Zach Wamp

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of our time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Doolittle), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

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

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debates on this amendment and all amendments thereto be limited to 40 minutes, equally divided.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of our time. Mr. Chairman, I do commend the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) and all of our friends from California for fighting for a clean environment and fighting for what is right and good in our country. I have been there and seen the whales and enjoyed it as much as anyone. But I think we must be vigilant and continue to recognize in the days following September 11 how fragile our economy is, how fragile our freedom is, and how much we must reduce our dependence on the Middle East for oil. If we are going to do that, we cannot cancel leases. We cannot use funds to restrict oil and gas leases that we have domestically. The vast majority of people in this country believe we must have our own production capabilities, and we must not retreat from that, and in doing so, keep our country free and strong and productive. That is what we must do. So on behalf of the subcommittee, we respectfully ask that the amendment be denied, with the greatest respect for those that offered it, because their motives are pure; but it is not in our country's best interest to limit this capability at this time through this appropriations bill.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment on behalf of the committee. This agreement that we have on NEA is long-standing, it is bipartisan, it is very delicate, and conservatives and liberals and moderates have come together on this in the past. Obviously, the amendment that just passed increasing NEA funding makes this amendment somewhat problematic for some on this side. I have to also say, as a member of the subcommittee for 6 years, we have seen tremendous improvement. Under Bill Ivey's leadership, the NEA is much more accountable, much more responsive, and much more efficient. I know he is no longer there, but it is a much-improved organization. The funding levels have been agreed to. This bill is a careful balance. On virtually every item in the bill we have had to work through a compromise so that we could report the bill out with comity and cooperation for the good of the country. This agreement, at approximately $100 million for the NEA, is a carefully crafted bill. This amendment cuts that in half, which obviously would create the inability to ever pass this bill, to ever conference this bill with the Senate, to ever finally arrive at an agreement here. So we respectfully oppose the amendment and ask the entire body to vote against the amendment.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the subcommittee, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), the distinguished subcommittee chairman.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt), a distinguished member of the subcommittee.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), a member of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I ask if there is a chance we could get a unanimous consent agreement on dividing the time equally, but limiting the remaining debate to 12 minutes so we can honor leadership's commitment to rise at a time certain, and that would be six minutes per side?

Mr. WAMP. If we go beyond 12, we will have to rise and come back at 6 o'clock. That was an agreement we made earlier.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the subcommittee, we have no objection to this amendment and we commend the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) for offering it.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, at this point, we will proceed under regular order with title I. Following that, we will turn to title II under regular order. I ask that Members who have amendments to the remainder of the bill bring them to the floor and file them at the desk if they have not done so already.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. We thank the gentlewoman from Hawaii and recognize the many years she has worked to obtain this funding. We promise, the subcommittee, to give the gentlewoman's request full consideration during our conference with the Senate. We also point out that the tiny territories of Guam and Northern Marianas have a very similar financial impact from the compacts, and they have far less ability to cover these expenses. In 2001, Guam had about $20 million in expenses, Hawaii about $17 million, and the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas about $9 million.

Mr. WAMP. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for yielding to me, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I would like to have a colloquy with the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), who objected to that time limit on this amendment. It is my understanding that the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey) will not object to other amendments in title I as long as title I is not closed up, which would reserve the gentleman's right to offer amendments to title I at a later time. So when we consider other amendments under title I, such as the amendment of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), we can agree to a time limit without the gentleman's objection. Is that the gentleman's position?

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, clearly this is another issue we plan to take up in conference and we will give the gentleman and his constituents the highest consideration in the conference. We appreciate his raising this issue yet again today on the floor, and I am sure we will do all we can within our power to address this satisfactorily.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, we are prepared to accept the gentleman's amendment. We commend his work. As he knows, the chairman of our subcommittee is very committed to the ranchers and wants the grazing plans to get updated more quickly himself. This is why our committee mark did have the $5 million increase for grazing plans. We are willing to increase this further in order to see that proper environmental clearances get done and that ranchers are not harmed. We commend all of the partners in a bipartisan way for doing what is right.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I would like Members to know we have 17 other amendments besides the untold number of amendments from this group, from the rest of the House, that we would like to consider as well, plus the colloquy, so we can get on with the business of other amendments from both sides of the aisle.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman is correct. The committee has provided $79.7 million in funding for distributed generation technologies in the power technologies account under the energy conservation appropriation, an increase of $15.5 million over the amount requested by the President, and $15.9 million over the amount provided last year. These funds are available to assist with a variety of projects, including residential cogeneration systems. I would like for the chairman to know that this is just one of many very justified requests by Republicans to increase accounts in this bill above the President's request.