Frank Wolf

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. Yes. If he doesn't come up, I would. If he does not come up, I would. I will. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF

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

Mr. WOLF. I rise in very, very, very strong support of the amendment and will increase the funding and work with you to do what we possibly can. I appreciate the gentlewoman's interest and advocacy for space technology, as well as her cooperation in working with us to find a way to dedicate more resources to it. I have no objection, and I ask for a strong ``aye'' vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman for bringing this matter to the attention of the committee and your leadership in making us aware of the pressing need to review Federal forfeiture policies. As you were speaking, I thought: Why don't we ask the inspector general to look into this? So we will work with you to do a letter asking the IG to see if he has the authority to look in to see, because based on what you said, we don't want this to happen. Although an appropriation bill is not the best place to address civil asset forfeiture reform, we look forward to a constructive partnership to make sure we are protecting Americans. We will work with you on crafting a letter to the inspector general to see what we can find out and how we can make this not happen again.

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time. Amendment Offered by Mr. Smith of Texas

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

Mr. WOLF. Madam Chair, I have no objection to the amendment. I share the opinion that NSF must exercise caution. I should tell Members, the NSF funding here is at an all-time high. This is a Republican committee, if you will. The House and we support the sciences. I want our country to stay ahead of China and the other countries. I want America to be number one. But I appreciate what Mr. Smith, the chairman, said: NSF must exercise caution and grant awards and ensure--and I hope NSF is listening today--that every grant is both scientifically, meritorious, and responsive to the national interest. The subcommittee has already taken steps to help improve accountability and transparency in its NSF operations by including language in the FY15 CGS report and is working with NSF to understand improvements that the agency is making in its review and communication process. In addition, last week, I sent a letter to the NSF director, Ms. Cordova. She is a very impressive person, very knowledgeable, she is brand new, I think she is committed to making sure that they only fund scientific things. But this letter emphasizes the need for the agency to be judicious in a grant it awards and to ensure that taxpayer funds are used wisely. The subcommittee will continue to provide oversight on this topic as needed. I thank the gentleman. I think it is important for NSF to know that since the funding is at a record high in order that America can be and will always be number one in math and science and physics and chemistry and biology and lead the world, with that excess funding, extra funding, goes the responsibility to make sure there are not grants that then weaken the program and give there an opportunity for people to say this program is out of kilter. I appreciate Mr. Smith raising these. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 4660 in the Committee of the Whole, pursuant to House Resolution 585: (1) each amendment (other than pro forma amendments addressed in this order) shall be debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent; (2) each amendment shall not be subject to amendment except that the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations (or a respective designee) each may offer one pro forma amendment to an amendment for the purpose of debate; and (3) the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies thereof may offer pro forma amendments to the bill at any point in the reading for the purposes of debate but that no other pro forma amendments to the bill will be in order.

Mr. WOLF

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

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman for the opportunity to address this important issue, and it is an important one. I can assure him that we will work with him on this as we move forward in the appropriations process. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF. I want to thank the gentleman. We visited Guantanamo Bay together. I think any Member who has not been down there, you should go down and see what is there. These are important provisions that have been put in appropriation bills for the last several years. They represent a strong and enduring consensus in Congress. Striking these provisions would have unknown consequences for U.S. communities. Imagine bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who beheaded Daniel Pearl, and who was the mastermind of the 9/11 attack. About 170 people from my district died in the attack on the Pentagon. Can you imagine, they were initially going to bring him to New York City, and Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Schumer all opposed it because they knew what the impact was going to be and the security requirements. So this would have an unbelievable impact on communities. Putting detainees in U.S. prisons, as the administration originally proposed, would be disruptive and, I think, disastrous. Former FBI Director Mueller stated: ``To transfer detainees to local jails could affect or infect other prisoners or have the capability of affecting events outside the prison system.'' One of the things I think Members have to understand is this. There was a pirate, if you saw the movie ``Captain Phillips.'' He was arrested. He was arrested and tried. And they said that he would be convicted, and there would be no way that he would ever be released. You ought to go see ``Captain Phillips.'' It is a fascinating movie. He was tried and he was acquitted, and now he is seeking asylum. He is in Virginia. He is seeking asylum maybe in Virginia. There was another case, if you recall, Attorney General Holder said there is no way that this guy will ever get off, and he was only convicted on one count; and had that count not been a conviction, he would have been released. Lastly, there were Uighurs that were arrested in Tora Bora in a training camp run by Osama bin Laden. They were there to learn how to kill Americans, but also to kill Chinese, if you follow the concerns of the Uighur issue in China. The administration had reserved apartments. They were in Guantanamo Bay. They reserved apartments in northern Virginia at Seven Corners for them to live here. I know the gentleman is well meaning, but I think to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees here, people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, people like that, and then what if they ever were tried here and were acquitted, and then can you imagine they then apply for asylum, because we are now going to see a case where one pirate acquitted is applying for asylum and now is living in Virginia and may very well want to stay in Virginia. I urge defeat of this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, Politico talks about this case and said: The failed prosecution of an alleged Somali pirate--and the fact that that failure could leave him living freely, and permanently, inside U.S. borders--is highlighting anew the risks of trying terror suspects in American courts. Just a few weeks ago, Ali Mohamed Ali was facing the possibility of a mandatory life sentence in a 2008 shipjacking off the coast of Yemen--an incident much like the one dramatized in the film `Captain Phillips.' Now, the Somali native is in immigration detention in Virginia and seeking permanent asylum in the United States. One current Federal terrorism prosecutor said the Ali case and the potential for his eventual release is another reason why foreign al Qaeda suspects picked up overseas should not be brought to the United States but should instead be detained at Guantanamo or some other facility. I personally would think the very thought of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or some of the people when you go down to Guantanamo Bay and see them, walking the streets here in the United States should they be acquitted--they ought not to be brought to the United States. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. WOLF. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WOLF. This is one of the better amendments offered today. Frankly, I will do everything I can to make sure this is in the bill when it comes to the conference report. If the Members would take the time to go out and look at the place whereby you can see all the companies that are being hit, the Chinese are stealing jobs. And so I thank Mr. Doyle and Mr. Murphy for offering this. I will do everything I can. I think the staff knows how strongly I feel. Mr. Fattah has been a great help on these issues. So if the amendment is ruled out of order, we will make sure that we try to put it in the bill, and I thank both of you for offering it.

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

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I reluctantly rise in opposition to the amendment. I understand what the gentlelady is saying, and I think she makes a powerful case, but I think, to bring it back to this bill, the allocation for the bill already represents a cut of $398 million below the FY14 level. Thirty-three individual programs have been terminated in the bill. Moreover, and I will end with this, since the beginning of the 112th Congress, the allocation for Commerce-Justice-Science appropriation has been cut by $13.1 billion, or over 20 percent, so you have had a 20 percent cut since the 112th. As a result of that, I would ask for a ``no'' vote. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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