Transcripts For CSPAN3 House Rules Committee Meets To Consider Spending Bills 20170906

Judge, thank you very much. Okay. Panel, we have spent a good bit of time yesterday and last night. We are interested in a number of issues and your presentation about the way you see the world and the product and you support that is why youre here today and quite honestly i respect the hard work that you do day in and k day out. People recognize that were up here long hours and late hours. You have been, too. And your product and your performance to your satisfaction is important. Mr. Calvert, ill start with you. The gentleman is recognized. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As reported by the Appropriations Committee, the fiscal year 2018 interior environment bill is funded at 31. 456 billion, which is 825 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and 4. 3 billion above the budget request. This legislation makes a concerted effort to prioritize critical needs within our reduced allocation. While also addressing specific interest and concerns brought to our attention through 5,200 member requests. In the interest of time, i want to outline all of the programs and activities funded in in this bill, but i would like to point out a few highlights. The committee has provided robust wildfire in this bill. Fire suppression accounts are fully funded at the denyear average level and the bill increases funding for review reduction. The bill funds the taxes program, pelt, at the fiscal year 2017 enacted level. 42 of the 59 states make up for tax revenue. Overall, funding by epa is reduced by 534 million or 6. 5 last year. Theyre cleaning up infrastructure and cleaning upland and it will spur Economic Development in communities across the country. This legislation provides 5 billion worth of investment and Water Infrastructure through the wifia program and the clean water and Drinking Water resolving loan funds. This bill provides increases to accelerate the cleanup of contaminated super fund and brown field sites. The bill provides 2. 9 billion for the National Park service and increases the construction account by 10 million to address longstanding park operations and deferred maintenance needs. Weve also addressed a number of concerns with an efficient Wild Life Service accounts, but theyll restore the core programs and popular Grant Programs for fiscal 2017, enacted level and it restores funds to combat International Wild life trafficking and protects fish hatcheries from cuts and closures and continues to fight evasive muscles and reduces the backlog of species that are recovered, but not yet delisted. The bill provides 275 million for the land and Water Conservation fund, programs that enjoy bipartisan support. The bill makes critical investments in Indian Country a top priority of this committee. It honors our commitment to native americans with emphasis on indian health, Law Enforcement, education and water settlements. Id like to thank my good friend terry mcall up to address these and other needs with the bell. We never are disagreeable and continue to work well together and i would also like to thank the hard work of our staff on both sides. A lot of time, as you mentioned went into this and a lot of late hours, nights and weekends to get this bill before us today. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Im happy to respond to any questions you or members of the rules committee may have and happy birthday, mr. Hastings, and thank you. Thank you very much. You brought your able Ranking Member with you. She is, as you are no stranger to the rules committee and shes one of our favorite when she comes up here. The gentlewoman is recognized. Good to see you. Good to see you, Ranking Member slaughter and happy first, mr. Hastings. To the members in this room who have direct family members or directly represent states impacted by the disaster, we Work Together to serve all americans at their time of need. I appreciate the opportunity today to be before you to discuss division a the fy2018 interior environment and related agencies and appropriations bill. Id like to be clear, however, that i believe consideration of the entire bill on the house floor should be under an open rule. The traditional process for appropriating legislation has been undermined by the structured rules. Furthermore, it should be considered independently and not lumped together with the packages. The bill continues down a partisan pact of slashing funding that supports health, safety and the wellbeing of American People. The important programs in the interior environment bill suffer from a low 3002b allocation which is by the majority and the process that was neither open nor transparent. The subcommittees allocation is 824 million less than last years level. A cut of this magnitude short changes the protection of our nations natural and Cultural Resources and has real consequences for American Families and communities. Adequate funding for the interior Environment Division is at a critical time when the Trump Administration is attacking Science Behind Climate Change, rolling back regulations to protect clean air and water and even halting Health Studies that examine whether some mining practices harm nearby communities. We are at a defining moment in history, and our actions to combat Climate Change now will impact the world that we pass on to our children and grandchildren. We cannot ignore the Scientific Evidence that the plan is forming. Sea levels are rising and glaciers are melting. Last weekend i witnessed firsthand at glacier National Park in montana, theyre exceeding at an accelerating rate with just 25 remaining in a landscape that once held 150 glaciers. Across the west including glacier, the frequency and intensity of wildfires continue to worsen and in fact, this last week, wildfire destroyed one of the parks historic chalets. Weve all seen the destruction inflicted by Hurricane Harvey. As the waters recede, the Environmental Protection agency will play a key role in keeping americans safe. Once again, we are reminded about the daily importance that Environmental Protections have on our lives. As members of congress, we must meet our responsibility to adequately fund the epa so it can carry out its mission and this bill does not do that. The majority has chosen to slash funding to the Environmental Protection agency by 534 million. The epa is shouldering 65 of the overall cut to the subcommittee. The epa protects human health, safety and ensures clean air and clean water for all of us. This agencys budget is already 2. 2 billion below fy10 levels and it is simply irresponsible to cut the epa any further. I also must express my concern and disappointment with partisan writers in this bill at the expense of the public good. They jeopardize a production for recovery for vulnerable species and restrict protection of our oceans and undermine clean water and clean air safeguards and even prevent the development of renewable merge. These writers do not belong in this bill, but despite my disappointment of the writers and a lack of an open floor process and the wholly inadequate allocation for the interior environment bill, i want to be clear in expressing my appreciation for the hard work of chairman calvert, his staff and the democratic staff and the work that all of our subcommittee members do together. It has been my pleasure to work on this bill, and i thank him for his working and collaborative approach. Im particularly proud of the subcommittees nonpartisan and i say nonpartisan effort to address the issues facing native americans and despite the low allocation, this bill recommends an increase of 108 million over fy2017 inactive levels for programs critical to Indian Country. The health, education and safety and trouble communities is the federal responsibility that the whole subcommittee takes very seriously and that is one very bright spot in this bill. Mr. Chairman, i request that when hr3554 comes to the floor it should be considered under an open rule so the house can have a thorough, informed debate on this bill. American people deserve every consideration of federal funding and policies that affect the help of our environment and our communities and are fundamental to the legacy we lead for future generations. I want to thank you and members of the committee to testify on hr3345 together, and i look forward to looking to my chairman as we move forward on the floor. Ms. Cullen, thank you very much, wanot only for your testimony and for your work with mr. Calvert and your staff on both sides that work diligently and we heard the story yesterday from the chairman and the Ranking Member about them working together. Finding Common Ground and i appreciate you being here with mr. Calvert and doing that exactly today. Mr. Culverson, we are delighted that you are here and the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member slaughter. I want to thank you all for the prayers and support youve offered the people of houston and Southeast Texas and louisiana for bringing Hurricane Harvey so quickly to the floor and that will make a big difference in helping relief the suffering of the people. It really does and we need to recognize that we have puerto rico directly in that eye right now and so as we speak about houston or as we speak about Southeast Texas and louisiana, we have to remember florida, we have to remember the virgin islands. We have to remember the term puerto rico which is an american territory which is very important to us and our two members who are in those territories know that we have an active process involved in that and i know you recognize that above all. And mr. Serrano mr. Serrano reminded me of this this morning. Yes. Absolutely. He reminded me, as if i needed reminding. I do. No. No. He was talking about one of our territories. We thank you very much for the support. I am here to explain the cjs bill and ask that you provide an appropriate rule as part of the larger appropriations package. It was the last week and our neighborhoods out in boats. No, no, no. Thank you. Its been a rough week. He joked his way through it. Its been a rough week. As you know, our cjs subcommittee were with the first range of agencies that are responsible for with espionage games and enforcing our trade laws and forecasting the weather managing fisheries and exploring space and advancing science. The cjs division of the bill, mr. Serrano and i worked together arm if arm provides 54 billion in discretionary funding which is 2. 6 billion in last years level and we look forward to an overall budget agreement that would give us more room. Thank you very much. We have in the limited allocation we have available to us because of the size of the debt and the deficit, were conscious of that and working thoord find ways to limit federal funding and balance all of these priorities, but with the limited funds that we have, we have allocated our constituents very precious and hardearned tax dollars to fund Priority Programs while reducing funding for activities that we deemed less essential and one of the principle priorities and Ranking Members was Law Enforcement. We want to make sure the fbi is well taken care of and the fbi has been provided with 8. 8 million and its an increase that will enable them to fight cyber crimes and terrorism and espionage and we have increased funding for federal Law Enforcement across the board to enhance their ability to protect the nation against violent crime, gang members to combat humaning someling, Human Trafficking. Unfortunately houston, texas, is a hub for Human Trafficking which is heartbreaking and our bill does anything they can to fully fund the agencies to help them fight not only Human Trafficking, but opioid trafficking and i vividly remember when the colleague from West Virginia pointed out there is a town in West Virginia that have been prescribed 9 million oxycodone pills. Thats just criminal and weave got to deal with the Opioid Crisis and we have provided fundses for 65 new immigration judge teams and 500case backlog waiting to be handled and 23 million increase for u. S. Attorneys and the increase for the u. S. Marshals and the 9 million increase for the Drug Enforcement agency and the 25 million increase for alcohol, tobacco and firearms. I especially want to say thank you to all of the federal and local and state Law Enforcement and the agencies and the First Responders that have done so much to help the people of texas in southwest louisiana with this hurricane. So weve also provided strong funding for those local and state Law Enforcement programs including 527 million for Human Trafficking and to protect women against violence and 72. 5 million to protect missing and exploited children. 500 million for the burn Justice Assistance Grant Program and 220 million for the state criminal alien Assistance Program to reimburse state and local jails and prisons for the cost of housing and individuals who committed crimes or are in the country illegally. The bill provides 19. 9 billion for nasa which is a 218 million for increase and nasa has had too much on its plate for too long and too little money to do it. Mr. Serrano working arm in arm with the sib committee to make sure that the American Space program is the best on earth and well ensure that the United States continues to lead not only in Space Exploration and technology, but in Aeronautics Research and the discovery of space and science. They will send american astronauts beyond the orbit and increases funding to planetary programs including the mission to europa which is the most promising place we will first find life in another world. The bill does not adopt the pros cut to the National Science foundation and we protected investment and basic Scientific Research which is so essential to our nations security and Economic Growth and we made sure that in order to live within our allocation we had to reduce funding in some areas and we eliminated programs that are no longer necessary and were not critical to the operations of the federal government and we reduced funding for several programs that can operate with a little less. Finally, mr. Chairman, the bill continues protections for americans, Second Amendment constitutional rights. We have also continued language from bills and continue the transfer of housing of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay into the United States and im happy to answer questions that you and the committee may have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman culverson, thank you very much. Mr. Serrano, the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman at the expense of being repetitious, let me just tell my chairman, mr. Culverson that our prayers and our thoughts were with you during that period and we are here, and im here to use my vote on appropriations to make sure that texas, louisiana and those places are made whole again because its the proper thing to do and its the main thing to do, and one, mr. Chairman and it stands out in my mind and its interesting. That is, i was watching univision, and i saw First Responders from puerto rico putting their gear together to go to texas and now as we speak, irma is putting puerto rico in a situation that could be as bad as texas. And so if theres no other reason to be good brothers and sisters is the fact that you never know when its going to happen to you. So true. And it will. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member slaughter for the opportunity to testify before you today. As a Ranking Member of the science and appropriations subcommittee i am deeply disappointed to appear before you to talk about an omni bus bill rather than an individual consideration of a bill that chairman culverson and i have worked on to date. Let me say that in order to make my presentation short i did include a lot of what i do agree on, programs that i knew i didnt have to fight for because he believed in them, too. I want to point out yet bill has problems, but that doesnt mean that i dont respect the work he did and any money that comes our way between now and the senate, i know a lot of those things will be taken care of. Although i strongly oppose the consideration of a bill in these circumstances, i believe it is important that if this process moves forward, the cgs portion of the bill be considered under an open rule. This is a traditional matter under which appropriations legislation come back to order and thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased that you have taken time to come back, and i know some of these allday efforts require a lot of people, patience and other matters. You have something that you have appropriately asked me if you could come and be with us. Were delighted that youre here. [ inaudible ] well, we appreciate that and we are here to try to accommodate members and we appreciate you taking time. We believe everybodys feedback is important, plus we are still separating a judges birthday. So thats not all bad. Without objection, anything you brought in writing will be entered in the record. Mr. Raskin is do something that we never do, but well allow you to give you testimony. People ask you questions and then you exit. Ill go as quickly as possible. The gentleman is recognized. Thank you. I have two amendments and im going try to move through them as quickly as possible. One is number 67 and thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member slaughter and all of the members of the committee. Its a bipartisan amendment that would prohibit funding from the news to implement a recent change to the department of Justice Policy which greatly expands the federal governments civil asset program. The new policy revives an unconstitutional practice that has been decried by republicans and democrats alike. Under this practice, Law Enforcement may seize cash and property suspected of being connected to criminal activity without arresting the Property Owner for probable cause of having committed a crime and without having charging the Property Owner with a criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that the Property Owner had obtained the property unlawfully. Its forfeited on suspicion and then you have to hire a lawyer to go to court to prove the propertys innocent if you ever want to see it again upon the new policy announced in july by attorney general sessions helped Police Officers take cash and property from people who are merely suspected of a crime and it allows Law Enforcement to dodge stricter, state laws limiting forfeiture by having their cases moved to the federal level. I think its intention with the due process clause, the police should not be able to stop people on the street in their cars or in their homes without a search warrant and without making an arrest and without charging them with a crime and simply confiscate their condos or cars or whatever. We think that the property is somehow contaminated. We are presumed to be innocent of crimes and our property should be presumed innocent, as well and innocent americans should not lose the right to due process or their Property Rights because someone else believes the government should be presumed correct and authorized to take peoples property from them. There was an interesting series in the Washington Post of abuses in 2014. It found local and state Police Agencies made more than 55,000 seizures of peoples cash and property worth more than 2. 5 billion under a Justice Department civil Asset Forfeiture program. In 2015, doj imposed restrictions to limit when the government could adopt forfeiture cases and banned state and loeshgal police from using federal law to seize cash and property without cash and warrants. The new policy lifts these restrictions and so this amendment would forbid the use of money under the act for being used to implement the new policy. So thats the first one and then the second one is amendment 73. This would strike section 438 from the interior portion of hr3354. 438 would prohibit the construction and operation of Wind Turbines less than 24 nautical miles from the state of maryland effectively killing offshore Wind Development projects that are on the verge of construction in my state. As a former maryland state senator and a champion of Renewable Energy projects nationwide, i strongly oppose this language. It would create dramatic federal overreach into a carefully negotiated state project and it would undermine the economic, environmental and Health Benefits of offshore wind projects in my state. Breaking up a carefully constructed state budget with a federal appropriation sledgehammer which set wind Energy Projects across the country. In maryland, the Public Service Commission Approved projects that would position maryland as a National Leader in offshore wind energy. The decision by the commission represented one of the final steps in a project more than six years in the making involving extensive public debate and planning in the state and careful negotiations involving the public business e the Governments Office and as a state senator i work on both sides of the aisle through many years of negotiation and can attest to the stakeholders to advance the Clean Energy Agenda with broad input. The maryland pse cited overwhelming support for the offshore wind project from citizens and Public Officials and public hearings. In inserting the writer to override after years of public input and process, represents and flies in the face of basic principles of state autonomy. Preventing the projects from moving forward would deprive our state of real Economic Opportunity and innovative job prospects and the environmental benefits that wind energy provides. According to the bureau of labor statistics the Fastest Growing occupation in america is wind turbine technicians. These are goodpaying jobs averaging 25 an hour. In maryland theyre projected to create more than 9,000 jobs positioning the state as a frontrunner and the fastgrowing u. S. Offshore wind energy. Additionally, the two Companies Involved with the project are expected to generate over 1. 8 billion of instate expenditures during Development Construction and operational phases not including tax revenues to the state. Maryland is eager to capitalize on the Significant Development opportunities and these projects afford. They are obviously considerable environmental benefits such as the pollutants and emissions and the maryland pse estimated the offshore wind progress would reduce it by 19,000 tons for 20 years greatly assisting maryland and reaching its goal of reducing Carbon Emissions by 40 over the next three decades. Special pleaing aside, i urge you to make my amendment for offshore Wind Development nationally and section 438 by burden som requireme burdensome, requirements off the site from the shore by doubling the setback 438 sets a poor precedent for future development making offshore wind more burdensome and costly for developers. It undermines that the regulatory certainty that businesses need to plan, modifying the terms and conditions of the leases violates the sanctity of the lease and creates considerable anxiety for Companies Pursuing offshore wind projects that may act now as a deterrent to innovative ideas in the pursuit of renewable agency. It is alarming with direct and negative consequences for maryland and the ominous potential to undermine similar Energy Projects nationwide and i urge you to make the amendments striking in order and i would urge support for my colleagues on the house floor. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Judge hastings, do you have any questions . Does any member of the committee have questions . I do. I dont know a lot about your First Amendment that is about prohibiting funds used to implement the order allowing the assets seized by the state and local government. What i do know is i spend a good bit of time studying up on a number of issues and i see on a regular basis and i dont know if its involved exactly as you have, but where people routinely will bring in a great, big 18 wheeler. Nobody knows really who owns it. It may have come from over the border and certainly the guy driving it never knew he had 18 illegals in the back of the thing. Maybe he didnt know that he had four pounds of methamphetamines and he gets out and the they look at it and he claims no knowledge of it. The federal government couldnt seize that . Thats an easy case, mr. Chairman, because there the contraband is right there. You have probable cause to arrest that guy and take him off to jail. The moment the arrest is made i didnt say they arrested anybody. He pleaded he didnt know what he was doing. Sure. Everybody claims theyre innocent, but if the police have probable cause because they find undocumented people being smuggled through, and in your example, methamphetamine, an arrest can be made right on the spot. If not, they certainly can hold the guy for the purpose of getting a search warrant and searching it and making an arrest. What my point is is there are lots of times where Law Enforcement sees people doing something including maybe 450,000 cash. Yes. And you explain to the program, any they say i dont know how i got it. Im not sure, and i cant claim it youre saying they cant pick the money up even though the person there claims they didnt know about it. Let me tell you because they do know they dont want to go to prison. I gotcha. You have to check out the Washington Post series and ill make it available to you. There was an older gentleman, a chineseamerican citizen of the United States who had saved up 35,000 in order to buy a building, and i think it was in texas, actually, for a chinese restaurant. He had the money in his car and the police were suspicious that this guy this all of this money with him and they thought it was drug money and they seized it. They had no reason to think he was involved in crime. They didnt charge him with anything, and he was one of the rare people who was able to get a lawyer and he went to the aclu and two years later they were able to get the money back. The whole deal who was holding that money . The Police Department was holding the money. The Police Department . The Police Department. One of the things that came out in this whole series which is why the doj changed the policy. What happened is that the attorney general sessions has gone back to the old policy. A lot of Police Departments were seizing money from lots of businesses. There was a business in my district in Frederick County that got money seized and their bank account was taken without anybody being charged with anything and later they ended up being exonerated and in the meantime they didnt have use of their money and in a lot of cases the people dont even go to court and they have to get a lawyer to get their money back. I think its a basic principle and due process that your property as a u. S. Citizen is considered your property unless the government can prove its illgotten gains or using it for criminal purposes. A windfall of 400,000 in the backseat of somebodys car and they claim they didnt know it was there, tells me so is mickey mouse. I appreciate you being here. I can be described as being a Law Enforcement guy, and i think that would be true, and i just appreciate you bringing this to us and i will tell you that we will consider this. Please make sure we have an awesome stenographer here and she would like to get whatever you brought in writing. I will fas over pass it over. Thank you very much. Youve waited four or five hours, but sometimes these things happen. I will get a lot of work done. I know you could. Thank you very much for allowing me to testify and ill be brief. This is a an amendment for the interior portion of the legislation and its an amendment that has passed the house a couple of times previously and what it does is it reaffirms and preserves the rights of stateses to write their own Water Quality plans. My amendment simply prohibits the Environmental Protection agency from using its Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load and the socalled watershed implementation plans to hijack states Water Quality strategies. Over the last several years, the epa has implemented a total maximum daily load blueprint for the Chesapeake Bay watershed which limits the nutrients that enter the Chesapeake Bay. Through the implementation, the epa has given every state in the watershed an ultimatum. Either the state does exactly what the epa says or it faces the threat of an epa takeover of its Water Quality programs. Congress intended that the implementation of the clean water act be a collaborative approach through which the states and the federal government Work Together. This process was not meant to be subject to the whims of politicians and bureaucrats in washington, d. C. Therefore, my amendment instructs the epa to respect the Important Role states play in implementing the clean water act. I want to make it perfectly clear that my amendment would not stop the epa from working with the states to restore the Chesapeake Bay which is an important priority, nor would it undermine the cleanup efforts already under way. My language only removes the ability to take over a states plan or to take retaliatory ak against a state if it does not meet epamandated goals. Again, it ensures states rights to be intact and not usurped by the Environmental Protection agency. Members of the committee, i thank you for your time and i would urge you to make this amendment in order under your rule as you have done in the past. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Ms. Titus, welcome to the rules committee and we are glad youre with us. The gentle is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its nice to be back. I want to address my remarks to two amendments, titus 54 and titus 18. Titus 54 is the slaughter of wild horses and burros under the care of the contractors. I want to thank a Bipartisan Coalition of members from across the country who have joined me in the fight to protect these beautiful creatures and they include congressman polis, congressman peter king, congressman cabello, and congresswoman grisham. I represent the heart of the district of the lasing have as valley. We have wild animals there, but not these horses that im talking about. My district is surrounded by iconic landscapes. Its lot unique flora and fauna and Cultural Resources that tell the story of the continents very oldest civilizations and earliest human inhabitants. Nevada is also the home of the largest population of wild horses in the nation. So i am under no illusion that there are real challenges to the management of our wild horse and burro population and i am not arguing that we simply stay the course, but i believe the changes being proposed by some of my colleagues to lift the more than two decades ban on federally funded slaughter of these animals is not the answer to management. If you combine the slaughter prohibition removal with the president s budget request which calls for the killing of wild horses and burros and the exports of horse meat from the United States for human consumption it becomes abundantly clear that the wild horses and burros are under attack. There are other sources that do not involve simply killing these animals, but require good sign, smart decision making. In 2007 who we were closest to the scientifically determined management levels, blm failed to carry out an aggressive and proven Fertility Treatment Program to reduce new burros. As a result, we have seen the number of wild horses continue to rise, but its not too late to do the right thing. If congress were to lift the killing prohibition tens of thousands of wild horses and burros would be destroyed, but then what . Without a plan in place well just continue to kill off a certain number of the creatures year after year. Instead, we need to institute a real, Sustainable Management plan based on scientific land use principles. We only spend about 1 of the wild horse budget on fertility control. Yet last year blm spent 67 on a Holding Facilities which many experts argue not only are inhumane, but actually increase the population. So now i say its not time to remove these protections and ignore the slaughter of these iconic denisons of the range, but together we can be smarter, we can be kinder and we can be more, fisht and save taxpayer dollars as well as these magnificent creatures and i would urge the committee to send this amendment number 54 to the floor and let our colleagues take a vote on this issue that means so much to the people of nevada and people from all across the country, and we have letters and calls to submit for the record. So thank you for your consideration of amendment number 54. Yes, maam. Were delighted that youre here. Thank you. The other amendment that we have is amendment number 18 and that deals with our National Monuments. I want to thank my colleague from texas. Congressman o rourke for joining me on this amendment. Our national mono ups represents some of the iconic, naturally, culturally sensitive lands and very important Historic Places in our country. From the establishment of Devils Tower National monument and congresswomans cheneys home state designated by Theodore Roosevelt over 100 years ago and designated more recently. These are special places that deserve our federal protection. Earlier this year the president signed an executive order directing his secretary of interior to review some two dozen of these monument designations made over the last few decades claiming that these designations were made without adequate public outreach. Over the summer the secretary posed for photoopes and attended Public Events and made cursory site visits and many meetings with stakeholders and advocates in Southern Nevada were canceled. This exercise stands in contrast with the people advocating for the National Monuments over the last several years. As part of the review, the administration opened Public Comment so citizens from coast to coast could voice their concerns about the administrations plan to either remove the designation or reduce public lands protected as national mono ups. At the end of the Public Comment period more than 2. 5 million comment his been filed, thefile and that included over 100,000 from nevada alone. We have heard opponents claim those monuments negatively impact our economy, but that is absolutely not true. It is not true in nevada or across the country. Altogether, our National Monuments, parks and public lands generate 18. 4 billion annually for local communities, support 230,000 jobs and add 35 billion to local economies. One out of every five visitors who comes to my direct also visits one of the states National Monuments. Last year alone more than eight million visitors went to our Land Management areas and in 2015, before these new monuments were added to the list, visits to these areas generated over 400 million for Economic Activity and recreational tourism in the region. Thats why it is not just environmental groups that want to protect these public lands. It is also the Nevada Resorts Association and the Las Vegas Metro chamber of commerce. Now, two weeks have gone by since secretary zinke issued his secret report to the president about what to do with these monuments. We dont know whats going to happen, hence, we are bringing this amendment. This ensures they wont be undermined, reduced or eliminated. So we havent made any boundary adjustment to a National Monument in over 50 years and then the changes were just minimal. So we dont want to see that happen again. And i would urge your support of this amendment and i thank you for your attention. [ inaudible ]. I do intend to support her amendment speak on behalf of her amendment. Were delighted that youre here. I do like being with you and appreciate being here seeing you. I should say before i start on the main thrust of my comments that in the next panel you will have another gentleman from virginia, mr. Scott, and he has an amendment related to black lung clinics that i am supportive of. That being said, i have come with some amendments i have to try to help us in the coal fields of southWest Virginia. I appreciate your time considering these two amendments. They are hand and glove. You cant approve one and not the others. It is a package because they Work Together. My amendments restore critical funding to three additional an latch yan states, funded by the abandoned mine Reclamation Fund in conjunction with economic and Community Development and reused coals. The money has been sitting there for years. But until recently there wasnt a lot of activity going on because they had to restore the land and that was all their purpose was. Now a community and groups can go in and apply for the money to restore the land but also be looking at an economic and Community Development possibility with that land. So there is some real opportunities. Funding for these grants was first established in 2016 but was provided exclusively to three states with the greatest amount of unfunded reclamation needs. Unfortunately that did not include some states that have been devastated. So many of the communities in my district are suffering in trying to deal with things and there has been a little uptick in coal production, but it is like a depression has hit the area. So were trying to do everything we can. Last year the program was expanded to include the top six affected states. That would add to the list of pennsylvania, West Virginia and kentucky, the states of alabama and ohio. And, so, we would hope we could add back in the second tier of states to that. Now, i brought along a map because sometimes a map can do a better job of explaining things. This orangey area. The orangey area is my Congressional District and the coal fields of southWest Virginia. I got to use my hands. There are mines along the kentucky border which are current mines. Historically this has been the case where the mine is right on the border. There is actually a mine that was reopened. It wasnt a surface mine, but it was an underground mine. It was reopened and the mouth is in West Virginia, but the coal is in virginia. So what weve got is a situation where weve now got West Virginia and kentucky are getting money to restore their lands with an economic purpose and their colleagues all of whom are the same community. You got hatfields and mccoys on the same side of the line. So put in two amendments to try to rectify that. And, so, what were trying to do is were trying not to hurt pennsylvania, West Virginia and p kentucky. In order to make everything flow with the way that the rules require, i had to put in additional 25 million for each of the second tier states. Last year the second tier states only got 10 million. Yall wanted to amend it and cut it back to 10 million, ill still be grateful. But follow the rules. We have two amendments, 25 million for each of the other three dates affected to help those economies as well. It would have a huge effect in my direct. I suspect in ohio. I dont know alabama as well, but i suspect there as well. Not only do you get rid of high walls and some situations that are dangerous but you also are looking at Economic Development in areas that can sorely use it. It is a great program. Credit former chairman rogers came up with the concept. It is working. It can do a lot of things, but it ought to be helping out all the six states that are out there. Were taking money from the central funds. It is not a huge amount. Were putting it into these three states and hopefully with doing that we can create some jobs or some exciting things going on behind the scenes but with just the 10 million we got last year. Mr. Chairman i hope you would consider making that an order and i hope the amendments would go forward. I did throw in because im trying to get some votes, i did throw in a reduction of 5 million overall. That just goes back into the pot so that i can maybe pick up some of my friends on the right. The main thing is im trying to help the people of southWest Virginia and those also impacted in ohio down there. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thats true. But i like to have friends everywhere. Thank you very much. And i have been to these areas, and i do recognize that shes from kentucky. She gets it. Hatfield or mccoy. Yeah. We wanted to ask which one are you. Come on now. I live just far enough away that i never had to take sides. Thank you very much. We appreciate not only your time but your insistence on trying to add professionalism to that. Welcome to the rules committee. Youve gotten good at this. Just a few times now. Yes, sir. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman and madam Ranking Member and members of the committee. I want to briefly talk about three amendments for your consideration. The first is number 106 and division c, the commerce justice and science division. It would prevent the department of justice from using funds to conduct imminent domain proceedings to construct a border wall. In other words, preclude the use of taxpayer dollars to take property from private property landowners along the u. S. mexico border at a time that the u. S. mexico border has never been safer by anyones count, my metric that you want to look at and because doing so would betray the fundamental purpose of imminent domain. There is no real public purpose served in doing that right now. We know that we have the lowest northbound apprehensions. We know those who are coming northbound by and large are children and young families, mr. Chairman, that you have seen in texas who are fleeing the most tor ri horrific violence of some of the deadliest cities and countries in the planet and they are not trying to evade detection, but are turning themselves into customs agents. A wall would not serve any protective purpose. You look at the u. S. Cities on the u. S. mexico border, cities like el paso in texas and other u. S. Border communities and they are on average safer than cities into the interior. Not inspite of id argue because of our connection with mexico and a large number of immigrants who call these communities home and are fundamental to the safety and security of those communities. The Second Amendment is number 147 and division f, which would prevent federal funding from going to the healthy texas Womens Program and ensures that medicaid dollars are spent as intended to provide beneficiaries access to a range of Family Planning providers. I want to thank Ranking Member slaughter for joining this amendment, mr. Chairman and members of the committee, as you know the waivers have to promote the objectives of the Medicaid Program and investigate new ways to expand access to Quality Health care. The texas the Healthy Texas Women Program accomplished neither aim. We are struggling with a crisis in Maternal Mortality in this country, and texas is the worst among the 50 states and is by some rankings the worst in the developed world right now for the mothers, sisters and daughters that we are losing preventbly and funding a program that has been shown not to work as we are at the same time closing more than a quarter of the Family Planning clinics in texas is not the way out of this problem, besides the mortality rate among mothers, we are seeing an increase in teen births, so texas leads the country in repeat teen pregnancies and an increase of 15 in abortions performed in texas. So i know that the leadership in texas probably has the best interests of texans in mind, but it is working at cross purposes to the intended goal. I want to make sure we do not continue to fund something that does not work and makes texas women less safe. The third and final amendment is related. Its number 148 in division f. And it specifies that funds appropriated for regional and National Significance related to maternal and child health should be used for the study of Maternal Mortality in the United States and identify solutions to improve Maternity Care for the highest risk populations. And i would argue and the facts bear this out. Texas is at highest risk right now compared to any other state and compared to most of the developed world. So in the interest of time, mr. Chairman, i will conclude and yield back, but i am grateful for your and the committees consideration of these three amendments and i ask that you consider making them an order. Thank you very much. Mr. Woodall . Thank you. Mr. Griffin, the reclamation money, do they contribute to that . Yes, maam. They contribute to the fund and the funds sit there and wait for somebody to come along and use them to reclaim the previously abandoned mine land. What percentage would you say. Id have to look it up. I wouldnt want to tell you something that was wrong. It comes from the production of coal. Its sort of a tax on coal. Yes, maam. I believe thats correct. Ill try to check on that. If i find im wrong, i will let you know. Thats all right. I think that makes sense. I certainly do approve of your amendments. That makes good sense. Teddy roosevelt would be very upset with all this happening, would he not . And im pleased with yours. Im sorry. I didnt hear yours, but youre always good for a laugh or two. Im sure they were fine. But please if you would consider making mr. Orourkes amendments an order. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I was advocating for regular order to be returned so i support an open rule on this. Whether i agree with the members or not, i hope to make it an order as long as theyre germane. With that i yield back. The gentleman from texas. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And mr. To ruorourke, i had a question for you. Were you aware of the authorizing committee, specifically the committee of energy and commerce, on dealing with issues surrounding Maternal Mortality not just in texas but around the nation . We have had a round table and we invited actually two of the members of the texas task force, dr. Hankins was able to attend that round table and we had individuals from the center for disease control. There is a lack of uniformity on how Maternal Mortality is reported in the country, not just in texas but all 50 states and the territories. And that creates some difficulties as to how to get a number that is a metric that is actually useful. And texas did change in early 2011 to go from a 42 day standard to a one year standard. I know this because when i got my license renewed that year i had to take the hour of ethics on reporting of death certificates and that was one of the changes that occurred in our state. And it has, i dont want to say that is the sole cause, but that is one of the causes for texas being an outlier on the recording and a witness testified to that fact. I think there is some utility in getting obviously we have to be careful because states have the jurisdiction there to require the reporting and what numbers and what time frame is reported. But there would be some value in harmonizing the reporting requirements throughout the 50 states. There are some bills that are before congress to do that, and thats one of the things that were actively looking at now in the subcommittee. The other thing, of course, is to ensure that there are appropriate number of providers and particularly to be abletern. Previously it was only internal medicine, primary care. But the addition of ob doctors to that designation was something we passed in the house and actually look forward to getting that done at some point. But i just wanted you to be aware of those efforts. It is not like this is occurring in a vacuum. One Maternal Death is too many. And i will just share with you. When i was in training at the hospital, the big three things that were problematic in Maternal Mortality was infection, bleeding and toxemia or hypertension. Those are not the three things today that appear at the top of the list. Its suicide, Heart Disease and opoid overdose. So there are social determinates that have actually changed the picture in Maternal Mortality. Im not quite sure the time frame that that has happened but between the mid1970s and right now the time reference that i have for you. This is a serious problem. Its going to require all hands on deck. Our state counter parts, i think, did the right thing in extending the Maternal Mortality task force. It was to expire this year, but they extended it i believe to year 2020 with a special session that just concluded. So that was good. But i wanted to assure you that there are a lot of things going on in your authorizing committee in the house of representatives has actually been deeply involved in this. I am very grateful for your work on this and the work of others and it is one of my reasons in the comments about this i said i think with the best of intentions the state leadership made some decisions that seemed to not be having the intended affects and i want to make sure that we Prioritize Research Funding Solutions to the highest risk populations. Texas, even if we just use absolute numbers, we know from 2010 to 2014 there were 600 deaths and by the comparisons ive seen, thank you, we are again an outlier nationally. I would love to learn from you on this, work with you on this and other members who take this issue seriously regardless of party or committee. So grateful for your sharing that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Gentleman from georgia . With that i thank the panel for their testimony. If you leave anything you have in writing for our stenographer, this concludes our panel. I would like to invite up our next panel. And in the absence of our not quite yet, doctor. And our gentleman from arkansas. Anything you have in writing we will have entered into the record and we will welcome your any verbal comments that you may have and we will start with the gentleman from virginia, mr. Scott. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i will be as brief as i can. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member slaughter, members of the committee. I have several amendments. First my colleague from virginia mentioned we have an amendment to increase funding for the black lung clinics. They have been overwhelmed because of a significant increase in the most severe forms of black lung and its a modest increase and that would be very helpful to those clinics. I have an amendment to restore money to title one in the every Student Succeeds act. Two amendments to increase funding for special ed and one to protect children in day care offered by representative terry sole. Number 63 that i have introduced removes a long standing provision that has found its way into appreciations acts prohibiting use of federal funds to help desegregate schools. I think at this time, in 2017, it just has no place in the federal budget. The every Student Succeeds act provides provisions. Friction, magnet schools, which would help desegregate schools. If that was the purpose, i think the Budget Amendment makes, we would over side and hope that that be removed. The final amendment thank you. Is a bipartisan amendment to strike the language in the underlying bill prohibiting implementation and enforcement of executive order 13690 which establisheds a federal flood Risk Management standard with the situation you have got in harvey. I think its clear that some planning would be appropriate. The executive order actually has already been set aside. President trump, however, many of the recommendations i think would be should not be prohibited from consideration. The planning process has brought bipartisan support. All support this planning process and we hope that language should be removed. So to the extent the administration wants to, they would not be prohibited from such planning. I thank the gentleman. Thank you. Mr. Bar, i know you have amendment number 72. Im sorry 75 in division f. Do you have any other amendments you would also designate their section number. Thank you. I believe it is amendment 30 the barjenkins that we are offering. In division . Division d. D30. Thank you. Great. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member slaughter. My friend and college from West Virginia appreciate the opportunity to present this joint amendment which seeks to increase funding to the high sbenty Drug Trafficking area by 6 million. This is a Proven Program to help combat the sales and distribution of illegal narcotics. As you know the program coordinates federal, state and local Drug Task Forces to disrupt or dismantle Drug Trafficking organizations and also engages and provides support to state and federal prosecutors to successfully convict the individuals associated with these Drug Trafficking organizations and regrettably, like many other places in this country, kentuckys sixth Congressional District and my colleagues in West Virginia just absolutely ravaged with the opoid epidemic in america. In kentucky, we offer from the third highest Drug Overdose mortality rate in america. The Kentucky Office of drug patrol policy issued its 2016 statistics. Over 1,400 deaths due to overdoses, and thats after many of the First Responders have been given through the efforts of this congress the narcan. Despite the efforts of our First Responders, were still seeing skyrocketing rates of Drug Overdose mortality. According to the 2016 effectiveness report, hida investigated drug organizations and Money Laundering organizations and were successful in dismantling some of these organizations. 63 of which were part of a multistate. 2016 preliminary data also confirmed that hida destroyed 824 meth labs, including seven socalled super labs capable of producing more than ten pounds of meth at one time. In addition, during the same short period of time, they seized 117 tons of powder cocaine and crack. 28 tons of meth powder and crystal method. 5. 2 tons of heroin and more than a ton of prescription narcotics, including fentanyl powder, which has ravaged communities all over. Mr. Chairman, madam Ranking Member, i am concerned about the future wellbeing of kentucky and this nation. According to the center for disease control, ten kukty has the third highest number of deaths. We convened because of this epidemic a Drug Abuse Task force comprised of experts in the field of Law Enforcement. Drug treatment, recovery, education and prevention efforts and they recommended that we needed increased funding for hida initiatives. There are counties in the sixth district that have been designated hida and the faith based organizations and the parents of kids who have succumbed to addiction, theyre begs for more of this because they know they need for help. The wholesale value of these and other elicit drugs seized in 2016 was 7. 3 billion, the compared value of drugs seized in cash and assets equates to a return on investment of 75 for every 1 in hida investment. So we can prudently use this return on investment to take drugs out of our communities, while helping to we all personally know someone or a family that has been negatively impacted by the addiction kri sis. And i ask that the committee consider accepting this amendment with my colleague to increase funding to a Proven Program that will truly make a difference in our Community Fighting this alarming drug epidemic. With that i yield back and happy to answer any questions. Do you intend to testify on any other amendments . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate my colleague from kentucky, his passion and his statistics. These are real wise. Thank you very much. Over these last three years serving in congress i have gotten to know the program intimately well. Number one, you have omdcp under the office of the president , hida is underneath omdcp. Number two, as an approach ya tor and somebody who has fought for the past three years under the prior administration, the fyi 2015 bugd request was 193 million. We in Congress Approved 245. The Obama Administration proposed a cut in 2016. We actually plussed it up and improved 250 million. There was another proposed cut in 2017 by the administration. We actually added money. So the history of this unfortunately has been proposed cuts, and we as a congress have always stepped up to the plate and done the right thing, and we are asking to do that once again. The fy 17 number today is 254. We proposing and asking for a 6 million bump up. Number three, hida does work. It cuts through the red tape. When you talk to local Law Enforcement, when you look and talk to these joint task forces, they are amazed at how much help the hida funding because they get it, they get it with very few Strings Attached and they get it fast. Whats different from what we have just come out of appropriations in the last couple of months is the fentanyl crisis. We now have First Responders that are having to be administered narcam themselves because they are overdosing simply because they have come in contact with airborne fentanyl in doing an arrest or a bust or treating somebody for an overdose. And of course the president has just recently announced that hes declaring a state of emergency intended over the opoid crisis. This is not an issue, while we often talk about doing more for less. We have a crisis on our hands of epic proportion. It is life and death and again the chairmans mark, thank you to chairman graves, Financial Services and the mark out of the full committee out of 254. Were simply asking for a 6 million bump up and it is offset. And we know there are other amendments being proposed here also to support hida. A hida bump up amendment in the current fiscal year was adopted on the floor that i propose on a voice vote. So this has very strong bipartisan support. This program works. We have a state of emergency. Bottom line, however, let me conclude by saying hida is actually increasing the number of counties that are being taken care of through this program. They designate counties, then they fund. They are adding more counties. As they add more counties with essentially the same amount of money, we are actually going to, all of us, get less. This is not a time to be cutting. This is a time to invest, and we appreciate the committees kind consideration of this very modest increase. 6 million to 254 million mark. I thank the gentleman. Thank you. Someone from arkansas. Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. I appreciate the opportunity to come in and talk about my bipartisan amendment to amendment number 81 cosponsored. The amendment is simple. It just prohibits the use of funds to enforce a provision. It requires producers who wish to sell agriculture products in cuba to do so in cash. It was intended to serve the humanitarian goal of providing cuban people access to u. S. Agriculture products. Unfortunately it has had the opposite effect because it requires trade to be made in cash. The limitation were seeking is a small incremental change to our current posture by allowing financing of agg sales and allowing u. S. Producers to enter into the transaction with cuban buyers at their own risk. It does not risk taxpayer funds or the ability to sell products to the u. S. Cuba has a population of 11 million people. And to feed them, they must import roughly 80 of their food. The trade commission estimates u. S. Producers could fill 1 1. 4 billion in the market annually. Instead of taking advantage, we are loosing out to competitors that include our adversaries. The result has been the de facto relinquishment of going to our competitors. U. S. Producers have an advantage logistically despite this, instead of sourcing rice from states like arkansas, louisiana, mississippi and texas. Cuba buys most of its rice from vietnam and ships it halfway across the globe. The analogy i like to use, they can get a shipment of ice from vietnam in 36 days. U. S. Rice in 36 hours. That illustrating the Value Proposition that u. S. Agg presents to cuba and the United States. This is supported by humanitarian groups, the american form bureau federation, virtually every agg organization and business you can think of under the umbrella of u. S. Agg cuba coalition. I would like the support letter entered into the record. Without objection. Thank you. This amendment also has the backing of the administration. Agriculture is needed engagement because it advances the interest of both the american and cuban people. The executive order specifically excluded agriculture from its trade restrictions. Secretary introduced the stand alone legislation this is derived from and expressed the need from agricultural sales from cuba. My staff communicated with the office and determined this does satisfy house rules on germanness and budget neutrality. I appreciate the opportunity to testify and i urge the committee to consider the amendment before the house. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I have five amendments. I will attempt to be uncharacteristically brief. With one exception. I have bipartisan support and obviously has a financial impact. In fact, one has already passed the house by a considerable margin in previous sessions. If you would identify the division and the number. I will, so. So ill deal with the first group together because they relate with the same subject. They are amendments 90, 91 and number 89. What these taken together would do would ensure in those states that have chosen either at the ballot box or through their legislature to authorize and legalize either medical marijuana sale or adult recreational sale that these can be better regulated markets. So specifically what these amendments would do, number 90, would bar funds in the bill from allowing financial regulators at the federal level from funnishing banks that provide services to these legally constituted businesses. Amendments 91 and 89 would bar funds of the bill from enabling the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network from walking back their regulated guidance or altering their regulating guidance in these states where it has been improved. Now let me just say this. This is a Public Safety issue. First and foremost, this is a Public Safety issue. This is about whether or not in the overwhelming majority of population in this country there exist a huge incentive to be an all cash business or whether or not were going to track the funds and make sure these markets, which are existing, where this practice is occurring from being well regulated. We all would recognize we want them well regulated. To borrow the terms from the department of justice and the parallel language in the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, what we need to make sure is where these states have taken these steps, we keep marijuana out of the hands of minors and keep cash out of the hands of gangs and cartels. If these are cash based businesses, we cannot do either of those. Thats why these amendments are needed. Now, why do i say it is a Public Safety issue . A year ago, a young man got up, went to work. 23 years old. He was a marine. He was deployed. He was already the father of three Young Children because he had a pair of twins in there and he was studying and working toward being a police officer. In order to fund that study, he took a job as a security job at a Retail Marijuana establishment. Because criminals thought that that was an all cash business, they walked in and that young man named travis mason was shot dead. This is a Public Safety issue. One preliminary study from the state of colorado indicated that marijuana businesses had a 50 higher burglary rate than nonmarijuana businesses. Why . Because they think theyre all cash. In order to make them not all cash, we have to give them the assurance that they can have access to Banking Services and taken together thats what these three amendments would do, mr. Chairman. The first one that i eluded to bars funds from the financial regulators from being used to punish banks passed this house by a very significant majority in previous sessions. Would you want me to go on . Please. 53 would restore cuts in the Historic Preservation fund to the tune of 5. 5 million, the same level as in the current fiscal year. It is of course offset. It is bipartisan. Mr. Turner from ohio and i have cosponsored this, along with several others. Basically, this helps state and travel preservation offices to recognize and preserve Historic Places throughout the country. Heres whats beautiful about this program. Very high state match. 40 . Were really leverages our federal tax dollars and i urge your approval of this as well. Lastly number 111 state and tribal assistance grants. This would restore cuts to epas state and tribal assistance grants, which was 239 million, compared to the current year. Basically, it is an attempt to restore money in the clean water state revolving fund. The bottom line here is that the number one source of pollution for water in every one of our states, every one of our lakes, every one of our rivers is storm water run off. And this fund, which currently operates, helps states do a better job, especially as it relates to greeninfrastructure. What we really got here is when the rain falls and picks up all that stuff that runs off of our cars into our rivers, we need to continue to help local governments and states do a better job of that to preserve Water Quality in this country. Again, this is a noncost as we find the money and other accounts to pay for it and i hope you approve it. I thank the gentleman for his testimony. The gentleman from georgia. I support a return to regular order. I want this to be an open rule and i support all your amendments. Gentleman from washington. Does the gentleman from washington seek time . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id just thank everyone thats bringing forward amendments here. It is a very important issues that really tug at the fabric of our nation. Some of these things are devastating our communities. I was in the Appropriations Committee hearing when mr. Jenkins related some of these stories about communities in West Virginia and just this human destruction thats happening paubecause of the abu of some of these drugs. I urge all of us to consider doing all we can to help in the fight of this crisis. And just quickly appreciate mr. Hecks eloquent account of what truly is happening in states that have legalized marijuana. Whether you live in a jurisdiction that has or not, the fact remains is that these cash businesses are literally neon signs to the criminal community that, hey, weve got a pile of cash in this building. So to me its certainly an issue of safety. Certainly an issue of responsibili responsibility, and i urge my colleagues to think twice about whether your opinion of marijuana is pro or con, this is an issue that goes beyond that and something we should strongly consider. I want to thank everybody for bringing their amendments together and letting us consider their passage. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Scotts amendment that he addressed, number 63, i think requires a little bit more amplification. In 1966, i filed the first School Desegregation case in Broward County in fort lauderdale. I litigated that case for seven years. The naacp Legal Defense and Education Fund provided me 750. The law firms on the other side, two are outside counsel, made 2. 5 million in that seven years. I always find it interesting, my good friend was one of the litigan litigants. When we were ready to end, he asked me to postpone the decree because he needed to get three more paychecks and i agreed. Were still good friends. But this would strike longstanding prohibitions that prevent federal funding for being used, both in districts under federal desegregation orders and districts that seek to the tackle. Effectively, the amendment will allow skchool districts to use funds to develop and implements plans to achieve better racial balance in Public Schools. According to the Government Accountability office, our nations Public Schools are more segregated today than they were in 1968. That is true in Broward County where i filed the case in 1966 and it now has an africanamerican superintendent and the simple fact of the matter is because of geography, these schools have remained virtually in the same position that they were when we began this effort. What it does is it leaves millions of low income and minority children and underresourced learning environment without access to supports and tools necessary to achieve academic success. Congress did and probably had a lot to do with it take a first step in addressing this issue when we enacted the bipartisan every Student Succeeds act in december 2015. For the first time, this one allows School Districts to use federal magnet schools. Some of you may have magnet programs in your School District. And what it does is it brings children in, i might add, most of them are extremely successful in not only desegregating and providing racial balance within the School District but also providing magnificent programs ranging from arts, music and a whole array of upscale opportunities for children at these schools. The language in section 301 and 302 prevent School Districts from leveraging federal resources for such voluntary efforts. That makes no sense and has no place in 2017. My view is that the language must be stricken. Its the full intent of the essa flexibility to empower local leadership in School Improvements is to be realized. I wont go much further. Bobby and i have been Close Friends since we came here together and i know the work that he and others on the committees that he has served have done to try to provide greater diversity in our society. It is a serious issue. I lived it. He lived it. All of you lived it in different ways. I remind people all the time that talk with me. I pass by three white high schools, road the school bus 60 miles a day to get to a school that did not have a library, a cafeteria, and in addition thereto had no Foreign Languages and didnt teach geometry and many of our schools today find themselves underresourced in the same way that those schools were. You cant tolerate that if we want to be a society that provides uplift for everybody in our schools and i appreciate you, my friend, offering this amendment. I dont know if you had further comment that needed to be made. Thank you. The language in 301 and 302 probably override the good work we did. Thank you. And i yield back. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from colorado, we plan to recognize you on the next panel. I do. Just briefly, i want to thank mr. Hack for bringing forward the life saving amendment with respect to financial transactions. People can be for or against marijuana legalization, but this is a common sense amendment that i hope congressmen adopt here unanimously if we can move it forward regardless of what people think. So i would ushlg the chair in the interest of saving lives and affecting Peoples Health and safety. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chairman. The gentleman from washington. In my haste to be brief, i left an amendment out. There is time to remedy that. Thank you, sir. Yet another amendment in division d. This is amendment number 62. It is a simple and relatively important but minor fiscal impact amendment, which would assure that the scale up program being operated by the Small Business administration continues to operate. Congresswoman from arizona and i are the cosponsors of this, basically finds the money in the department of treasury to do this. For those of you who arent familiar, i hope you will become so. My favorite thing to do when im back home is tour Small Businesses and see what new ideas innovators are bringing forth. I happen to come from the private sector and i can assure you that this program which provides small bids with assistance to grow and expand through education, access to capital and networking is a winner. It is a home run. I have talked to five small bids that have become not so small because they went through this program. Only 3. 8 million is doing a lot of good out there, operating through Economic Development boards and i hope you will approve this amendment as well. Mr. Chairman, i apologize for having left it out. If you will leave anything you have in writing, i know mr. Crawford had a unanimous consent document. If its okay, ill testify from down there. Absolutely. But first member of that panel will be the gentleman from colorado, mr. Murphy from pennsylvania. And, mr. Chair, ive heard of my colleague that has a pressing event. If i dont mind yielding my first provision so he can testify briefly before me. Happy to recognize the gentleman from california. Anything that you have in writing that we will make sure becomes a part of the record, if you would like to submit it and we welcome any comments you may have. The gentleman from california is recognized. There we go. And thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify today. Im here to make a case of why i believe my amendment, number nine to division c of the underlining bill ought to be made in order. The amendment is very simple. It prohibits the appropriated funds to the department of justice being used to prosecute individuals who are acting in compliance with their own states medical marijuana laws. The provision would provide protection against federal action to the 46 states that allow some form of medical marijuana to be used within their jurisdiction. I dont intend to go into the arguments about whether medical marijuana is effective or not. But all we need to say is 46 states have already had that debate as to whether or not marijuana is effective or not and have decided to allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes within their state borders. Today the question is whether or not this body should permit the federal government to squash the prerogative of the states to set this policy. Whether or not we believe that our Founding Fathers and others who gave us our constitution really did mean for the states to have authority in criminal justice and other issues like this. The question is also whether individuals ought to be incarcerated now because in their states, even though they are in compliance with state law they could instead be incarcerated by the federal government. Polls show that nearly 90 of the American People believe that the federal government should not unleash its powers against those who are acting in compliance with their own states medical marijuana laws. The shift is not only in public opinion, but it is in the fact that so many states now have moved and recognized that marijuana could possibly be beneficial to their people and thus they have permitted marijuana to be medical clinics to be set up, et cetera. After a string and of course this position of allowing the states to do this and we have now permitted this to happen, this wasnt what it was, you know, for the last 16 years. I know i presented this amendment to allow the states to determine whats going to happen time and time again and it was defeated. We didnt even get a chance well, we got a chance to bring it to the floor, but it was defeated over and over again. And then three years ago the house voted in 2014, 219189 to pass my amendment which then it was empowering the states to make these decisions. And then but when the whats important right now is that when we were always granted the right to make the proposal, we are always granted the right to have the people vote on the issue. We are never told, oh, no, you cant let the people vote on this. And i accepted the loss. You know, and it got the bill down to the floor and the people had a chance to vote, our colleagues voted on it. Okay, you accept that. The word is out now that perhaps they arent even that will not be permitted. Meaning, that the people who have always had a chance to vote on it, the rest of our members, are not going to get that chance this year for some reason. I think that we have have to understand that, you know, in 2015, not only did we lose in the beginning but then we won in 2014 and in 2015 when it was permitted again we won by even a bigger margin, which was 242186. In other words, public the Public Attitude has clearly shifted and it is recognized by the members of this body and i believe that we also have a clearly a majority view of the members of the house of representatives agree with this position. To deny them now the right to have a vote, i think is unconscionable. And i would not be right and it would not be right for this committee to deny this house the opportunity to represent their constituents because they now see the people of the states. You have got, you know if you have got almost all of the states right now who have in some way legalized or liberalized medical marijuana, if we have, you know, there is only four states that havent done that. What we are doing is we are telling our people they are not even going to get a chance to vote the way their constituents would want them to vote. So i would plead with my colleagues, let us vote on this issue. Let us be let our voters determine whether or not we are representing what their views are. And most importantly, i believe in states rights and i think the tenth amendment is an important amendment for our constitution. Our funding fathers never meant the criminal Justice System and you have Police Forces coming from the federal government down into our local communities. They always meant these things to be left up to the local communities. And, so, i am pleading with my colleagues to lets permit this to have a vote. Let us have a vote. Thats all. And even if you do not believe that medical marijuana is something that could be beneficial for people, let us have a vote on this because you believe that the people in this body were elected here should have these kind of votes that would on the issue of states rights. One last thing. If my amendment is not permitted and thus we do not this is a change of law. The law for the last three years has been that the states if the states legalize medical marijuana, the federal government will not interfere with that state and that position. We are changing that basic wilg it without a vote of the people. Were changing the law that exists. And it will be noticed, number one. And there will be celebrations, all right. There will be celebrations if we dont vote and we dont return this power back to the states as we said. And we try to we have federal employees, people in the department of justice breaking in to medical marijuana clinics and arresting people there. I can tell you who will be celebrating, who will be celebrating are the drug lords down in mexico. Because what a vote not to prevent us to have this vote and not to let this amendment come up, and a vote against this amendment is a vote to shift billions of dollars that are now being used in medical clinics based on doctors prescriptions, et cetera, for medical marijuana, that 3 billion will shift immediately to the drug cartels in mexico. Theres no doubt in my mind about that. And also, lets just note, if you dont have medical marijuana, and we havent permitted the states the right to choose this, the prescription of opiates will continue because we have eliminated the option for doctors to even consider offering medical marijuana for a number of ailments, and again, for all the people in the profession, our physicians have too often think were going to give this opiates. Now we have an addiction problem in this area. I plead with my colleagues, let us be held accountable. Let this go to the floor, and let us reaffirm if we believe in states rights. Thats what this is. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. My understanding from my committee colleague from colorado is that mr. Rohrabacher has over commitments and in deference to my friend from colorado, i would like to ask if the panel has questions for mr. Rohrabacher before he departs. I do as a panel member if thats okay . Let me go to the gentleman from washington. No questions. Gentleman from colorado. Im glad you came here today. You made the case better than anybody. Can you tell us, has this amendment ever been blocked from the house floor before . First few years, but we got the vote. Blocking the right of the members of congress to vote on it, this is the first time that i have heard that its possible that we will be blocked from even having a vote on the issue. I sure hope it doesnt happen. Obviously, the house needs to act on an appropriations bill. In the past, this amendment has been in appropriations bills. Has that ever been a poison pill or caused trouble on the republican side of the aisle for republicans who have been here who have voted for those . We had victory for the states rights issue for medical marijuana for several times. And its been included, by the way, not only in this, but in continuing resolutions, et cetera. We had this in place, this law is in place for the last four, five years. And nobody has seen that as a poison pill to vote against needed legislation. Just lastly, its my understanding this came up last in 2015 when it was included in the bill. 230 republicans voted for the final bill that included that language. Wouldnt you say thats hardly a poison pill . Thats correct. And if i could make one last point. That is for those republicans that, okay, theres an honest disagreement. Whether you think marijuana is something that should be used as treatment for people with arthritis or whatever treatment its used, well, lets those folks, lets say at least let all of us vote on this and give people the freedom in the states to make those decisions. And i respect these people who are i understand the prejudice that exists against medical marijuana. People cant get it. I know theres a lot of people who cant get over the fact that the cold war is over. You know, get over the fact that the 60s are over as well. And we could medical marijuana now can be used, and that decision should be made at the state. If i could ask one more question. Dont you think with so many republicans and democrats who hear about this bill, dont you think this could be a poison pill if this protection language is stripped out of this bill . I would hope people take into consideration, whether theyre going to vote for the bill or not, and one last note, and that is the president of the United States, donald trump, during the campaign made it very clear that he was for leaving this issue of medical marijuana up to the states. He said it, he has been recorded on this. The video, et cetera. So the president himself during the campaign took this position. Thank you. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. I thank the gentleman from california. If i could ask the gentleman from oregon to remain with us. If any other questions arise, i would be grateful. The same arrangements . I just want to say i strongly concur. We had no problem getting it into the continuing resolution. The points that our friend from colorado just made with dana, i think it actually weakens the bill if its not there. This is supported by over 70 of the american public. And in florida, for instance, it was a 70 yes vote. It would be a tragic mistake to lose this progress that we have made. I thank the gentleman. Thank you. Gentleman from pennsylvania. Thank you, mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Im here representative seven amendments i have from all divisions. Ill talk about them as one block if i may. This time last year, i made my way to the house floor almost daily to urge our members in the senate to pass hr2646, helping families in Mental Health crisis act. Mercifully in december, the legislation was passed and signed into law by president obama marking the first time in half a century our nation passed comprehensive reform for a broken Mental Health system. I thank the committee for their votes to save lives and families especially for the 10 million with serious Mental Illness, the tens of millions with addiction disorders and hope we can reduce the 350,000 deaths related to Mental Illness. The journey for Mental Health reform was long and very painful. In december 2012, a young man with serious Mental Illness demanded americas attention, taking the lives of eight children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in newtown, connecticut. We realize we can no longer ignore the overwhelming incompetency in the way we treat Mental Illness in america. As i wrote in december 30th, 2012, following the tragedy, quote, the common factor in many mass tragedies is an underlying Mental Illness. The lessons for americans from the horrifying tragedy in connecticut is that we had better take off our blinders and deal with such illnesses. Or were sure to face the same problems again. Its not only whats in a persons hands that makes their acts violent. Its what in their mind. The following year, as chairman of commerces subcommittee on oversight and investigation, i launched a multiyear investigation into our nations broken Mental Health system. We found there was over 110 federal programs and 130 billion dollar investment that quite frankly did little but stand by and watch rising rates of suicide, incarceration, and homelessness. Our investigation began, desperately needed and long needed conversations on serious Mental Illness, jump starting a process that would result in reforms passed in december of last year when my bill was amendmented into the 21st centuries cure act. At the end of november 2016, i made the observation these problems are too large and the work so dear that we will not solve the mess of our Mental Health system in one bill. But the final bill came a long, long way. We didnt get everything we needed, but we needed everything we got. It was my pledge to patients and families in Mental Health crisis then as it is now i would never stop fighting to deliver tr treatment to those in need. I want to thank speaker ryan and the entire Leadership Team for their support on both sides of the aisle for helping families in Mental Health crisis act and congratulation all of congress in coming together to pass this critically necessary legislation for families in Mental Health kries. But we must move forward with the funding of the programs that have been surprise authorized and supported. Authorization without funding does not provide hope for the millions of americans who are mentally ill who have no access to treatment or the hundreds of thousands who languish in our prisons instead of in hospital beds. And thats why im here this evening to ask that you help to translate these historic promises we made to families in Mental Health crisis to real commitments and actions that will improve and save lives. Specifically, i have offered several amendments to the subcommittee on labor, health, and communication. Amendment number 87, the National Health and Substance Abuse policy provides 5 million for the creation and operation of a national Mental Health and Substance Use policy lab to encourage evidence based practices. The policy laboratory would further develop, expand, and improve programs while analyzing appropriate data. Federal agencies like samsung would be moving from vague feelgood programs that have done little to treat the mentally ill as homelessness and incarceration, suicide, and Drug Overdose deaths continue to soar. This policy lab will lead us towards programs that emphasize evidencebased care for those highest at risk. Further, the policy lab will enable much needed research data. Let me tell you how hard it is to get evidencebased care for Substance Abuse. The millions of americans who have an addiction disorder, for every 1,000 who have an addiction, 900 do not seek care. For the 100 remaining, 37 have Nothing Available to them. Of the 63 who have something available, only 6 get evidencebased care. Thats less than 1 are getting evidencebased care. This amendment addresses some of that. The next amendment, 86, strengthening Community Crisis response systems. In order to strengthen Community Crisis response systems provides 10 million in grants to maintain, develop, or enhance psychiatric facilities and Residential Community health and Substance Abuse disorder committees. Grant applications will develop Crisis Response plans, promote integration and coordination between local public and private entities, primary care providers, Law Enforcement, and Behavioral Health providers. Training people to recognize the signs and symptoms of Mental Illness, including Law Enforcement officers on how to best respond to a potentially violent situation. This section addresses the severe shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds and addressed the need for better coordination for the 110 federal agencies involved with federal Mental Health policy and better data collection. Crisis intervention training for First Responders has been very effective. Treatment in the Advocacy Center estimates 25 of People Killed in a Police Encounter are mentally ill. Other spates say its as high as 50 . When policemen are trained to understand and interact differently with someone who might be acting violently, we see those death rates plummet. Further, theres a shorter of psychiatric beds and too many patients are turned away from treatment totally or sometimes even locked up in jail because there are no beds. This amendment helps states to establish those databases. Amendment 90, assistant outpatient treatment. This increased Court Ordered outpatient treatment from a 5 million to a 20 million total to support the mentally ill, allowing them to get treatment in the Community Without incarceration or hospitalization. This program was appropriated at 15 million level in the labor hhs appropriations rules draft. Were increasing the funding to the full authorization level of 20 million. Assistant outpatient treatment which is listed as the registry of evidence based practices has been proven to reduce homelessness and violence by sometimes levels as high as 76 and it saves money, by half. It insures those with serious Mental Illness get the care they need and dont end up in the revolving door of psychiatric doors or prisons. Amendment 88, half the counties in america have no psychologists, no skiektrusts, no clinical social workers and fewer have drug counselors. Especially in the midst of our addiction and opioid kroisz, its crucial we put resources into this. This provision was supported by 3292 bipartisan members of the house and passed in the 21st century cures. To that end, im requested 10 million for a Training Demonstration program awarding grants to train medical residents and fellows to practice psychiatry, health and service psychologists and social workers to provide mental and Substance Abuse disorder services. Recipients will integrate primary care with mental and Substance Abuse care and Community Based settings. Amendment 89, increasing access to pediatric Mental Health care. This provides 9 million in grants to behavior integration by supporting the development and proven state wide or regional pediatric Mental Health care Access Programs and further develop regional pediatric Mental Health teams to provide consultive care. I mentioned before, theres a grave shortage of psychologists and we do not want the short number that is out there spending most of their time traveling in cars to rural areas or between appointments. Tele mp Mental Health goes a long way to realizing this need. 75 by age 24. Early treatment clearly demonstrates a difference in prognosis. Amendment 91, infant and Early Childhood promotion intervention and treatment. This provides 5 million for grants to develop, maintain, or enhance infant and Early Childhood Mental Health promotion and treatment programs including programs for infants and children at significant risk of showing signs of Mental Illness, including serious emotional disturbance. These are evidence based models that can be replicated in other appropriate settings. Amendment 77 increasing funds for the mentally ill offender act out of the criminal justice appropriations bill. This facilitates collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice and Mental Health and Substance Abuse systems to improve access to treatment for people with Mental Illness involved in the justs system and increases funding for treatment and Crime Reduction acts by 2 million and is currently appropriated for 12 million. A grant to support Community Initiatives and expand Mental Health and drug treatment. It directs that grants be used to create or expand Mental Health courts, programs for specialized training for criminal or juvenile Agency Officers and identifying symptoms to respond to individuals with Mental Illness and to support cooperation between states and local governments with respect to mentally ill offenders. That concludes my remarks. If there are questions, ill be glad to address them. Gentle lady from california has joined the panel. Anything you have in writing well submit for the record. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Members, for giving us the opportunity to testify on my amendment, which i respectfully urge you to make an order. To begin, i would like to ask everyone on the committee to take a moment to remember the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I urge every one of my colleagues to take a moment and think about the reallife impact these cuts are going to have on the American People. Also, i have to say as a woman and as an africanamerican, im asking you to take just a moment to walk in my shoes when you make these decisions on these cuts because our lives matter also. It may be easy to think of budgets in terms of dollar signs and decimal points, but the disturbing truth is that the decisions we make here in this room affect lives, and if were honest, many of these decisions disproportionately affect black and brown lives. I know that many members on the other side of the aisle have said that this bill represents a rejection of the trump budget, but that just simply is not true. For instance, this bill eliminates the teen pregnancy prevention initiative. The racial and ethnic approaches to Community Health program. Thats the reach program. Title x Family Planning. The minority aids initiative, just to name a few. These are just under our health and Human Services account. This bill cuts 3 billion from pell grant surplus program, 191 in 21st Century Community schools and eliminates the comprehensive literacy program. All of these are critical Education Programs that predominantly help students of color. Im also disappointed this bill is hurting the work force, especially for communities of color by eliminating the proven apprenticeship programs and cutting more than 2 million from our nations job Training Programs including the reintegration of exoffenders and job corps. Mr. Chairman, congress can really help renew faith in minority communities by not accepting the trump steve bannon agenda, and clearly support policies that