Frank Wolf

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. WOLF. You know, Mr. Nadler, you could have offered an amendment last night. We had a whole total open process. And Mr. Runyan--where is Mr. Runyan?--Mr. Runyan added money to this project, to Violence Against Women. Secondly, this is a bipartisan bill. There's been no political shenanigans at all. And let me tell you something--I wasn't going to mention it; we didn't make it a big deal--this bill has $420 million. We're $7.5 million above the current fiscal year for this issue. Also, we're $7.5 million above President Obama's request for Violence Against Women. We're above it. And then with Mr. Runyan, we are even higher above it. Also, this administration has not been good on sexual trafficking. We have language in this bill to direct the Attorney General to have a task force at every U.S. attorney's office for sexual trafficking. We are above the administration on sexual trafficking. So, I mean, it is kind of political. We are above the administration, and we have a task force on this issue. And so I could go on and on and on. But last night, we had a whole, totally open, and we accepted a number of amendments. You could have come down here up to midnight last night. There is no disagreement about the importance of these programs and need to stop it. It is very important. This is a good bill, a solid bill, bipartisan support. Members on both sides of the aisle had ample opportunity to have their amendments considered. In fact, on floor consideration, 63 amendments were offered and 36 were adopted. We were above the President's request on Violence Against Women. We were above the President's request on the issue of sexual trafficking. Also, and I know some of you were concerned about it, the NICS background check, we were above the administration on that, and also have language directing the Attorney General to deal with that NICS issue. The Brady Commission, the Brady people support it, and the NRA supports it. So on all of those issues, we were above the administration. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I think we have actually said enough. I think it is a good bill. I want to thank again Mr. Fattah and all the Members on both sides of the aisle. It was a good, bipartisan bill. I urge rejection of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, in honor of the 18th annual Vietnam Human Rights Day on Friday, May 11, 2012, I would like to highlight a petition that can be found on the ``We the People'' section of the White House's Web site. This particular petition, which collected over 150,000 signatures from across the country, urges the administration to ``stop expanding trade at the expense of human rights.'' Vietnam's human rights record remains disgraceful and I look forward to the day when we can gather together to celebrate true freedom in Vietnam. This administration must show the world that promotion of human rights is a priority in U.S. foreign policy.

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5326, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. WOLF. I rise in support of the amendment. I think truthfulness and accuracy are essential components of any oversight process. And the amendment simply requires the Justice Department and all Federal agencies funded by this bill provide only forthright and truthful statements or representations. With that, I ask for a ``yea'' vote, and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. WOLF. Maybe when we go to conference--last year this said $4 million. So in a tight budget year when the Ryan budget comes and the other budget comes, we're actually increasing this from $4 million to $10 million, which I think every other program would just say, I don't quite understand. Secondly, the Senate put in $4 million. Maybe we can talk as we move on. I was looking to see if Mr. Schiff was here or Mr. Culberson was here. This was part of a delicate compromise with regard to the Mars program and the Europa program. The committee took great pains to ensure that NASA science funding reflected the planetary science priorities and goals of the National Academy of Science and included the development of sample return missions to Mars. It's the Decadal Survey. To take this out of that, when it was so difficult, I think would be a mistake. Such a mission would represent an unprecedented scientific undertaking and enable the next fundamental advance of Mars science and ensure that America's undisputed leadership in Mars exploration remains unchanged. This is the imaginative part of the space program. Two weeks ago, when the shuttle flew over Washington and this building, literally everyone went outside to look at it. This was one of the most imaginative and creative things for America to continue to be number one in space. I would tell the gentleman I would hope we would vote it down, particularly with $4 million last year and when the Senate is at $4 million. The Senate has $781 million more money in allocation than we had. And for us to jump this up when other programs have been severely hit--I don't know how Mr. Fattah would feel. We could try to work as we go to conference and all, but I would hope that we could vote this down, particularly since it takes it from Mars. And I will give the gentleman my assurance to move ahead and see what we can do to it, but not take it from Mars. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for yielding and for outlining the concerns that a number of people have about this program. I believe that, despite our differences--and it may not really be that much of a difference--we share a common goal of providing reliable domestic access to the space station in the fastest and most cost- effective manner. We are paying the Russians $60 million a seat to get there. So we want to get there as fast as we can for the lowest cost that we can so we can utilize that space station, which cost us $100 billion. I know the gentleman is a staunch supporter of commercial spaceflight. And if the gentleman believes that he can get NASA to come up with a clearer and more reasonable plan, we want to work with him. We look forward to discussing results as we move forward with the process. And I will tell him that we will work together.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I reserve a point of order on the gentlelady's amendment.

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentlelady from Guam for raising this important matter. We will work with the Senate to ensure that funding for these important programs, including coral research activities, is sufficiently maintained.

Mr. WOLF. I want to thank both of you for your commitment to safety and mission success at NASA. This is an issue that they have been active on for a while now, and they have raised a number of significant questions. We will be happy to work with both of your offices to ensure that those questions are answered and that the decision-making on NASA's facility promotes safe and effective management. So we'll work with both of you to do that.

Mr. WOLF. I object.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to request a recorded vote on the amendment of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Webster).

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

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman for his comments and for his active support of STEM education in all forms. We'll be happy to work with the gentleman as we move forward to ensure that NSF and other Agencies in this bill are getting the most appropriate direction on STEM education needs and priorities.

Mr. WOLF. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WOLF. I want to thank the gentleman for speaking on this issue. Funding the weather satellites is a very high priority in this bill, as well as the data systems used to store and process data from the satellites. We will work with you and also our other colleagues in the body to ensure that the CLASS program is adequately funded.

Mr. WOLF. I think this amendment has been adopted on other bills. We accepted the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. WOLF. I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. WOLF. What does this amendment say if a young person, 15, at a high school in whatever State is watching the House at 7:30, and they say the United States Congress is ready to make it easy to get marijuana, and their mom or dad--what is going on? This amendment hurts law enforcement. Our law enforcement people are jeopardizing their lives. Marijuana is one of the most widely abused drugs in the United States. According to the DEA, more young people are now in treatment for marijuana dependency than for alcohol or all other illegal drugs combined. This amendment does not address the problem of marijuana abuse and possibly makes it worse by sending a message to young people that there can be health benefits. The Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, describes marijuana as ``the top revenue generator for Mexican drug trafficking organizations, a cash crop that finances corruption and the carnage of violence year after year.'' All you have to do is look at the news. That's why we put money back in here for the National Gang Intelligence unit to keep the Mexican gangs from coming into the United States. The Mexican gangs are being funded and they have a marijuana operation. I don't understand. I mean, I respect that maybe for medical use at a time. And I will tell you, the first time this issue came up, I voted for it, but it was on a narrow basis. But this is wide open. And then you're going to tell your 15-year-old or 16-year-old don't use drugs. Well, we've got the marijuana center downtown, and everybody's going in. The FDA has stated that ``smoked cannabis has no acceptable medical use and treatment in the United States.'' I could go on, but I think that the message that this amendment would send to young people is that Congress wants to aid and abet, if you will. And we all know. We've watched ``60 Minutes.'' We've watched all these shows. If somebody purely, really--my mom died of cancer. So many people in my family died of cancer. It's so narrow. But this is just wide open. And we've seen it where they're coming in and they're pouring over. In essence, I think this would be bad for the country. In our hearings, we heard that more young people are dying from overdose of drugs. Then marijuana, then do we go into heroin, and then we go into OxyContin. You just saw today's Washington Post where some of the drug companies were promoting these pain operations which are basically moving and pushing OxyContin, hiring some really prominent lawyers in this town to represent them. This would not be a good amendment for the country; it would be a bad amendment for the young people, and I urge defeat of the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. I move to strike the requisite number of words.