Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Apporpriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 07, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 701 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 4754.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bill. It makes great strides in protecting our Nation. First off, it fully funds the FBI, $5.2 billion, which is a significant increase over current year, some $687 million more than this year. And especially important to me is the language in the bill that encourages the FBI to work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to complete an interoperable system as soon as possible, to help us check people coming across our borders against the FBI's criminal watch list.

That is terribly important because we have had some unfortunate experiences on the border of murderers making it across the border after having been stopped; but the inability to check against the criminal records of the FBI needs to be remedied forthwith, and this bill has language encouraging that.

And then, as the gentleman from Tennessee just said, this bill fully funds the President's Prescription Drug Abuse Program. And for those of us in the parts of the country where prescription drug abuse, like the overuse and abuse of Oxycontin, it is terribly important that we tackle this problem head on, and that is what this bill does. In my district, we have started an organization called UNITE, which stands for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education. There are literally thousands of people now involved with the support of this subcommittee in a three-pronged attack against methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse: investigations and the law enforcement part of getting rid of the pushers; treatment for those who are addicted and need treatment; and, of course, education to try to encourage young people, especially, to stay away from the abuse of these drugs. And this bill supports that program, and I thank the chairman for that especially.

The bill fully funds the DEA, $70 million above the current level. It has $10 million for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which allows States to receive grants to establish a program to prevent people from double-filling prescription drugs and using the excess for sale as pushers. It includes $50 million for drug courts, which I believe in very strongly. We are seeing that work in my district, among others, where the power of the law is used for the good of people who are arrested and have no other crime except the use of drugs. And the drug courts work, and they rehabilitate people back into society in a good way. And then there is $60 million in the bill for methamphetamine hot spots, a problem that is particularly important in the rural parts of America.

And then the bill reinforces the presence of the U.S. abroad. There is $1.5 billion for Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance, which is $148 million over current levels. And, most importantly, I think, it continues the efforts to right-size the staffing at the embassies, saving us money and improving efficiency at all the places where Americans serve abroad in our embassies and consulates. Those are some of the more important features of the bill as far as I am concerned.

I want to compliment the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), ranking member. I had the pleasure of working as chairman of this subcommittee for 6 years, working with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), who was ranking at the time; and I found him to be especially helpful in constructing a good bill. And certainly the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) has just done a great job, in my judgment, a very challenging bill this year because of lack of funds. So I compliment the chairman and the ranking member for bringing to us a very worthy bill, and I urge 100 percent support of it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SERRANO. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman is absolutely correct. In my rural district in Kentucky, it is an epidemic of the abuse of Oxycontin, particularly, but methamphetamines as well. And we have had dozens of young people die from the overabuse of these very addictive drugs, and it truly is an epidemic, and it strikes rich and poor, urban and rural. It does not matter. Wonderful families are broken up by this. People dying, families ruined, no place to go for treatment, no hope involved.

And I want to compliment the gentleman for further drawing attention to this real epidemic that is sweeping the whole country, not just the cities, but I think probably especially now the rural areas. And I compliment him for bringing this up again, but also the chairman and him for including funds to help us fight it.