To extend through fiscal year 2013 the increase in the maximum original principal obligation of a mortgage that may be purchased by the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include tabular and extraneous material on the conference report to accompany H.R. 2112.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 467, agreed to earlier today, I call up the conference report on the bill (H.R. 2112) making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.

I rise today to present the conference report on H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012. The House passed H.R. 2112, the bill making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, on June 16. The bill has since been amended to include the Commerce-Justice-Science and the Transportation-HUD appropriations bills as well as a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government operating until December 16.

With the help of our ranking member, the gentleman from Washington, Norm Dicks, we successfully negotiated with our Senate counterparts to craft this agreement, which is the first appropriations conference report to hit this floor since 2009. This report is the next step in meeting the spending targets set by the Budget Control Act, which will save the taxpayers billions and help continue the effort to bring the Nation's deficit under control. In fact, this bill keeps us on track to cut regular discretionary spending by $98 billion compared to the President's fiscal year 2012 request and some $47 billion below the fiscal year 2010 level.

When all appropriations work this year is completed, it will be the second year in a row that we have reduced total discretionary spending, a remarkable and historic achievement. Yet while we've made significant cuts, we were also able to fund important priorities, such as food and drug safety, Federal law enforcement, agricultural and scientific research, trade, infrastructure, and economic growth. Additionally, we're helping communities, States, businesses, and families deeply affected by a record-breaking year of destructive natural disasters and catastrophes.

We scrubbed the information from the agencies and were able to reduce the disaster spending in this bill by $850 million compared to the Senate-passed bill. These funds are only for disaster assistance and do not grow the baseline budgets or the scope of the Federal agencies.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, is the next step in breaking the status quo of excess Federal spending that's throwing our budgets out of whack.

Our House conferees thoroughly examined each and every program and agency to ensure that we are reducing spending wherever possible. In this bill, this includes terminating wasteful, poorly planned and controversial programs such as high-speed rail, NOAA's Climate Change Office, and the Livable Communities program. In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have terminated 20 programs for a savings of $456 million.

This legislation also reins in executive branch overreach by including several important policy items. These provisions kill job- killing regulations that create economic uncertainty and limit government involvement in issues of life and liberty, including several provisions protecting human life and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Finally, this legislation includes a continuing resolution that will keep the remainder of the government operating until December 16, allowing us an appropriate amount of time, I think, to finish negotiations on the remaining nine appropriations bills so that we will have all 12 out of the way, leaving the Appropriations Committee clear sailing in January to bring to the floor of the House 12 separate appropriations bills.

I'm very pleased that we were able to reach agreement on this bill. It has become all too rare a thing in this Congress to come to an agreement such as this, and I'm proud to say that this conference report was approved by all but one of the 38 House and Senate conferees from both parties, which goes to show us we work best when we work together. While there are no doubt items where Members might disagree in the bill, there are many achievements in this bill of which we can be justly proud.

However, we could not have done this without the tremendous help from our ranking member, Norm Dicks, as well as the dedicated conferees on both sides of the aisle from both Chambers. Chairman Wolf, Chairman Kingston, Chairman Latham, Ranking Members Farr, Fattah, and Olver, as well as our dedicated staff, have worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to bring this bill to completion, and they have all of our sincere thanks and appreciation for a job well done.

I yield myself an additional 1 minute.

I am proud, Mr. Speaker, that your Appropriations Committee is presenting to you the first Appropriations Conference Report since 2009 and the first conference report of this Congress. Your Appropriations Committee is working.

In closing, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill. It's vital we pass this bill to prevent a government shutdown, rein in overzealous regulations, and help put our budgets and our economy on track.

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I reserve the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

And in that H.R. 1, the fiscal year '11 omnibus bill, as you recollect, we had some 500 amendments.

Everybody.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee, a very hardworking chairman who also happens to be a colleague of mine in the class of 1980, the so-called Reaganauts, Chairman Frank Wolf.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa, chairman of the Transportation and HUD portion of this bill, a very vital part of the bill--the chairman has handled it very, very well--Chairman Tom Latham.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia, the chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee, a very important part of this bill, Mr. Kingston.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a very distinguished member of our committee, Oklahoma's Mr. Cole.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, a member of the conference committee, Mr. Carter.

Mr. Speaker, could I ask the remaining time?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio, a member of the conference committee, Mr. LaTourette.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a member of the conference committee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bonner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, a member of our committee, Mr. Diaz-Balart.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi, a member of our committee and a very valued member, Mr. Nunnelee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

May I inquire of the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I am the last remaining speaker on my side, so I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to say a special thanks to my friend from Washington, Norm Dicks, for being a hardworking, cooperative ranking member. We worked together on this bill, and we will continue to do that. And I also want to thank the staff. You know, they don't get enough thanks. These are the people that do practically all the work, day and night, weekends included, holidays included. So thank you to all of the staff, majority and minority, for producing this work.

Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by emphasizing that this conference report is only the first step toward finishing fiscal '12, and I urge my colleagues to support this conference report.

Let me also remind our colleagues that there are no earmarks in this bill. A lot of people said, you cannot pass a bill without earmarks. Well, this bill has no earmarks, not one, not a single one. It also reduces dramatically Federal spending. And when we finish--and I want my colleagues to hear this plainly and clearly--when we finish all 12 bills, we will be at $1.043 trillion, not a penny more. We will be at $1.043 trillion, as provided by the cap under the Budget Control Act. I guarantee that number. I guarantee that number, hear me. So I urge an ``aye'' vote on this first step towards fiscal sanity.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The appropriations bill we will consider today includes within it three bills: Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; and Transportation- HUD, along with a clean continuing resolution covering the remaining nine bills. The CR prevents a government shutdown. It is a simple date change to December 16. No anomalies are added; everything but the date is carried forward from the last CR.

The agreement provides disaster relief of $2.3 billion, including the full amount needed to address the backlog of eligible disaster repairs for highways, roads, and bridges, and funds to address agricultural disasters.

The conference report also drops controversial riders on Dodd-Frank financial reform, women's health, and climate change.

The minibus restores funding that was cut in the initial House bill to nutrition and food safety programs.

The conference agreement provides $6.6 billion for the Women, Infants, and Children program, WIC, an increase of $570 million over the level in the House-passed bill and $36 million above the Senate level. At this level, WIC can provide for the estimated 700,000 women, children, and infants that would have been turned away under the previous bill. The impact of food prices will still need to be monitored to ensure the program has sufficient funding.

The conference report provides $177 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food assistance to particularly vulnerable low-income elderly, as well as mothers and young children. At this level, the program will avoid dropping the 100,000 applicants, as would have been required in the House bill.

The conference agreement restores funding to FDA, $334 million over the House-passed bill, to allow implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, and provides $1 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, $32 million over the House level, to maintain the current workforce of meat inspectors.

The agreement restores funding for the COPS programs that were zeroed out in the House-reported bill. COPS grants enable State and local law enforcement agencies to hire and retain police officers, provide equipment to tribal law enforcement agencies, and provide training on community-oriented policing.

The agreement restores much-needed funding for science and innovation. The conference agreement provides $7 billion for the National Science Foundation, an increase of $173 million above the FY11 level and the House-reported bill. While we need to be investing much more in basic research at NSF, the additional funding in the conference agreement is an important step in the right direction.

The conference agreement provides $924 million for NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System. While still below the request, the conference level will go farther than either the House or Senate levels in helping to minimize the anticipated satellite data gaps.

The agreement provides funding for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which the House had zeroed out. The new telescope will be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, allowing us to see images of the first glows after the Big Bang and greatly enhancing our scientific understanding of the universe.

Finally, the minibus restores funding for transportation and housing programs. The minibus includes $12 billion more than the House subcommittee bill for the Federal-aid highway program, consistent with the annual funding levels assumed in the Surface Transportation Extension Act. The bill includes $10.5 billion for transit programs, $2.5 billion more than the earlier bill.

The agreement also includes $1.4 billion for Amtrak capital and operating grants and deletes onerous language from the House subcommittee-passed bill that would have eliminated service on 26 short-distance routes, affecting 15 States and more than 9 million passengers.

The bill includes funding for the TIGER grant program, which will help advance national and regional transportation projects that will benefit both passenger and freight mobility as well as create jobs. This bill will create a lot of jobs.

The conference agreement provides $45 million in funding for housing counseling assistance. This program provides grant funds to local nonprofit agencies for reverse mortgage, rental, home pre-purchase and foreclosure prevention counseling. This program had been eliminated in 2011.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is funded at $120 million in the conference agreement. Choice is a grant program to revitalize public housing and blighted private housing in mixed-income neighborhoods. This program provides quality low-income housing, while the vast majority of these funds create needed construction jobs. The House subcommittee bill proposed eliminating the program.

The Interagency Council on Homelessness is funded at $3.3 million in the conference agreement. The agency was also eliminated in the House subcommittee bill. The Council enhances the Federal response to homelessness by coordination between agencies, addressing duplicative programs, and identifying best practices.

The conference agreement provides $75 million for the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, equal to the President's budget request. VASH provides long-term housing to homeless veterans. This is an increase of $25 million over the FY11 level.

I'm not happy with every single element of this, but I haven't seen a bill around here yet that is perfect. I also want to say that we did not get as good a compromise as we hoped on the Legal Services Corporation. I wish we could do more because there certainly is a justice gap in this country.

I want to commend the chairman and his staff, both the majority staff and the minority staff, who I think worked very well together with the other body in reaching resolutions in a very timely way on these three bills. And I want to commend the chairman for bringing six bills to the floor.

Now, I could make the case that we actually did 18 bills because we had 12 bills in the '11 omnibus, H.R. 1, that took us a whole week, if you remember, to go through 12 separate bills. So 12 and 6 is 18. That's a pretty good day for the Appropriations Committee.

I yield to the chairman.

Everybody got a shot.

I want to commend the chairman for his commitment to regular order and openness, and I hope that next year we can really do all 12 bills. If we can get them done this year in December, then we can focus on the 12 bills for next year and hopefully bring them all to the floor so that Members have a chance to vote. It's important, I think. And I think the fact that so many people wanted to offer an amendment indicates that the membership of the House wants to see an open process. And it's certainly important for the minority, too, to have an opportunity to offer amendments.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, Mr. Fattah.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Olver.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California, the ranking member of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Mr. Farr.

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Frank.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maine

(Mr. Michaud), whom I've enjoyed working with on these important issues before our committee.

I yield myself as much time as I may use.

I just want to say that I think that this is a bill that we've worked hard on, we've worked with the other body; and I hope that the Members will support this bill. And I want to remind everybody, this has got the CR in it. We've got to keep the government open. It's clean, as clean as any one that I have seen. So I hope that we can pass this bill with a very strong bipartisan vote. I'm urging my colleagues on the Democratic side to support this bill.

I want to, again, congratulate the chairman and all of our staff for the work that they've done on this bill. It's a good bill. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the alternative. And we need to keep moving on these appropriations bills. I hope we can pass the other nine in December, and we have to do that.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to debate the conference report on H.R. 2112, containing FY 2012 appropriations. This bill will fund the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, as well as NASA Additionally, the bill funds the government through December 16, 2011.

I am pleased to see the conferees were able to restore essential funding for jobs, innovation, food safety, and vital investments in infrastructure. Moreover, the bill has come back from conference free of controversial policy riders that put special interest above the interests of the American people.

The conference report contains key investments in infrastructure that will put Americans back to work. Funding for high ay and transit programs has been set at $39.8 billion for the federaI aid highway program, and $10.5 billion for transit programs, allowing for 400,000 more jobs than the House version of the bill.

I am extremely pleased that the conference agreement includes funding for METRO rail in the Houston, Texas North Corridor ($94,616,000) and Southeast Corridor ($94,616,000) for a total of $189,232. This funding is critical for the regional mobility of the citizens in and around the 18th Congressional District. At a time when cities around the country are struggling with a backlog of transportation projects amidst high unemployment, this funding is critical to improving transportation infrastructure while creating jobs.

Houston, in particular, needs this infrastructure to relieve congestion and provide adequate public transportation. Furthermore, this investment in the city's New Start Transit Project will create jobs for Houstonians who want to work to support their families and improve their communities.

As the Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, I understand the vital importance of ensuring the nation has a developed transit system. Houston has been working for over 20 years to bring these New Start Projects to fruition. I have worked tirelessly to secure the necessary funding to complete the METRO RAIL New Start Projects, and I am very pleased this project was included in the conference report.

This legislation also contains $2.3 billion dollars in funding for disaster relief. Adequate funding for disaster relief is imperative to our nation's emergency preparedness. As a Representative from Texas, I have seen firsthand the necessity for disaster relief funding. During Hurricane Katrina, there were insufficient quantities of generators forced hospitals to evacuate patients. Local governments waited days for commodities like ice, water, MREs, and blue tarps. Evacuees from Texas arrived in Shreveport and Bastrop shelters that were grossly unfit for occupancy, and 2,500 people were forced to use the same shower facility.

Emergency preparedness is only one part of keeping our communities safe. We also need to ensure that our law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to uphold law and order at all times. The Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS, Program for state and local law enforcement will receive $198.5 million dollars in this legislation, including $166 million dollars for COPS hiring to put more police officers on the streets, keeping our citizens safe. As a senior Member of the Homeland Security, I know that strong state and local law enforcement agencies are vital to our national security.

I am also pleased to see funding for the Office of Violence Against Women. The conference agreement includes $412.5 million dollars for programs to prevent violence against women, and assist victims of violent crime. Across the country there are non profits, community based organizations, and religious groups that are diligently working to address all the issues that arise from domestic violence. One such organization is in my hometown of Houston, TX, the Houston Area Women's Center. Programs such as the Houston

Area Women's Center will benefit from the grants made available through this funding.

Throughout the budget and appropriations process, I have been concerned about the adverse effects of spending cuts on minority and underserved populations. I am extremely pleased to see that the Minority Business Resource Center program received $922,000 dollars in funding to provide loans and capital to invest in minority owned businesses. The conference report also allocates $3.06 million dollars for minority business outreach. These efforts show a commitment to revitalizing small business and giving everyone the opportunity to make it in America.

This bill represents an investment in America's future by allocating $4.5 million dollars for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In the report, the conferees state their support for improvements to the federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, education. STEM education is absolutely imperative for Americans to compete in the increasingly globalized economy. A commitment to improving STEM education is a commitment to our children and our students.

H.R. 2112 also takes steps to further our economic recovery after the 2008 financial crisis. In the wake of the housing crisis, many responsible, hard working Americans lost their homes, not because they neglected to pay their mortgage, but because their rates went up unexpectedly, or because they lost their jobs. In an effort to prevent more families from losing their homes, this bill provides $45 million dollars for non-profits to advise families on foreclosure prevention.

While I support this measure, I also have some reservations. While I am glad to see the Women, Infants, and Children, WIC, nutrition program funded at $6.6 billion, $570 million above the House level, and $36 million above the Senate level, I am concerned that the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, SNAP, and child nutrition have been funded at $98.6 billion, $2 billion below President Obama's request. Moreover, the decision to render tomato paste and tomato sauce as adequate servings of vegetables undermines efforts to teach children healthy eating habits at a young age.

While the funding levels for SNAP allow all individuals and families that meet the program's criteria for aid to receive benefits, there is nothing in the conference report that addresses the very serious problem of urban food deserts, communities in which residents do not have access to affordable and healthy food options. Food deserts disproportionally affect African American and Hispanic communities. Fast food restaurants and convenience stores line the blocks of low income neighborhoods, offering few, if any healthy options.

Food deserts have greatly impacted my constituents in the 18th Congressional District, and citizens throughout the state of Texas. Texas has fewer grocery stores per capita than any other state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, identified 92 food desert census tracts in Harris County alone. These areas are subdivisions of the county with between 1,000 to 8,000 low income residents, with 33 percent of people living more than a mile from a grocery store.

I am also concerned about the decrease in funding for NASA found in this report. While I am very pleased that NASA's budget does include $138 million dollars for education, including the Minority University Research and Education Program, I wholeheartedly believe we need to further the space program. The Johnson Space Center in Houston attracts the best and brightest minds in the nation, and we must give them the resources they need. There is no blueprint for great achievement, but allowing for continued exploration of the universe can lead to great discovery.

Despite these reservations, I am pleased to support this measure, and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the conference report containing fiscal year 2012 appropriations for Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Science, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. My support is somewhat tempered, as I find several items to cheer in this agreement and several that are of great concern to me. But recognizing the constraints within which the appropriators were working, I thank and applaud them for their hard work to achieve agreement and bring this bill before us today. In particular, I want to thank Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Fattah for their long-time support for research and development and STEM education.

As Ranking Member of the Committee on Space, Science, and Technology, today I limit my remarks to those agencies in this conference report that are within my committee's jurisdiction: NIST, EDA, NOAA, OSTP, NASA, NSF, and certain of FAA's activities.

Let me begin with what I think is one of the bright spots in this conference agreement, and

that is the budget for the National Science Foundation. NSF is the only federal agency that supports basic research across the entire range of science and engineering disciplines, continuingly refreshing both our intellectual capital and the new ideas and technologies that combined serve as the backbone for the creation of new industries and jobs in our nation. The Foundation also plays a critical leadership role in the nation in improving the quality of STEM education at all levels and for all students. Therefore I am quite pleased with the 2.5 percent increase proposed for the Foundation. This is exactly what setting priorities during tough budget times should look like.

Likewise, I am pleased that the Scientific and Technical Research Budget at the National Institute of Standards and Technology is increased by 11 percent. I am also pleased that the agreement maintains funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, MEP, program, but I am very disappointed that the agreement eliminates all funding for the Technology Innovation Program and the Baldrige National Quality Award, and fails to provide any funding for the promising AMTech program.

While I am pleased that the agreement proposes $17.8 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, a strong sign of support within these challenging fiscal times, we must be mindful that the overall program that NASA is being asked to accomplish with these funds has not changed significantly despite yearly reductions in the agency's appropriations. That said, I am pleased that the bill provides funding to maintain the James Webb Space Telescope program on a schedule for launch in 2018 and that the bill provides funding and direction for NASA to pursue a flagship planetary science mission, if it can be scoped so that NASA's costs can be accommodated within appropriated funding levels. While funding for the Space Launch System, SLS, and Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle, MPCV, proposed in this bill is more than requested by the Administration, it is significantly below authorized levels. This downward trend cannot continue. It is vital that the SLS and MPCV stay on track so that we reinstate a U.S. government capability to launch American crews into orbit, provide a back-up crew and cargo transfer capability for the International Space Station, and return the United States to the forefront of the human exploration of outer space beyond low-Earth orbit.

I am pleased that the conference report provides the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, with a $306 million increase above this fiscal year's level. However this increase is insufficient for the many missions that this important agency is being asked to undertake at this time. America has already experienced in this year alone ten extreme weather events with economic costs to date approaching $50 billion. The National Weather Service provides weather and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States and maintains the national infrastructure of observing systems that gather and process data worldwide from the land, sea, and air. The Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program, a vital component of this mission, must have consistent and sufficient levels of funding in order to provide these much needed products and services. Further, I am disappointed but not surprised that this bill does not support the Administration's efforts to better align the agency to provide reliable weather and climate products and services now and into the future. If left uncorrected, current political efforts to undermine these services will have significant negative economic consequences down the road.

With respect to the Economic Development Administration, EDA, I am pleased that the agreement provides $5 million in funds for loan guarantees for small- and medium-sized manufacturers, as authorized last year in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. And while I am disappointed that the bill does not include a separate line item of funding for the Regional Innovation Strategies program, as also authorized in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, I am pleased that the agreement recognizes the importance of EDA's work in regional innovation and encourages it to continue.

However, I am concerned about the budget for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. I fear that the 32 percent cut to OSTP will do significant collateral damage to the formal infrastructure that helps ensure that billions of dollars in federal R&D initiatives are coordinated across the agencies efficiently and effectively. I wish the appropriators would have found another path forward to deal with the disagreements that motivated this cut, and I certainly hope that in the next fiscal year we can see this matter resolved and OSTP made whole again.

Finally, with respect to the FAA, I am encouraged by the conferees' recognition that arbitrary funding reductions imposed earlier by the House Majority were unwise as such cuts negatively affect aviation safety and halt job creation. Furthermore, I appreciate the conferees' support of NextGen air traffic modernization activities because of the importance of NextGen in preventing future gridlock in our skies, while allowing FAA to manage air traffic in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. I agree with the funding level provided to FAA's commercial space regulatory activities, since hearings conducted by the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and its Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee during this session confirmed that commercializing space transportation has not progressed as quickly as expected and thus the need for the additional funding sought in the original FAA budget request was not supportable.

In closing, I once again would like to thank Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and their colleagues in the House and Senate for all of their work on this agreement, and for their implicit recognition of the critical role that federal investments in R&D and STEM education play in ensuring our nation's long-term health and prosperity.

I thank Chairman Rogers for the time. I've enjoyed working with him and Ranking Member Dicks, and also the ranking member of our Subcommittee on Agriculture, FDA, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the gentleman from California, Mr. Sam Farr. We've held 11 hearings, and we've had probably about 25 hours worth of debate on the floor in which over 50 amendments were offered. This bill is a prime example of what can happen when we get back to regular order.

It was an open process, passed by the subcommittee, full committee, and then finally by the House floor. The bill is $350 million below FY11 in the discretionary portion, and $2.5 billion lower than the President's request for FY12. It is compliant with the Budget Control Act, and a step to show both regular order, compromise and moving us towards a balanced budget.

I also wanted to point out something, Mr. Speaker, that the mandatory portion of this bill is tremendous. Our discretionary total on agriculture is $19.77 billion, but the mandatory is $116.9 billion. School lunch and breakfast and the SNAP program are $98.5 billion alone. If we do not get control of the mandatory spending, we will never be able to balance the budget.

So I urge all Members of Congress to be cognizant of that and work in the important authorizing committees to do some of the reform.

This bill was successful in eliminating a Federal program that goes back to World War I, the mohair subsidy; and that actually was a program designed to get more wool for the World War I soldiers' uniforms. And Ronald Reagan famously said, if you don't believe in resurrection, try killing a government program. And yet, today, the mohair program does get eliminated.

We also reduced the BCAP program, which was something that our committee has been very concerned about the out-of-control spending on it. We've restrained the CFTC with some important bipartisan language regarding user exemptions and cost-benefit

analysis. And we have urged the FDA to stay on its core missions, and we hope that the authorizing committees will look at medical device and drug approval time and transparency so that the FDA can work closer with the providers and the manufacturers rather than in an antagonistic point of view.

We've balanced school safety, inspection, ag research with the many demands that are out there. We have worked with Secretary Vilsack, Dr. Hamburg at FDA, and Mr. Gensler at the CFTC; and we've had an open process throughout the year.

So I urge my colleagues to vote for this and pass this bill. But I also wanted to say thank you to the great staff on both sides. Martin Delgado, head clerk on the majority side; along with Tom O'Brien, Betsy Bina, Andrew Cooper and Allie Thigpen and Mike Donal; and then on the minority side, working for Mr. Farr, Martha Foley, Matt Smith, Troy Phillips and Rochelle Dornatt.

Congress of the United States,

Washington, DC, October 4, 2011.

Hon. Gary Gensler,

Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Ben S. Bernanke,

Chairman of the Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Mary L. Schapiro,

Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Martin J. Gruenberg,

Acting Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairmen Gensler, Schapiro, Bernanke and Acting

Chairman Gruenberg: As authors of the Wall Street Reform and

Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 111-203) (Wall Street Reform

Act), we commend your work implementing Title VII of this

important new law. We have an enormous opportunity to set a

new global standard for the operation of an efficient,

transparent and well-regulated derivatives market. It is in a

spirit of support for your efforts that we write with

suggestions for how to avoid some unintended consequences

that could undermine this objective.

As you know, the existing $600 trillion derivatives market

operates as an integrated global market, despite the

jurisdictional determinations made in Title VII between the

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is our hope that

the two agencies will work closely and collaboratively

together and that the new swap regulations can be sequenced

and implemented in a logical, coordinated manner that

encourages compliance and market competition.

Given the global nature of this market, U.S. regulators

should avoid creating opportunities for international

regulatory arbitrage that could increase systemic risk and

reduce the competitiveness of U.S. firms abroad. Congress

generally limited the territorial scope of Title VII to

activities within the United States. This general rule should

not be swallowed by the law's exceptions, which call for

extraterritorial application only when particular

international activities of U.S. firms have a direct and

significant connection with or effect on U.S. commerce, or

are designed to evade U.S. rules. We are concerned that the

proposed imposition of margin requirements, in addition to

provisions related to clearing, trading, registration, and

the treatment of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. institutions,

all raise questions consistent with Congressional intent

regarding Title VII.

Moreover, U.S. regulators should work with other

international regulators to seek broad harmonization of

appropriately tough and effective standards. This can be

accomplished by an appropriate staging of the adoption or

implementation of our rules abroad. Should current

harmonization efforts ultimately fail or prove a race to the

bottom that would undermine effective regulation, the U.S.

would of course reserve the right to proceed to extend the

application of its standards to overseas operations.

In addition, as you proceed through the rule-making

process, we urge you to respect Congress' intent to protect

the ability of end users and pension plans to use swaps in a

cost-effective manner. In particular, Congress recognized the

need to allow pension funds, states, municipalities and other

``special entities'' to continue to use swaps by expressly

rejecting the imposition of a fiduciary duty for swap dealers

that is legally incompatible with their legitimate role as

market-makers. The withdrawal of the Department of Labor's

rules on a fiduciary duty under ERISA gives the agencies an

opportunity to work together to prevent such adverse results.

We urge you to work to revise the proposed rules in a way

that avoids unintended consequences.

As one of the first countries to propose new financial

rules following the 2008 crisis, the world is closely

watching what we do. As you revise and finalize the proposed

rules, we look forward to working together to support your

important work in a way that keeps our financial markets the

envy of the world.

Sincerely,

Senator Tim Johnson,

Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and

Urban Affairs.

Congressman Barney Frank,

Ranking Member, U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.