 million above the 2005 level. Despite our very tight allocation, the Committee believes it is important to provide this increased funding for PILT. There is an increase of $64 million for operations of our National Park System, including a $30 million increase specifically designed for individual units of the National Park Service. This targeted park base increase will benefit all of our parks. The bill also restores critical funding for science programs, historic preservation programs, National Forest Systems programs, and Save America's Treasures grants. Finally, we have restored critical environmental education, research and rural water programs in the Environmental Protection Agency, and provided some limited increases for initiatives proposed in the budget request, including Superfund, homeland security, school bus retrofits, the Clean Diesel Program, Methane to Markets Initiative, and the Brownfields Program. The budget request for EPA, while substantially below last year's level and proposed increases in that budget request, were funded by elimination of many critical mission essential programs. We heard from nearly every Member of the House asking that we provide funding for EPA programs that were eliminated or reduced in the budget. The program restoration and increases for the various programs and agencies in this bill are offset by the decreases in land acquisition, construction, and State grant programs, and by lowering the amount provided for the increases proposed in the budget request. This is a balanced bill. It is within the 302(b) allocation for budget authority and outlays. It provides the needed funding to keep the agencies in the bill operating at a reasonable level. It does not provide a lot of funding for new initiatives. The choices made by the Committee were tough and fair and responsible. I urge all of my colleagues to support the bill. At this point, I would like to ask that a table detailing the accounts in the bill be inserted in the Record. [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.018 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.019 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.020 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.021 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.022 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.023 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH19MY05.024 Madam Chairman, I would like to thank the staff of both the minority and majority staff, and Mr. Dicks, and all of those who have worked with the Committee in producing this. We have had outstanding participation, and I thank all of them for their participation. Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Madam Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I would be happy to discuss this matter with the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. I understand the gentleman's concern over this issue, and appreciate his desire to see the facility built. I would be pleased to assist in a meeting with the gentleman and agency officials on this matter. I thank the gentleman for his commitment to this issue.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. I thank the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) for raising the budget issues. The committee recognizes the uniqueness and development needs of the War in the Pacific National Historical Park in Guam. We will work with the National Park Service to remedy this situation. I thank the gentlelady for her efforts and look forward to continuing to work with her on this matter in the future.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate on this amendment and all amendments thereto be limited to 20 minutes, 10 minutes to the proponent and 10 minutes to an opponent, myself.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield my 10 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) and ask unanimous consent that he control the 10 minutes of time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I understand the gentleman's concerns and the unfortunate turn of events which caused this project to be delayed, and I will give the request of the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) every possible consideration. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the bill through page 128 line 12 be considered as read, printed in the Record, and open to amendment at any point.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the distinguished chairman of Committee on Agriculture. (Mr. GOODLATTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for bringing this to our attention, and we have no objection to the gentleman's amendment at this time.

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, the amendment requires EPA to comply with the executive order by the first President Bush dealing with environmental justice. We have no objection to the amendment.