Jim Walsh

Mr. WALSH

Mr. WALSH. I do, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the gentleman's amendment, which is a proposed reduction of $344 million, or a 20 percent cut, from the International Space Station budget. That is an astounding cut and would cripple the program. There are currently two elements of the Space Station in orbit. Most of the remaining elements have been constructed and are in Florida waiting for final testing. In the next few weeks, Russia is going to be launching the third element of the Space Station, which will enable the United States to move forward with launch and assembly of the station. The reduction proposed by the amendment would severely disrupt the revised assembly schedule and cause significant cost increases to the program. Specifically, the cuts proposed by the amendment would result in the following programmatic change: cancellation of the U.S. Propulsion Module program, cancellation of the Crew Return Vehicle Development program, and cancellation of logistics flight hardware support. On the transfer to section 8, first of all, I am delighted to know that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) is a fan of Richard Nixon. I was not aware of that, and I am proud of his acknowledgment of that fact. Very few people are willing to acknowledge that today. Secondly, can we imagine if a Republican President had a housing administration that, in effect, denied 237,000 Americans access to housing vouchers. Can we imagine the outcry from the other side if a Republican President had this terrible record of not providing 237,000 American citizens housing, funds appropriated by the Congress. It would be unbelievable. The fact of the matter is, we have provided and fully funded the section 8 voucher program. If we put more money into that program with this attack on the Space Station, it will not be spent. Over $1 billion last year was provided to HUD for section 8 vouchers; they did not spend it. The Administration came back, recaptured those funds and then spent it somewhere else. We cannot continue to allow HUD to be the bank for the Administration's priorities, especially at this late point in the process. We cannot steal money from NASA, providing it to HUD, and allow it to go unspent and then God knows where it goes in a reprogramming. So this is not a wise amendment. We have strongly supported section 8 vouchers. It is a Republican idea. We are proud of that fact. But let us make it work better, I say to my colleagues on the other side. Let us make this program work better to benefit all of those Americans out there who need and deserve good housing. So, Mr. Chairman, I strongly urge a no vote on this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume to point out to the gentlewoman that we put $13 billion in this bill for section 8 vouchers.

Mr. WALSH. I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, we put in 10,000 additional vouchers by using the recapture money from last year. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan).

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI.

Mr. WALSH. I do, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. Point of Order

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the gentleman from Florida for bringing this to the attention of the subcommittee. This is an important issue. He has shown real leadership in the course of removing toxic waste or remediating toxic waste. The Ombudsman is in an important position, and we will work with the gentleman through the conference to make sure this important position is adequately funded.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I have no objection to that. If the gentlemen are all in agreement, I would be happy to agree to that.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Cramer), a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson).

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Hulshof) to enter into a colloquy.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen) a distinguished member of the subcommittee.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Hulshof) for his hard work on behalf of his constituents who have been so severely impacted by these flash floods. The gentleman has been absolutely diligent about bringing this to the attention of the subcommittee, to protect his constituents and rightly so. Congress is working within an extremely tight budget again this year, and the subcommittee thanks the gentleman for his cooperation working within these restrictions. Accordingly, I intend to work in conference to find a reasonable solution to this problem.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just like to congratulate both sides in this debate. I thought the debate was conducted at a high level. Solid points were made on both sides. My view is that we should, when we have a decision to make, make it based on facts; and I think we should err on the side of caution. Caution in the sense of human health would dictate that we oppose the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), who has been a leader and one of the reasons that New York's air and water are cleaner than ever.

Mr. WALSH. We have a very strict time agreement. I have to object.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I continue to reserve my point of order, and I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, is there any time remaining on our side?

Mr. WALSH. I do, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order against the amendment of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards).

Mr. WALSH. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. WALSH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I rise to enter into a colloquy with a member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Michigan, a distinguished Member (Mr. Knollenberg).