Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership on this bill. I want to thank Ranking Member Engel for his support and also Majority Leader McCarthy for making sure this bill came to the floor. Without that, we wouldn't be here, so I want to thank him especially for his support.

Mr. Speaker, I start off by saying that, since 2013, I have chaired nine congressional hearings focused in whole or in part on atrocities in Iraq and Syria. The distinguished chairman has had another dozen or so such hearings that have brought to light these atrocities.

In one of our hearings in December of 2015, Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, testified that ``weak words are not enough,'' noting that 21 human rights organizations, genocide scholars, and religious leaders wrote to President Obama imploring him to recognize the ISIS genocide.

At that same hearing, Chaldean Bishop Francis Kalabat said that ``since the fall of Mosul in early June 2014, Christians have endured targeted persecution in the form of forced displacement, sexual violence, and other human rights violations.'' He said, ``ISIS has committed terrific atrocities against the Yazidis,'' and then he bottom-lined it and said the Christians are ``under threat of extinction.''

On May 9, 2016, the House passed Jeff Fortenberry's genocide resolution 393-0. A few days later, Secretary of State John Kerry declared ISIS atrocities to be a genocide.

The existential threat to Christians and Yazidis and other minority faiths, however, continues to this day. Some of the fortunate ones have made it to the relative safety of Erbil but, astonishingly, have gotten no assistance from the United States Government.

Since 2014, as a matter of fact, the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil has provided almost all of the medical care, food, shelter, and education received by over 13,200 Christian families,

almost one-third of the Christians remaining in Iraq, who escaped ISIS. The archdiocese also provides assistance to Yazidis and Muslims. The funding for all of this has been private, with money from Knights of Columbus, Aid to the Church in Need, and a few others.

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, which has donated more than $12 million to the effort, testified in one of my hearings and said the Knights and other private sources have responded. ``But nongovernmental organizations can only do so much.''

``The rich tapestry,'' as he pointed out, ``of religious pluralism in the region must be preserved now or it will be lost forever,'' noting that there has been an 80 percent decline of Christians in Iraq and 70 percent in Syria.

He said: ``With its loss will come increased instability and threats to our own security and that of the world.

``We have a unique opportunity--and, some would say, unique responsibility--to protect the victims of genocide.''

Mr. Speaker, just before Christmas of last year, I traveled to Erbil with a staff delegation at the invitation of the Chaldean archbishop, Bashar Warda, to meet with survivors and to visit an internally displaced person camp of about 6,000 individuals. Both my staff and I were amazed and inspired by the genocide survivors' resiliency and deep faith in the Lord, despite the cruelty that they had endured.

There was so much joy, love, and courage despite the loss of family and friends to ISIS. They had deep hope. The children sang Christmas carols--it was December 23 when we were there--with smiles and with reverence. The leaders, especially Archbishop Warda, trusted in God while working unceasingly and unselfishly for others.

Because the needs on the ground have always exceeded private support, the archdiocese has had to battle chronic funding crises over these last several years. Archbishop Warda told me recently that they had to temporarily suspend their distribution of medicines, and are on track to run out of money for food sometime this June.

H.R. 390 provides authority and direction to the secretary and the administrator of USAID to identify the humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs of these communities.

This bill also authorizes and directs the secretary to fund entities, including faith-based ones, that are effectively providing assistance to meet those needs on the ground.

It addresses another urgent aspect of this crisis: evidence linking specific ISIS perpetrators to specific atrocity crimes that is being destroyed or lost. And we have seen this in the past in Rwanda, in Sierra Leone, and in the former Yugoslavia. You have got to collect the information that is actionable in order to prosecute these crimes against humanity. This legislation directs that, and that is why it has the support of all four former U.S. Ambassadors at Large for war crimes issues.

It also directs the Secretary of State to work with foreign governments to ensure that they are including identifying information about suspected perpetrators in their security databases and security screening and are prosecuting perpetrators of these horrific crimes.

President Trump and Vice President Pence have strongly, publicly, and repeatedly committed the administration to providing relief to Christians, Yazidis, and other genocide survivors. This legislation tangibly supports this commitment and is a blueprint for action.

I especially want to thank tonight the coauthor of this legislation, Anna Eshoo. Her tireless efforts on behalf of all Christians and other persecuted religious minorities has been really fantastic, and I want to thank her for that and for working so cooperatively together with me and my staff and the full committee staff.

I would also like to thank the great staff work of Nathaniel Hurd, Piero Tozzi in my office, Matt McMurray in Anna Eshoo's office, Doug Anderson and Joan Condon in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Roger Mahan and Luke Murry in the majority leader's office. And, as always, I want to thank Kelly Dixon, who ultimately helped us bring this legislation to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the statement of Mr. Carl A. Anderson before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Opening Statement of Mr. Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight, Knights of

Columbus

(Before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health Global

Human Rights and International Organizations of the Committee

on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, at a

hearing titled The ISIS Genocide Declaration: What Next?, May

26, 2019)

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this

subcommittee and to discuss the next steps that need to be

taken needed to protect the survivors of ongoing genocide in

Iraq and Syria. Let me begin by saying that the House of

Representatives, the State Department and the United States

Commission on International Religious Freedom are all to be

commended for the important step of declaring the situation

confronting Christians and other religious minorities in the

Middle East genocide.

The world's greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II

is unfolding now in the Middle East. In addition to millions

of refugees, many of the region's indigenous communities now

face extinction. These communities may disappear in less than

a decade. But their fate is not inevitable. The United States

can avert this unfolding tragedy.

A unique historical moment

Around the world, people of good will, Muslim and non-

Muslim alike, wish to differentiate themselves from the

horrific and violent theology espoused by ISIS.

It is certainly true that such extremists make up a small

percentage of Muslims overall. But among the world's billion

Muslims, the majority simply want to raise their families in

peace and are scandalized by what ISIS is doing in the name

of Islam.

Prominent Islamic leaders and scholars from around the

world have recently taken an important step in the Marrakesh

Declaration. Attempts such as this, which seek to align Islam

with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be

supported.

At the same time, it is clear that Christians, and other

indigenous minorities, are experiencing genocide, at the

hands of the Islamic State and related groups. Their plight

is now at the top of the world's agenda in a way that it

never has been before.

These factors together create an unparalleled opportunity

for the United States, and for all those opposed to ISIS'

radical vision--Muslims and non-Muslims alike--to advance an

agenda of equality, justice, peace, and accountability in the

region.

Six principles for sound policy in the region

The United States can avert the extinction of indigenous

religious and ethnic communities in Iraq and Syria with a

policy that contains the following six principles:

(1) Increase aid and ensure that it actually reaches those

most in need;

We are reliably informed that official government and U.N.

aid does not reach the Christian genocide survivors in Iraq

and Syria.

Repeatedly, we hear from Church leaders in the region that

Christians--and other genocide survivors--are last in line

for assistance from governments. Significantly, the

Archdiocese of Erbil, where most Iraqi Christians now live,

receives no money from any government whatsoever. If

assistance from outside Church affiliated agencies ends in

Erbil, Christians there will face a catastrophic humanitarian

tragedy within 30 days. The situation is similar in Syria,

according to Christian leaders there.

Those who face genocide are a tiny fraction of the

population. They often must avoid official refugee camps

because they are targeted for violence there by extremists.

As a result, these minorities often do not get ``official''

aid. This will continue to be the reality unless specific

action is taken to bring the aid to where these minorities

are forced to reside by continuing violence.

The Knights of Columbus and others private sources have

responded to this situation. Since 2014, we have raised more

than $10.5 million for relief, assisting Christians and other

internally displaced persons and refugees in Iraq, Syria,

Jordan, and Lebanon. We have partnered with dioceses and

religious agencies working in the region to provide general

relief, food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care.

In doing so we assist both Christians and non-Christians. We

are also working with church entities to ensure that they are

making use of all government or U.N. resources available.

But non-governmental organizations can only do so much.

Government aid is essential to the long-term survival of

these indigenous religious and ethnic minorities. It is

urgent that Congress appropriate funding to save those who

have escaped genocide. I urge you to consider special

emergency appropriations, however modest, to improve the

humanitarian conditions on the ground in Iraq.

This funding, whatever the vehicle, should come with

mechanisms in place--reporting

requirements and oversight--to ensure that American aid does

not get diverted from its intended purpose.

(2) Support the long-term survival in the region of these

ancient indigenous religious and ethnic communities;

In Iraq, the Christians population has declined by more

than 80 percent, and in Syria by nearly 70 percent.

American policy should recognize the important differences

in the situations of those fleeing violence and those

targeted for genocide. And we should prioritize the latter.

Consider this analogy. After World War II, there were

approximately 50 million refugees, and only a small fraction

were Jews. Yet the world understood that Jews, who had

survived genocide, faced a qualitatively different situation,

and deserved heightened consideration.

The same is true today for the indigenous religious and

ethnic minorities of the region. They have an indisputable

right to live in their country--in whatever region of it they

wish. Depending on the circumstances, this may mean where

they are originally from, or where they find themselves now,

but as survivors of an ongoing genocide, they deserve to be

prioritized, not left behind by American policy decisions.

(3) Punish the perpetrators of genocide and crimes against

humanity;

The United States should support action by the U.N.

Security Council to refer key perpetrators of genocide for

prosecution. Equally important, we should support the Iraqi

Central Government and the Kurdish Regional Government's

adjudication of the cases of thousands of ISIS fighters

and supporters who currently remain in local detention

centers.

As the population of captured ISIS fighters increases,

local detention centers and jails risk becoming their own

humanitarian issue. The need to improve this situation cannot

be overstated.

Additionally, although substantial evidence of genocide

exists, the United States should cooperate in taking further

action to develop additional documentation and preservation

before physical evidence is lost. Appropriations intended to

assist in the adjudication of ISIS fighters will be critical

in the coming months.

(4) Assist victims of genocide in attaining refugee status.

A news report last week indicated that of the 499 Syrian

refugees admitted to the U.S. in May, not one was listed as

being Christian or as explicitly coming from any of the

groups targeted for genocides. How long will this situation

be allowed to continue?

The U.S. should appropriate funding and work with the U.N.

High Commissioner for Refugees to make provisions for

locating and providing status to individuals--such as Yezidis

and Christians--that have been targeted for genocide. Many of

these genocide survivors fear going into official U.N.

refugee camps, where they are targeted. Thus they are

overlooked, and find it nearly impossible to acquire official

refugee status or immigrate.

Congress should act now. Senator Tom Cotton has introduced

the Religious Persecution Relief Act, S. 2708, to provide for

overlooked minorities in the prioritization of refugees. We

support this bill and urge its passage.

(5) Prepare now for foreseeable human rights challenges as

ISIS-controlled territory is liberated by ensuring that

Christians and other minorities have equal rights to decide

their future;

We should prepare now for the consequences of the

liberation of ISIS controlled areas, including Mosul and the

Nineveh Region, as well as regions in Syria. We are likely to

see another humanitarian crisis as civilians flee the

fighting or return to their former communities when fighting

ceases.

There has been much debate concerning plans for victims of

genocide in Iraq. Some have argued for returning people

safely to the Nineveh Region, others that they should be

allowed to stay in Kurdistan, still others that they be

allowed to immigrate. But these are not necessarily mutually

exclusive, competing proposals. People should be allowed to

decide their own future. And when they do, we should work to

ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity and equality.

This also means that it will be increasingly important to

ensure that the property rights and claims of minority groups

are respected.

(6) Promote the establishment of internationally agreed

upon standards of human rights and religious freedom as

conditions for humanitarian and military assistance.

The United States should advocate for full and equal rights

for religious and ethnic minorities in the region in exchange

for our military and humanitarian aid. A necessary first step

to prevent genocide is to overcome the social and legal

inequality that is its breeding ground.

Religious hatred, discrimination and second-class

citizenship too often constitute a way of life in the

region--and it is a way of life that is an antecedent to

genocide. We cannot accept one standard for human rights in

the region and another standard for the rest of the world.

The guarantees in the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights--and the First and Fourteenth amendments to our own

constitution--regarding equality under the law and freedom of

speech and religion must become a reality for all citizens of

Iraq, Syria and elsewhere throughout the region.

Conclusion

The rich tapestry of religious pluralism in the region must

be preserved now or it will be lost forever. With its loss

will come increased instability and threats to our own

security and that of the world.

We have a unique opportunity--and some would say, unique

responsibility--to protect the victims of genocide. The

United States can provide such protection with a policy that

includes the principles outlined above. Mr. Chairman, thank

you very much for your leadership and that of the members of

this subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, since 2013, I have chaired nine Congressional hearings focused, in whole or in a large part, on atrocities in Iraq and Syria.

At one hearing in December of 2015, Professor Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch testified that ``weak words are not enough'' noting that twenty one human rights organizations, genocide scholars, and religious leaders wrote to President Obama imploring him to recognize the ISIS genocide.

At the same hearing, Chaldean Bishop Francis Kalabat testified that ``since the fall of

Mosul in early June 2014, Christians have endured targeted persecution in the form of forced displacement, sexual violence, and other human rights violations.'' He said ``ISIS has committed horrific atrocities against the Yazidis.'' The bishop said Christians are ``under threat of extinction.''

On May 9, 2016, the House passed Jeff Fortenberry's Genocide resolution 393 to 0. A few days later, Secretary of State John Kerry declared ISIS atrocities to be a genocide.

The existential threat to Christians and Yazidis and other minorities continues to this day. Some of the fortunate ones, however, have made it to relative safety in Erbil but astonishingly have not gotten assistance from the United States.

Since 2014, the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil has been providing almost all of the medical care, food, shelter and education received by 13,200 Christian families, almost one third of Christians remaining in Iraq, who escaped ISIS. The Archdiocese also provides assistance to Yazidis and Muslims. The funding has been private-- Knights of Columbus, Aid to the Church in Need, and a few others.

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus--which has donated more than $12 million to the effort--testified that the Knights and other private sources have responded, ``But non-governmental organizations can only do so much.'' He also made numerous recommendations including supporting the ``Long term survival in the region of these ancient indigenous religions and ethnic communities. In Iraq, the Christian population has declined by more than 80 percent, and in Syria, it has declined by almost 70 percent . . . The rich tapestry of religious pluralism in the region must be preserved now or it will be lost forever.'' He said, ``With its loss will come increased instability and threats to our own security and that of the world. We have a unique opportunity--and some would say, unique responsibility-- to protect the victims of genocide.''

Just before Christmas last year, I travelled to Erbil at the invitation of the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, to meet with survivors and visit an IDP camp.

Both my staff and I were amazed and inspired by the genocide survivors resiliency and deep faith in the Lord despite the cruelty they endured.

There was much joy, love, and courage despite the loss of family and friends to ISIS. They had hope. The children sang Christmas carols with smiles and reverence.

The leaders--especially Archbishop Warda--trust in God while working unceasingly for others.

Because the needs on-the-ground have always exceeded private support, however, the Archdiocese has had to battle chronic funding crises. Archbishop Warda told me they recently had to temporarily suspend their distribution of medicines and are on-track to run out of money for food sometime this June.

H.R. 390 provides authority and direction to the Secretary and Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to identify the humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery needs of these communities. The bill also authorizes and directs the Secretary and Administrator to fund entities--including faith-based ones--that are effectively providing assistance to meet those needs on-the-ground.

H.R. 390 addresses another urgent aspect of this crisis: Evidence linking specific ISIS perpetrators to specific atrocity crimes is being destroyed or lost. It is vital that evidence that can be used in a range of court settings is collected and preserved. This will enable accountability and support our efforts to counter terrorist groups by demonstrating that the perpetrators are chronic rapists, child abusers, drug dealers and human traffickers.

This legislation authorizes and directs the Secretary and Administrator to fund entities that are conducting criminal investigations into perpetrators of atrocity crimes in Iraq.

The Commission for International Justice and Accountability is an example of a non-governmental organization that has been conducting such criminal investigations on-the-ground. CIJA has collected and preserved ISIS recruitment forms, foreign fighter passports, and ISIS instructions from ISIS facilities, laptops, hard drives, and memory sticks. It has taken hundreds of witness statements from victims, perpetrators, detained fighters, defectors, insiders, witnesses, and other witnesses. CIJA has developed pretrial briefs and perpetrator profiles that are of a world-class quality.

In 2016, CIJA received 409 requests for assistance on cases from law enforcement agencies in many countries, including the Department of Homeland Security and FBI and works closely with both agencies. Yet, CIJA has received no financial support from the U.S. government.

H.R. 390 also directs the Secretary to work with foreign governments to ensure that they are including identifying information about suspected perpetrators in their security databases and security screening and are prosecuting perpetrators.

ISIS fighters in Iraq are being captured and detained in the battle for Mosul and beyond. Others are escaping the region and attempting to return to their home countries around the world. We should help ensure that in addition to being screened and prosecuted for terrorism, they are screened and prosecuted for atrocity crimes.

President Trump and Vice President Pence have strongly, publicly committed the Administration to providing relief to Christians, Yazidis, and other genocide survivors, and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice. H.R. 390 supports this commitment and is a blueprint for implementation.

H.R. 390 has the bipartisan co-sponsorship of 46 members, support from a range of prominent Christian, Yezidi, religious freedom, and accountability organizations, and has been endorsed by all four former U.S. Ambassadors-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.

I especially want to acknowledge my co-author and good friend Anna Eshoo. Her tireless efforts on behalf of Christians and other persecuted religious minorities, and the fantastic partnership with her and her staff on this bill, are a testament to the hi-partisanship of H.R. 390 and international religious freedom more broadly.

And finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the great staff work of Nathaniel Hurd and Piero Toni in my office. Matt McMurray in Anna Eshoo's office. Doug Anderson and Joan Condon in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Roger Mahan and Luke Murry in the Majority Leader's Office. And Kelly Dixon who ultimately helped us get it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the consideration of H.R. 3354, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise today to present H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act. This legislation moves Congress one step closer to completing its critical work on our fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills ahead of the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Our bill respects the American people, their priorities for our Nation, and their hard-earned tax dollars, and it will help move our great country forward to a more stable and prosperous future.

This funding, totaling $1.2 trillion, supports important domestic and international programs that keep our people safe and help our economy grow and thrive, protects us from terrorists and those who want to do us harm, and assures that America has a critical role across the globe both militarily and diplomatically.

Most importantly, this bill continues the work started with the national security funding package that passed the House in July, the Make America Secure Appropriations Act, and it prioritizes the safety of the American people, targeting funding towards critical law enforcement programs, securing our borders and our cyber networks, fighting terrorism, combating opioid abuse, and stemming the flow of illegal drugs and goods.

Other funds are directed to programs that provide the greatest national benefit, including those that keep our food and drug supplies safe, that support public health preparedness, fight devastating wildfires, invest in critical infrastructure, and otherwise protect and support our economy and economic freedom.

All of these investments are made responsibly. In each of our bills within this package, we have found savings, gotten rid of waste, fraud, and duplication, and increased oversight to ensure that no taxpayer dollar is misspent, but we still have more work to do. This is the next step in the process, but it is not the end.

We must also address new needs arising from terrible flooding and damage

inflicted by Hurricane Harvey, which is affecting hundreds of thousands of people across Texas and Louisiana, as well as continue all government operations until the final appropriations package can be conferenced with the Senate and signed into law.

This legislation today represents the House priorities and shows the American people that this Chamber is moving forward, governing effectively, and getting things done here in Washington.

Before I close, I would like to thank the members of the Appropriations Committee for their hard work over the past few months, and the staff that allows us to consider this bill today, especially the 12 chairs of the subcommittees. The committee drafted, considered, and marked up all 12 appropriations bills in under 2 months, a record- breaking pace, and as a result, we have a fine package of solid bills on the floor this afternoon.

I particularly would like to thank the chairs and ranking members of the committee of the bills we are considering today, as well as the ranking member of the full committee, Mrs. Lowey, for her partnership and friendship throughout this process. I would also like to extend my personal thanks to our staff on both sides of the aisle for their efforts on these bills.

This package is a product not only of the committee's work, but also of the contribution of all Members of this body. While drafting these bills that compose this package, we took Members' submissions very seriously, creating a more representative bill that reflects the will of the American people.

In July, the House took the first responsible step of providing funding for critical national security priorities. With this bill, we complete our work on all 12 of our appropriations bills for the fiscal year.

This morning, the House came together on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to pass desperately needed emergency funding for the victims in Texas and Louisiana whose lives were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. Funding these important responsibilities of the Federal Government is our constitutional duty to the people we serve.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, my predecessor as full chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman to thank the staff.

Mr. Chairman, let me associate myself with the remarks of Ms. Kaptur.

Taunja, thank you for your service to our Nation, your help to both Republicans and Democrats, and to the Nation. We are indebted to you. Good luck to you.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, who spoke so eloquently this morning.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter), the chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations. As I learned this morning, he is a true son of Houston, whose eloquence and compassion we heard this morning.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Graves), the chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for the purpose of three colloquies.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Mr. Chairman, how much time is remaining on each side? I am prepared to yield back, if the gentlewoman is prepared.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, let me just say I believe that we are missing out on the opportunity to effectively do our jobs.

As elected Members of Congress, we are here to fight for what is right, what is fair, and what is just. When presented with the administration's budget, it is Congress that is charged to serve as the first line of defense for the needs of the American people.

And the agriculture bill before us, as a part of this omnibus, is our attempt at doing just that. However, the progress made in the agriculture bill will end here because we do not have a budget resolution to conference, and it is entangled with other very contentious bills, and that is most unfortunate.

In light of the draconian budget request presented by the President, Congressman Aderholt and I, along with our bipartisan Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee colleagues, worked diligently to protect as much of our country's agriculture and food and drug safety systems as we could.

In order to inflict the least amount of damage, the funding reductions were spread across several programs. But let me be clear, the communities that make up this great Nation need these programs to be robustly funded in order to keep us competitive in the global marketplace.

The United States of America will not continue to be the Nation that produces the safest, most abundant, highest quality, most economical food and fiber anywhere in the industrialized world if sufficient resources are not made available by this Congress.

While we were able to maintain McGovern-Dole at the 2017 level, the Food for Peace program was reduced.

This bill provides $830.4 million for research and education activities, which includes approximately $161 million in funding, consistent with fiscal year 2017, for minority serving land-grant institutions. These funds will assist in increasing minority representation and participation in the multidisciplinary agriculture community in fields such as agriculture research, agribusiness, as well as farming and ranching.

At the same time, the Commodities Future Trade Commission was deprived of the $2 million of funds that it needs to protect U.S. customers from nefarious trade activity. Unprecedented language was inserted into the bill that allows the CFTC Chairman to reduce the pay and benefits of his employees if he deems it necessary to avoid a RIF or furlough, whether or not it abrogates established collective bargaining agreements.

And unfortunately, the amendment I submitted to strike that provision was not made in order by the House Rules Committee.

Funding for the Food and Drug Administration remains flat, which is in stark contrast to the Trump budget that sought to cut it by more than $900 million. And still, funding for this agency that oversees the safety of our food, drugs, and medical devices will not grow, despite our significant dependence on their activities and the increasing workload each and every year.

FDA is being forced to do more with less resources, and that limits its ability to adequately protect the health, safety, and welfare of the American people.

Nutrition. Mandatory funding for SNAP and child nutrition were funded consistent with the current estimates. That is good. Additionally, school kitchen grants are funded at $25 million, which the Trump administration requested be zeroed out. I thank the committee for this.

Now, we just voted for a bill to provide aid for the victims of Hurricane Harvey just as the potential impact of Hurricane Irma looks over us. Instead of being proactive to ensure our citizens who have been and will be impacted by impending natural disasters are protected, we are going to the floor with a package which inadequately funds our Federal agencies and does not completely meet the needs of the citizens of this great Nation.

This approach to funding our government for fiscal year 2018 all but guarantees our short term, if not a full year, continuing resolution. But just like every year, Democratic votes will be needed to enact an appropriations law. Working together on a bipartisan basis will be absolutely necessary for it to move forward.

Mr. Chairman, we still have a lot of work to do to discharge our obligations to the American people.

Mr. Chairman, regretfully, this bill falls short.

I would like to thank Mr. Aderholt for his work as chairman of the subcommittee, Chairman Frelinghuysen, and both of them for conducting the Appropriations Committee markups fairly and collegially, and Mrs. Lowey, our full committee ranking member, for her very strong and inspiring leadership.

And with that, let me thank our staffs on the majority and minority sides for all of their cooperation.

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to note a few concerns with items in the en bloc amendment. I am not opposing it, but I want to lay down some markers.

On the amendment by the gentleman from Florida relating to ag research, my major concern about the amendment is that the intent is, in effect, to earmark USDA competitive research grants. That really is a no-no. USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative is one of the jewels in our bill. We have built up funding for it over time and have zealously protected it against any efforts by Congress to say what research is and is not funded.

The agency in charge, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, has a complex internal process for deciding what areas to focus on, and that is free from political interference. For AFRI to retain its credibility, we must not start micromanaging that process and specifying research areas and amounts, as the amendment does.

My other concern is that cutting the Agricultural Marketing Service by $2 million is not a wise choice. In many ways, AMS is the little engine that could. Of critical importance to many Members on both sides of the aisle is its role in overseeing the National Organic Program and the Specialty Crops Program.

Similarly, on the gentleman's NRCS amendment, I want to point out that cutting the National Agricultural Statistics Service, as the amendment would do, is not a good idea. NASS is USDA's premier statistics agency.

Anyone in the agriculture business can tell you that statistics are extremely important to farmers, to ranchers, and industry. NASS produces information on production and prices for virtually every crop grown in the United States, and the major livestock categories, floraculture, organic farming, farm income, land values, and even computer usage on farms; so this is an important agency that needs every penny that we give it.

The amendments relating to watershed and flood prevention operations and specialty crops for Members on my side of the aisle, unfortunately, make reductions to the Offices of General Counsel and the Chief Economist, both very important parts of USDA.

Again, I do not oppose the en bloc amendment, but I did want to make these points.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, let me just inquire how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Chair, I find it troubling that Congress, having enacted numerous laws governing the oceans and coasts, and having put 11 departments and 4 different agencies in charge of administering those laws, now seems to pause in the effort to bring consistency to that process.

The USDA has an extremely limited role in ocean policy, and it is so little that I often wonder why the majority feels it necessary to stop it.

I also wonder why anyone in a rural area would want the USDA's voice to be excluded from any discussion of policy. Shouldn't the interests of the farmers and the ranchers who are served by the USDA be taken into consideration?

Mr. Chair, I support the amendment and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, what the Davis-Bacon Act does is protect the government, as well as the workers, in carrying out the policy of paying decent wages on government contracts.

The Davis-Bacon Act requires that workers on federally funded construction projects be paid no less than the wages paid in the community for similar work.

It requires that every contract for construction of which the Federal Government is a party in excess of $2,000 contains a provision defining the minimum wages paid to various classes of labors and mechanics.

The House has taken numerous votes on this issue, and on every vote, this body has voted to maintain Davis-Bacon requirements. In fact, most recently, during consideration of the FY18 security omnibus, the House firmly rejected a similar amendment 249-178. I hope that we will defeat the amendment before us today and move on to more substantive matters.

I would also note that it is somewhat ironic that this amendment is being offered on the agriculture appropriations bill because the Davis- Bacon Act specifically protects rural community workforces. It requires that prevailing wage determinations for rural counties be based solely on local workforce costs. Wage data from urban areas must be excluded.

This requirement, I would note, came into force during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. I urge all Members to vote ``no.'' I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Since President Bush ordered Federal agencies to comply with E-Verify back in 2007, this amendment, if it only applies to hiring at Federal agencies, would do absolutely nothing. I am not aware of any effort by the Trump administration to undo President Bush's order, so it is a needless use of the House's time.

I believe the gentleman's language would also require every one of the local county employees or local folks to be E-Verified. Wouldn't this add another burden on USDA when it has to implement the new farm bill?

If so, I would like to ask the gentleman what he expects would happen in an emergency, such as we experienced from Hurricane Harvey, when USDA may need to bring on employees quickly. They would have to wait for E-Verify clearance.

I would also submit that it is not clear whether the language also covers every single person who receives any of the funds in this bill as a grantee. I think it is unclear and would risk requiring every single one of the thousands of grantees to go through E-Verify. Then you would impose a truly undue burden on many small farmers, ranchers, and businesses that receive grants in this bill. I would strongly oppose that.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, it is my distinct honor to bring the fiscal year 2018 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill before you today as part of the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act.

I do want to thank Chairman Frelinghuysen for his commitment to the annual appropriations process. Under his steadfast leadership, the House is scheduled to vote on all 12 appropriations bills, which is an extraordinary achievement.

I would also like to thank Ranking Member Lowey and Ranking Member Bishop for their cooperative spirit. Mr. Bishop is the new ranking member for the Agriculture Subcommittee, and I have enjoyed working with him over the past several months as we have moved forward to try to help rural America and rural communities.

The Agriculture Appropriations bill responsibly targets funds to national programs that provide the most benefit to the American people and to the United States economy. The bill received bipartisan support throughout the process, even though much of the funding and policies reflect a conservative policy.

The overall total for both discretionary and mandatory spending in the bill equals $144.9 billion. That is $4.1 billion above the President's request and $8.6 billion below the FY17 enacted level. The bill includes $20 billion in discretionary budget authority, which is $1.1 billion below the FY17 enacted level when adjusting for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The mandatory funds in this bill support USDA's farm production, conservation, crop insurance, and nutrition programs.

I would like to thank all the Members who have submitted requests and gave input as we have moved forward and crafted this legislation. Knowing what programs Members are interested in has helped us direct funding to support rural communities across the country and also combat animal and plant pests and disease threats, promote U.S. agricultural exports, support food safety and medical product safety, provide U.S. commodities to those in need overseas, and address the critical needs of research.

We protected our most vulnerable populations in this bill by providing funding for all of USDA's nutrition programs at levels that ensure all eligible participants will receive the nutrition assistance that they need. We made sure that the farm loan programs will meet current estimates of demand during the current economic downturn in several areas of the farm economy.

Furthermore, the bill provides $5.2 billion to the Food and Drug Administration, including the preservation of nearly $2.8 billion in discretionary resources to assist the FDA in protecting and promoting public health. The bill continues to support the food safety activities associated with the Food Safety Modernization Act and provides $60 million in new funds to the 21st Century Cures Act.

In closing, I would like to especially thank the staff on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, my personal staff, the minority staff, and Mr. Bishop's staff.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate, again, the bipartisan cooperation that went into crafting this bill. It is very important.

Mr. Chair, I would ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Young) for the purpose of a colloquy.

Mr. Chairman, I am very sympathetic to the gentleman from Iowa's concerns regarding the reduction in the bill's mandatory energy programs in the farm bill, in particular, the Rural Energy for America Program.

The gentleman from Iowa is indeed a valued member of our subcommittee, and he was very instrumental in developing many parts of the overall bill, and I appreciate his input greatly.

A number of factors went into our decision for which programs to reduce in order to achieve the $1.1 billion reduction in the bill's funding level over this last year.

As I did mention, as he noted, in our full committee markup, I committed to working with the gentleman from Iowa to see where we could find alternative offsets, and we will continue to do that as we move forward. So I thank the gentleman for bringing this to our attention again here on the floor of the House.

Mr. Chairman, pursuant to House Resolution 500, as the designee of Chairman Frelinghuysen, I offer amendments en bloc.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves).

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, the executive order on National Ocean Policy is an Obama administration policy. It lacks clear statutory authority. Instead of streamlining Federal management, it potentially adds layers of additional bureaucracy and Federal overreach.

The National Ocean Policy has the potential to harm both terrestrial and marine economic values by affecting sectors such as agriculture, fishing, construction, manufacturing, oil, gas, and renewable energy, among others.

This body has taken the position in the past to pause the implementation of the executive order on the National Ocean Policy as this uncertainty continues around the meaning of the policy, how will we implement it, and the unintended consequences.

The policy was developed unilaterally by the prior administration without involving or consulting with Congress.

Additionally, the Natural Resources Committee has expressed concern about the policy, as did a letter signed by over 80 groups supporting the provision in the underlying bill. We are not saying that ocean policy in general does not make sense or is something that we could not support.

My home State of Alabama is a coastal State. All I am saying is that I think we need to revisit this policy, take a bottom-up approach by working with stakeholders, and have something work its way through Congress.

Working to resolve ocean management challenges should be nonpartisan and something that this Congress could achieve; therefore, I oppose the amendment and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this amendment. I agree, it appears that the Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration, known as GIPSA, is not currently implementing a provision from the 2015 Grain Standards Act Reauthorization.

Despite the efforts of my colleagues to try and work with the USDA to correct this interpretation, the agency continues down a path of unravelling a longstanding agreement that has allowed a designated official grain inspector to carry out inspections in another geographic area.

I hope this amendment sends a clear message to the Department that they are not following congressional intent, and they should reverse course.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for his continuous work on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I rise to support the gentleman's amendment. Each year, the Federal Government requires Davis-Bacon provisions on all sorts of constructions--as has already been mentioned, roads, bridges, dams, buildings, and the taxpayers pay more. You do the math. According to a recent study, Davis-Bacon inflates costs by 22 percent for construction costs. These added expenses come at a time when our Nation is nearly broke.

Therefore, I think it is time to put the taxpayers first, and I encourage my fellow Members to support this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment. I believe that schools should have more

local control in operating their meal programs, including the establishment of the price a family must pay for the meal. School meal prices differ from one community to the next, and they take into account local food and local labor costs and what families are willing and able to pay. I think it is always best to let the local schools make those decisions.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support the gentlewoman's amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment, which has gained bipartisan support in our full committee. I am very sympathetic to the gentleman's concerns, and I trust his judgment an his experience as, currently, the only pharmacist that is serving in the House of Representatives.

This bill language is similar to the language in our House report. While the underlying bill did not go as far as limiting funds to be spent on the finalization, implementation, or enforcement of the proposed memorandum of

understanding between the FDA and the States, our committee report language is conditional in that the FDA should not finalize the proposed rule if it fails to distinguish between distribution and dispensing a compounded product to a specific patient.

Dispensing is not defined in the Drug Quality and Security Act, and the FDA should not unilaterally take it upon themselves to start regulating the practice of pharmacy since this function is regulated by the State Boards of Pharmacy under the laws of the State legislatures. Therefore, I support the intent of this amendment until FDA clarifies its policy, and I recommend the amendment's approval.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment here. I support what the gentleman is doing with this amendment. I also appreciate his willingness to make a slight change to the amendment in order to maintain support from staff in embassies across the world that help USDA staff open markets to U.S. goods.

With that being said, I would like to urge my colleagues to support his amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill. While I am glad to see the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill on the floor, this is the first time it has been considered with amendments since the 2010 appropriations cycle. But even with that, I cannot support the underlying bill.

I will be blunt. This process is a sham. The combined omnibus would violate the Budget Control Act caps. It triggers a sequester of $72 billion from the Department of Defense. I am troubled to see the Labor- HHS bill, once again, bearing the brunt of Republican budget cuts.

The overall cuts to nondefense discretionary spending is $8 billion, and the Labor-HHS bill is cut by more than $5 billion. This cut, by the way, is completely unnecessary because the allocations that we approved are approximately $5 billion below what they have said we need for nondefense spending, which is allowed under the Budget Control Act. We have the resources available, yet the majority refuses to allocate them to the essential programs funded through this bill.

I will also note that when adjusting for inflation, the Labor-HHS bill is approximately $30 billion below what it was in 2010.

Instead of moving this bill, we ought to be negotiating a bipartisan budget deal to lift the sequestration caps on both defense and nondefense programs, then we could begin working on a bipartisan basis to draft a reasonable Labor-HHS bill that adequately funds the programs that support the middle class.

The biggest economic challenge of our time is that too many people are in jobs that just don't pay them enough to live on. The programs in this bill provide opportunities for hardworking Americans to improve themselves and for our economy to grow. We need a country that works for the middle class and the vulnerable, not just the wealthy and those with the most lobbyists.

Right now, we grow jobs, but not incomes. The Federal Government has long played a key role in helping American workers learn and grow through workforce development and connecting businesses with talent. But the programs that help grow our economy, educate our students, and protect our women and seniors cannot operate if the Labor-HHS bill is starved for funding, which is why I oppose the underlying bill.

I admit that there are a few bright spots. I strongly support the increases for NIH research, emergency preparedness, special education, and the TRIO and GEAR UP programs. Unfortunately, the modest increases in this bill are far outweighed by decimating cuts to programs that ought to be seeing increases.

This bill fails our students and is fundamentally anti-teacher. It fails to make new investments in Title I. It eliminates $2 billion for supporting effective instruction grants--what that is is teacher training.

This bill's approach to women's health pushes a dangerous and harmful ideological agenda and eliminates funding for Title X Family Planning. It also eliminates the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, and it includes ideological riders that would block funding for Planned Parenthood and effectively block lifesaving research that use stem cells from fetal tissue.

The bill cuts access to the Mental Health Block Grant and the Substance Abuse Prevention Program. It cuts nurse training, tobacco prevention, and it completely eliminates the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative.

It hurts workers by eliminating the Employment Service, which helped nearly 6 million unemployed workers, including veterans, find jobs in 2015. It eliminates grants expanding the highly effective Registered Apprenticeship model that connects jobseekers with good-paying jobs that employers are desperate to fill. It also cuts funding for other job training programs like Job Corps and the Dislocated Workers Program.

Why would we eliminate programs that for so long have been about economic opportunity and a ladder to the middle class?

There are the riders, which I mentioned. This bill blocks funding for the Affordable Care Act. It continues to prohibit funding for gun violence prevention, which has had a chilling effect on gun violence research.

Finally, it prohibits the Department of Labor from ensuring that financial advisers act in the best interests of their clients. This week we expect to see several more harmful riders added to the bill.

At full committee markup, we proposed more than 40 amendments to strengthen and improve this bill, but the majority rejected all of them.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this minibus because the funding in this bill fails to meet our country's needs, and it breaks our promises to women, to seniors, to students, and to our workforce.

While I am strongly opposed to this bill, I do want to thank the committee staff--majority and minority--the ranking member; the chair of the committee; and the chair of the subcommittee, Mr. Cole.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I oppose this amendment because it undermines the Drug Quality and Security Act, which we passed here in 2013 to protect patients from contaminated compounded medications, which are drugs that are tailored to the specific needs of an individual patient.

By the way, there is bipartisan opposition to the Carter amendment: myself, Congressman Fred Upton, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, and Congressman Mike Bishop. This is bipartisan opposition.

Let me be clear. The intent of the law was not to go after local compounding pharmacies but, rather, the larger compounding pharmacies who act as big drug companies. Traditional pharmaceutical companies that make vast quantities of drugs are held to robust safety standards. If these large compounding pharmacies intend to manufacture large quantities of drugs like a traditional pharmaceutical company and ship them across State lines, then they should be held to a similar safety standard.

This amendment would change the law and put patients at risk. Some people can potentially die. This is not hyperbole, given that a meningitis outbreak in 2012 was caused by unsafe compounded drugs. That was less than 5 years ago. I am astonished that we would entertain further undermining of the law. The meningitis outbreak associated with the New England Compound Center in 2012 led to 64 deaths and more than 750 illnesses across State lines.

There are inherent risks with compounding medications, and particularly with compounded medications shipped across State lines. That is why, in fact, we passed the Drug Quality and Security Act. By prohibiting the FDA from implementing this law, this amendment exposes patients to a potentially life-threatening catastrophe.

Again, as we saw in 2012, this amendment also takes away incentives for pharmacies to register as an outsourcing facility and gives these facilities no reason to raise their quality and safety standards and to submit to the FDA for inspection. We owe it to the American people to not put their health and their safety at risk. Sixty-four people died.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

How much time do I have remaining, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Dingell).

Mr. Chairman, why are we afraid of safety standards? The safety concerns with this amendment are also exacerbated by the fact that many States do not exercise appropriate oversight over compounding pharmacies.

A recent study revealed that nearly half of all States surveyed do not track the number of pharmacies that perform the sterile compounding in their State. They make proactive State oversight impossible.

Do we really want to allow these facilities to go unchecked? That is exactly what this amendment allows.

The FDA is a regulatory agency. It needs the ability to regulate large-scale shipment of compounded drugs across State lines, especially in certain States that have minimal, if any, safeguards for drugs compounded in pharmacies.

I was concerned that this law was weak to begin with, and this amendment would further weaken and threaten the safety of patients. Sixty-four people died, 22 of them in Michigan. We should ensure that any legislation passed by this body is not weakened. The safety of American children and our families and our kids are at stake.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. This is not a road, a bridge, a helicopter, or anything else. This is people's lives.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.