DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 07, 2004)
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(Mr. SERRANO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the bill providing appropriations for the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary and related agencies for fiscal year 2005.
From the outset, I must say the 302(b) allocation given to the subcommittee, in our opinion, was too low. I am grateful to the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), however, for providing $226 million above the request; and I am impressed with how much the chairman of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), was able to accomplish within the allocation he was given. On the whole, I think the distribution of funds is quite fair and sensible and reflects priorities I believe most of us would share.
I would be remiss if I did not say how much of a pleasure it is to work with Chairman WOLF on this bill. Our working relationship and our friendship are major factors in producing it. I must also say that I am very grateful for the openness and fairness with which the chairman's staff has treated mine. Much is said, Mr. Chairman, about the poisonous atmosphere in the House these days, but that is not the case on this subcommittee, and I credit the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for that. His attentiveness and that of his staff to the needs of our side have been terrific, even if they could not always do everything we would like.
Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman WOLF and the staff, Mike and Christine, John, Anne-Marie, and Jonathan have served the committee well, as have on our side David, Linda, and Laura, and on my personal staff Lucy, Nadine, Diaraf, Sean and Jennifer. I wonder at times, Mr. Chairman, if the American people have a full understanding of the fact that behind the work that is seen on the House floor and in press conferences there is always such a large number of young, dedicated people who put together so much of the work that goes on in this House, and I think it is something we should always remember.
Again, Chairman WOLF was able to accomplish much. To list just a few highlights, the bill includes full funding or better for the FBI, the DEA, international organizations, worldwide embassy security, and most of the related agencies. Also, much more than requested for MEP and SCAAP. Funding levels on which we can build for NOAA. Continuing support for the Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties Protection in Justice.
I am also gratified that the bill and report direct the EEOC not to proceed with its workforce repositioning without complying with the committee's reprogramming procedures, which will give us essential oversight of potentially very disruptive changes proposed by that agency.
I do worry that first responder funding shortfalls between the Homeland Security bill and this one, despite the efforts of Chairman WOLF and our previous chairman, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), to improve on deeply flawed request levels, represent a one-two punch at our public safety agencies.
I regret the inability to give the SBA the resources it needs, although there will be amendments today to restore funding for the 7(a) business loans program and microloans, or to fund programs such as TOP and PTFP, where real needs will go unmet.
I also would have liked to address a serious problem that the restrictions on the use of non-Federal funds pose for the Legal Services Corporation grantees, which face administrative and financial burdens probably unmatched by any other class of Federal grantees, but that is a discussion for another day.
One other issue I would like to mention is the census. Halfway between decennials, few Members pay much attention to the Census Bureau. But accurate statistics about the Nation's population and activities collected, analyzed, and published by the Bureau are crucial to both government and the economy. Not only is membership in this House apportioned according to census data, indeed the Constitution requires 10-year censuses for that purpose, but many important decisions and many Federal grant programs are based on accurate census information, both from the decennial and from other periodic censuses. Business, too, relies on census data for final decisions on marketing, locating facilities, and the like. The census is of extraordinary importance to minority communities because it is the basis for their ability to establish their identity and secure their rights.
As the chairman knows, the Census Bureau is a bureau that I always feel plays a special role in the South Bronx and, indeed, throughout our society. Whenever anyone gets up and speaks about we have such a number of this and a number of that, and this happened and that is happening, those figures are always taken from the work of the Census Bureau, and so we not only tip our hats to them but show them our support.
Again, Chairman WOLF has shown exceptional sensitivity to what the Census Bureau needs to continue its activities and prepare for the 2010 short-form-only decennial, and I thank him for that.
Again, Mr. Chairman, I believe that this bill is a good one, and I will support it as it continues to move through the process. Once again, I thank Chairman WOLF for his support, for his kindness, for his friendship, and above all, for being a man of great conviction who sticks with issues that other people dare not bring up, as we will see during this debate.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF), and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) for bringing this issue to our attention.
Too often in this country when we speak about drug abuse and drug addiction and the problems related to drugs, the image that the American people get is that of youngsters in the inner cities. Yet one of America's so misunderstood secrets is the fact that drug addiction and drug abuse is a problem that plagues the whole society. And I really think that before the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF), the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) started to speak about this issue, this House was not fully aware of that. They put it on the map. They put provisions in this bill to deal with it. We have worked on allocating dollars to deal with the issue. And I think the country will benefit and attention will be focused, Mr. Chairman, on the fact that this is a national problem.
We can speak about the issues that can really hurt the society in the long run, and certainly right up there, in my opinion, with the everlasting, unfortunate, lingering racial problems in this country is the fact that so many members of our society abuse drugs and are caught up in the horrible use of drugs. Again, in the inner city it is easier to see. We see it on street corners. We see it in front of buildings. We see it in school yards where there are thousands of students attending one school. In some of the rural and suburban communities, it is not seen the same way. It does not have the same face. But it does have the same suffering; it does have the same pain; and it threatens the society we live in in the same way.
So I want to thank the three gentlemen for that, having brought this to the House's attention.
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.
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, another additional comment is the fact that the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) has done a lot of work especially in this bill on the issue of gang violence, again, one of those issues that a lot of people relate to certain parts of the country and certain types of communities. Yet we find out that gang violence is spreading throughout the country. And this bill begins to address it in a proper and strenuous way.
Interestingly enough, those of us who have lived in the inner city know that there is a relationship between gang violence and drug abuse and drug addiction because those who do not use drugs but who become millionaires by providing the drugs make sure that people who are in gang-related activities and other activities in the community become addicted. Their line of business is to get people addicted, and this is the way they do it.
So it is interesting that we are speaking today on a bill that addresses both issues. But the main point here is for the American people to fully understand that this is not a disease, this is not a condition, this is not a crime that is only related to certain parts of our community. It is related to the whole Nation; and it threatens us, in my opinion, as much as anything else. Years from now if we do not deal with this issue, if we let the full Nation go the way that some communities have gone, we will regret the fact that we missed an opportunity.
So I am proud to be part of this effort today, and I congratulate again the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), the gentleman from Kentucky (Chairman ROGERS), and the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF).
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.
Mr. Chairman, let me at the outset say that the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) knows that I know how difficult it was to put this bill together and to deal with the issues that this bill takes care of. He is right, we had to move around with a smaller allocation. In fact, the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) was gracious enough to admit that the allocation, I think he said, was thin. Yet within that allocation, we were able to come up with a bill that I think we can all support.
But in the middle of that bill, or actually at the beginning of the bill, there is this gaping hole, this problem with the SBA now. There are different views as to how much of a problem this truly represents. But the fact of life is that many people on both sides of the aisle feel that it is a problem and one that needs to be dealt with.
Now, in committee, full committee, I proposed an amendment which would have provided the $79 million by declaring an emergency. What I basically did at that time was move emergency disaster funds and replace the 7(a) allocation in its place. By the way, that amendment was not approved; otherwise, we would not be here right now. Under our rules, that same amendment, then, cannot be presented on the floor because of the way it was presented, and so we have this one where we have dollars that we shift around in the bill.
I am not going to repeat what everybody has said. But in so many communities throughout this country, the small business community and the providers of loans believe that this is an important amendment; that this is an amendment that should, in fact, be approved and one that both sides of the aisle can support.
So with the respect and admiration that I have for my chairman, and knowing well that I was an architect in putting this bill together and our staffs were, nevertheless, I feel that this is an amendment that should be approved; and I will hope that on both sides it can get the sufficient votes to pass.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
[Time: 15:00]
Mr. Chairman, a lot has been said about this amendment today, and I want to reiterate my respect and admiration for the chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), and the fact that I cannot run away from the issue that we both participated in putting this bill together. But as I said in my original comments, and I will say again, even when we approved and supported this bill, as I do now and I would ask all my colleagues to do so for final passage, I still knew that there was a problem that had to be dealt with, and the most glaring of those problems was the 7(a) issue.
It is for that reason that I stood up today and continue to stand in support of the amendment. I think the amendment speaks to an issue of a constituency throughout this country that is not only based in the lending institutions, heaven forbid I should ever be accused of supporting the lending institutions at that level, but people who feel that this is a good program and should continue to exist.
Because of my support for the bill, I am very leery when we put forth any cuts, but I must say that I am not totally upset about cutting the National Endowment for Democracy, because every so often what they partake in is improperly trying to overthrow governments that they should not be involved in. So I am not going to cry tonight if we indeed take some money from them.
However, I understand the concern of many members of the subcommittees. I would just hope that we see this for the greater good, which is the need to have this program restored, to have this hope fulfilled. And if we do that, if we do that, I think that we would have gone a step ahead of where we were a couple hours ago in saying that this was a good bill. The bill then would be a great bill, and that is my support.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. WYNN. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, as I told the gentleman from Maryland, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) has been very much aware and supportive of these kinds of issues, and as this bill moves to conference, sometimes there is a window of opportunity to do some things. While we cannot promise what the end result will be, we certainly promise the gentleman from Maryland that we will work together with him to see that this moves along in a better way.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word, and I rise in opposition to the amendment.
Let me first continue to do what I have always done and that is to show my respect for the gentlewoman from Texas who always speaks to these issues with great compassion and with great concern; and under normal circumstances, one could agree with her, but these are not normal circumstances: one, because this budget is so tight; two, as I keep repeating, because I believe the chairman has been very fair in providing dollars; and, lastly, we just had an amendment where we were looking for $79 million for SBA. Well, if I add this correctly, this program went up from last year's just about that amount, $79 million. So this program has done very well.
To now strike at legal activities account for another $10 million, I really do not think it is necessary, and so I would oppose it and hope everyone else would; but in anticipation of a good decision by the gentlewoman from Texas, I will now yield to her.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?
Mrs. MALONEY. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman is correct, and I share her concern.
During the last 2 decades of the 20th century, the Census Bureau did not provide sufficient investment in these programs to keep up with the changing social and demographic character of the country. Eventually, the system failed, due to lack of attention.
I was encouraged when the President's budget requested funds to reverse that trend. I am going to work with the chairman to see if there is some way we can rectify this situation in conference.
Mrs. MALONEY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman and I appreciate his efforts to assure funding not only for the 2010 census, but for the many other important programs at the Census Bureau. I believe this small amount of research funding now will pay great dividends down the road, and that the failure to fund this research will have serious consequences for the accuracy of a great many census programs besides the 2010 census.
Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, if the gentlewoman will yield once again, I want to thank her for her tireless work on the census. I share her enthusiasm in this area, and I assure her that we will continue to try to make their work easier and better.
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman and the ranking member.
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Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I would just like to commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), my friend and colleague, for this effort. Our eyes do not deceive us. It is not $50 million. It is not $50 billion. It is $50,000. But in so many ways it is trillions, because it affects people who have been hurt. And while the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) is not to wear this on his sleeve, I happen to know that, as we all do, his family was touched by this tragedy. And so the support that he continues to give the victims and the families is one that makes a lot of sense to all of us.
Again, we have done so much to honor those folks who have served and who gave their lives and the families that were touched; and yet this little symbol, and it is little in the sense of what it costs and yet gigantic in what it means to people, is something that should move ahead.