Frank Wolf

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. I have no objection to the amendment, and I support 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. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the gentleman's amendment. As he stated better than I could, as more veterans return from combat, we are seeing their increased involvement in the justice system. The committee established the Veterans court program in fiscal year 2013, and it has increased its funding. I thank the gentleman for offering an amendment. I urge an ``aye'' vote for it. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman for the amendment. I think it helps those who need help, particularly in the rural areas. I accept 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 have no objection to the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my fame

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

Mr. WOLF. I rise in opposition to the amendment, but I do appreciate what the gentleman said. As we move on and we get to conference, there may be something we can do. I know Mr. Fattah feels the same way with regard to gang violence in the inner city. The underlining bill has already reduced NASA's construction budget by $69 million. Further reductions--which this would do--would negatively impact NASA's ability to meet mission critical construction needs for the human spaceflight program, address urgent safety-related repairs at centers around the country--which certainly need them--and discharge legal requirements to remediate environmental damage. Construction projects are, by definition, long lead items that must be started early in order to be ready. By cutting these funds now, we will create a programmatic ripple effect that will be felt in our high- priority space program for the years to come. So for these reasons--and where the money is taken from--I urge a ``no'' vote. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order. We are just looking at the amendment, so, in order to protect the time, Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw the point of order, and I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. WOLF. I think we have--we never saw the amendment, and it is really pretty tough to really--but just looking at it quickly, I think we are at a record level for cyber, ever, in the history of this great body. The gentleman has a good point. He takes away from aeronautics, and aeronautics is our number one export, if we were not exporting even aircraft from the gentleman's home State, our balance of payment, so to take away from aeronautics, when we have plussed up aeronautics, so America can continue to be number one, and put it in an area that is ill-defined. Secondly, we have given more for cyber than any other time--cyber money in NIST, cyber money in the FBI, national security business, cyber money in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Criminal Division; so, because of that, I would urge a ``no'' vote. Cyber is important. Every major company in this country has been hit by the Chinese Government. Law firms in this town are being hit by the Chinese Government. Seventeen Members of Congress had their computers stripped by the Chinese Government. A committee had their computers stripped by the Chinese Government. So I think we should focus the cyber where we have it and not go after aeronautics. Because of that, I think the gentleman is well- intentioned. Obviously, Boeing has been hit, but Boeing is better served by what we are doing with regard to aiding the FBI to deal with this and the U.S. attorney. I commend and did a letter to the Attorney General last week, thanking him and thanking the FBI for their cyber cases that they are bringing against the People's Liberation Army. In light of where we are, I would oppose the amendment. I think it is bad to take it from aeronautics, and I think we should focus on the cyber the way that we have done in the bill with the FBI, the National Security Division, the U.S. attorneys. Again, I want to thank the Justice Department and the FBI for the great work they have done with regard to the People's Liberation Army and that we expect them to do in the future. I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF. I have no objection to the amendment and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I make a point of order against the amendment because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and, therefore, violates clause 2 of rule XXI. Clause 2 of rule XXI states in pertinent part: ``An appropriation may not be in order as an amendment for an expenditure not previously authorized by law.'' Madam Chair, the amendment proposes to appropriate funds for a program that has not been reauthorized. It was last authorized in 2009. The amendment, therefore, violates clause 2 of rule XXI. I ask for a ruling of the Chair.

Mr. WOLF. Out of courtesy to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, I will reserve my point of order.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, before I make a point of order, I do want to say that I do share what the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) said. I would like to tell the gentleman from New York, it isn't only the law enforcement. We had a similar problem. We had MS-13 and violent gangs. It is law enforcement. It is also the mentoring that Mr. Fattah mentioned. It is after-school programs. So, if we were to just go after the gang issue as a law enforcement issue, you will never solve the problem. It has to be law enforcement. The schools have to be involved. There have to be after-school programs. It is almost like a three-legged stool. But as we move ahead, we can look to see because I think everyone who lives in these areas that have been impacted by gangs, that is as much of terrorism for them as it is for somebody that is faced with terrorism from al Qaeda. Having said that, I do agree with what Mr. Fattah said. Point of Order

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I now make a point of order against the amendment because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and, therefore, violates clause 2 of rule XXI. Clause 2 of rule XXI states, in pertinent part: ``An appropriation may not be in order as an amendment for an expenditure not previously authorized by law.'' Madam Chair, the amendment proposes to appropriate funds for a program that has not been reauthorized. And I agree with the gentleman; it probably should have been reauthorized. It was last authorized in 2009. The amendment, therefore, violates clause 2 of rule XXI. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.

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

Mr. WOLF. I rise in opposition to the amendment, but I would hope that we can work it out. If you wanted to offer a different amendment with regard to the health care issue, I will support it, if we can find a way, but the concern I have is OSTP is a small office. This is roughly cutting 20 percent of their entire budget. In the last 2 years alone--and I agree with what the gentleman said on the health care aspect--our subcommittee has tasked OSTP with coordinating a major interagency effort on neuroscience, overseeing the implementation of policy across the government on public access to Federally funded research results, cochairing an effort to streamline and prioritize Federal STEM education and spending, and assessing the American supply chain vulnerability stemming from the lack of domestic access to rare earth elements, which is another problem that we are beginning to have with China. If we reduce the OSTP by 20 percent and if the gentleman would offer another amendment to reduce it by, you know, $50,000, I would accept the amendment or take the amendment, I can't speak for the other side, but to cut it by 20 percent, that is just too much. So until there is a different amendment that would meet the gentleman's need, as I agree with him on health care, we would accept it, but to take 20 percent out, particularly since--and I know Mr. Fattah has been working with the whole issue of neuroscience and the brain, I would oppose the amendment.

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. WOLF. Reclaiming my time, I completely agree. What I will do is we will call the OSTP and ask Mr. Holdren to come up with the gentleman and get him, and you can come to the meeting, too. Quite frankly, if he doesn't come, I will offer, when we go to conference, to take a chunk out of this to make sure that you get answers. We would like to bring Mr. Holdren up so that Chairman Broun will have an opportunity to talk to the individual. I will help him get the individual up. It will be in your office, not in mine. We will ask Holdren to come up the week we come back in.

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman.