Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of our nation's gifted veterans, Commander Paul S. Anderson, Chaplain in the United States Navy. Commander Anderson has enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a Chaplain in the United States Navy. For twenty- five years he served as pastor, counselor and mentor to the thousands men and women of the Navy and the Marine Corps providing them with moral and spiritual support.

Commander Anderson personifies honor, courage and commitment. He truly is a talented and gifted chaplain who has enjoyed amazing reach and impact to all who have benefitted from his ministry.

On May 1, 2015 the Navy says farewell to one of its best and most dedicated chaplains as Commander Anderson will retire from active duty service. He leaves his watch with the confident assurance that serving in one of the most distinctive ministries in the world was God's specific calling on his life. He has served his country with honor and distinction and today we honor him for his commitment and service.

Chaplain Anderson concludes his Navy career path as the Deputy Chaplain for Joint Forces Headquarters-National Capitol Region at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. His portfolio included Joint Plans and Operations for Religious Support for ceremonies and circumstances that might overwhelm the capacity of civil authorities. Prior to that assignment, he was the Chief of the Department of Pastoral Care and Clinical Ethicist at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Commander Anderson has served nobly at duty stations across the nation and around the world. They include: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, Gulfport, MS ; USS MIDWAY (CV-41), Yokosuka, Japan; Chief of Naval Personnel Command, Washington, D.C.; Marine Corps Base, Okinawa, Japan; Naval District Washington, D.C.; USS MONTEREY (CG-61), Norfolk, VA; Boston University, Boston, MA; Southwest Asia Region, Manama, Bahrain; Maritime Helicopter Strike Wing, Mayport, FL; National Naval Military Medical Center; Bethesda, MD; Walter Reed Army Medical Center; Washington, D.C.; Fort Belvoir Community Hospital; Fort Belvoir, VA; Joint Forces Headquarters-National Capital Region and Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C.

His decorations include Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3); Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal; Meritorious Unit Commendation Award; Good Conduct Award; Humanitarian Service Medal (2); National Defense Service Medal (2); Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary); Global War on Terrorism Medal; Sea Service Ribbon and Overseas Service Ribbon.

Chaplain Anderson has earned four graduate degrees; a Master of Divinity from Andrews University, a Master of Education in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland and a Masters of Sacred Theology in Religion and Culture from Boston University. His Doctor of Ministry degree was conferred by Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He also holds certifications in Suicide Awareness and Prevention, Civil Mediation, Alternate Workplace Dispute Resolution, Temperament Analysis, Marriage Enrichment, Workforce Diversity and is a certified Life Coach.

Commander Anderson anchors his life with the following text: Psalms 37:4-5; Proverbs 3:5-6; John 14:1-3; Romans 8:28; Galatians 6:9; and 1 John 1:9.

On behalf of a grateful nation we salute you Chaplain Anderson, and wish you fair winds and following seas as you enter retirement and embrace a new chapter in your life.

I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama and those others who have cosponsored this, including Congresswoman Roby from Alabama.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation is so vitally important. I take it as one of my life's greatest honors to have served for the last 20 years in the Congress with John Lewis. He literally changed our Nation through his bravery.

On a day like today, this is the date that 25 years ago, Nelson Mandela

walked out of prison and into the Presidency in South Africa, and as those foot soldiers walked across this bridge on Bloody Sunday, they helped create a circumstance in which we would have, as a President of the United States, Barack Obama. We cannot separate these issues. They are inextricably intertwined.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say to my colleague from Selma who represents so ably the new South that our Nation is so much better for the struggle in Selma, for the sacrifice, and not just in those who are famous like Dr. King or John Lewis, but I met at her side Ms. Boynton, a 105-year-old woman who walked across that bridge that day, just in this Capitol less than 20 days ago.

I want to thank her for her leadership on this issue and thank her as we celebrate and commemorate these 50 years and as we dedicate ourselves to fight for the right to vote for every single American without equivocation or compromise.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the National Federation of the Blind.

For 75 years NFB has served as the voice of the blind in Washington and through their affiliate organizations in every state across the country. I congratulate them on this milestone of service, their advocacy efforts on behalf of blind Americans, and their continued work to make our communities more just, equal, and safe for blind individuals.

As the largest organization of blind and low-vision people in the country, NFB works day in and day out to change what it means to be blind and to help realize the complete integration of blind individuals into society.

On this 75th anniversary, I join in celebrating the National Federation of the Blind's long-list of achievements and look forward to their continued success representing the million-plus blind individuals in the United States.

``But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of Philadelphia's greatest luminaries, Ms. Dorothy Johnson-Speight, Founder and Executive Director of Mothers In Charge, Inc. She is a respected leader, solid advocate and inspirational speaker against the war to end senseless acts of violent crime. Her work, though rooted in Philadelphia, has led to national appearances and presentations across the United States and abroad.

A licensed family therapist, Dorothy actively engages in championing the rights of children and families. She has a distinguished career in victim advocacy. In 2001, her life was forever changed following the tragic murder of her son Khaaliq Jabbar Johnson over a parking space dispute. That tragic incident left Mrs. Johnson-Speight needing the support of others. She reached out to other grieving mothers and together they founded the non-profit organization Mothers In Charge, Inc., a grassroots organization whose mission is violence prevention through education. Mothers In Charge engages in proactive intervention with children, young adults, families and community organizations.

The work of Mothers In Charge under the direction of Mrs. Johnson- Speight has motivated mothers from around the country who have suffered the indescribable loss of a child. Chapters of this extraordinary organization have been founded in Wilmington, DE, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Kansas City, MO, Atlantic City, NJ, Brooklyn, NY and Harrisburg, PA.

The extraordinary work of Dorothy Johnson-Speight and Mothers In Charge has been appreciated and acknowledged by some of the nation's most influential publications and organizations. Dorothy has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Best Philadelphia Award from the Philadelphia Magazine; the Philadelphia Eagles identified her as one of the 75 Greatest Living Philadelphians; in 2012, the Philadelphia Tribune chose her as one of Philadelphia's Most Influential African American Leaders, and the Philadelphia Inquirer named her Citizen of the Year in 2013. The recognition doesn't stop there as Mothers In Charge has also received numerous organizational awards and recognitions. The organization was the focus of a special feature on the OWN Network's ``Our America'' with Lisa Ling. Villanova University produced a documentary, No Greater Pain which journal's Dorothy's unspeakable loss and her arduous and unexpected journey to victim advocacy.

Organizational awards include the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Director of Community Service Award, the Wells/Fargo/Wachovia Community Service Award, and the School District of Philadelphia Humanitarian Award.

I am pleased to lead the Congress in honoring Dorothy Johnson- Speight--founder of Mothers In Charge--for her unceasing efforts and outstanding progress in victim advocacy. Her legacy in Philadelphia and her mark on the national stage for victim advocacy will leave a legacy on generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, in each and every one of our districts throughout the country, in every one of the families situated, there is a concern around neurological-based diseases and disorders--from Alzheimer's to autism, schizophrenia. We could go through the list of 600. But the point is that this work in our committee, on a completely bipartisan basis, we are moving aggressively on neuroscience initiatives. I thank Chairman Rogers for his support, and the ranking member from New York, and I want to thank my partner, Chairman Frank Wolf, for his support on this effort. We launched an initiative to map the brain and do so much more.

I want to just talk about what is in this bill today. We have the framework for a global fund on Alzheimer's. We have the effort now to bring, for the first time, the national labs into an effort to build a national brain observatory, which is going to bring the scientific arsenal of our country to bear on this war on disease and a better understanding of the human brain.

We have, in this bill, language that would have the United States create an international conference to bring together the global initiatives in the European Union and Israel and China and other countries, to come together and work on these issues. And we have a new initiative on imaging.

So I want to just say that there is a lot I could talk about in the CJS portion of the bill, but I want to just say that this effort on the human brain, with some 50 million Americans suffering from brain- related diseases and illnesses, a billion people worldwide, this is something that this Congress can feel is a major achievement, for us to move in a direction and deal with these issues, from addiction to Alzheimer's and everything in between.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

We have come to this floor on any number of occasions honoring people, but I think this may be the noblest moment that I have risen on the floor, because, in this instance, it is not to name a stamp after Wilt Chamberlain from Philadelphia or the train station after Congressman Gray, but this is to acknowledge a young man who graduated from high school in 1966 and, within a year or so, joined, enlisted, and went off to war on behalf of his country in a faraway place.

He finished at Cardinal Dougherty High School. He played varsity baseball there. He played basketball in a summer league at Simons Recreation Center. He grew up in West Oak Lane in my district, on the 7400 block of Thouron Avenue.

But the Corporal Crescenz whom we honor today is someone who, even though he was only in country for just a mere few months, when this attack took place, he grabbed a machinegun and he went towards the fire. It has been recounted when President Nixon awarded him the Medal of Honor, he took out one machinegun nest, he took out another, he then took out a third. Then when a camouflaged artillery post opened up, he charged at it, and that is when he took this mortal round.

But this is a young man who really, I think, represents everything that is important about American ideals because he lived a life of service on behalf of his country. He took it on himself to

face challenge in a faraway place. He honors us even in his death, which was a long, long time ago, by giving us the honor to be able to rise and to acknowledge his courage.

Our city lost a lot of people in the Vietnam war. This is the only soldier to earn the Medal of Honor.

I want to thank Councilman David Oh, who is a member of the Republican Party on our city council--it is hard to be a Republican and get elected in Philadelphia--but who helped to raise this issue locally.

I want to thank all of the Pennsylvania Members. We introduced a bill, H.R. 454. Every single Member of the Pennsylvania delegation supported this.

I have visited the Philadelphia VA. I have talked to veterans there who are getting care, all of whom are proud to have served our country. I think that they will be proud that the name of the medical center will be named after this young corporal who didn't make it in the headlines but, today, he is at the very forefront of the work of the United States Congress as we honor his service and we honor his family by this naming bill.

Will the gentleman yield?

I missed the opportunity, and I should acknowledge the strong contribution of Congressman Bob Brady in this effort, along with yourself and Congressman Fitzpatrick. I neglected in my early remarks to do so, so if I could lay that on the Record. This would not have happened without Congressman Brady's support.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

We were together just recently in your district at the Staglin Scientific Symposium, focusing on some of the challenges related to diseases and disorders of the human brain. This issue that you raise on the floor tonight is the most dominant challenge that we face in terms of a degenerative brain disease.

It is not by accident that Prime Minister David Cameron, when leading the G7, said that dementia was the world's global challenge. It is not by accident that here in our own country we have created, through the great work of Members like yourselves and others, a major focus now on Alzheimer's as one of the brand-name dementias that has affected millions of Americans and will affect millions going forward.

I have led an effort in the appropriations process focusing on the human brain, both mapping the brain and challenging and chasing cures and treatments for diseases. This neuroscience initiative, Fattah Neuroscience Initiative, has been focused on the fact that these 600- plus diseases of the brain affect over 50 million Americans; but there is none more costly than Alzheimer's, none that are affecting more families than Alzheimer's. And it is so important.

We just had an incident the other day of a very prominent restaurant owner here in Washington who was said to have gone missing in New York City because she is suffering from this disease.

I was happy to be at the launch of the Give To Cure effort, which is an effort to build support so that the ``valley of death,'' as it is called, in terms of major research that needs to go forward to clinical trials, working with my good friend Rafi Gidron from the Israel Brain Technologies and so many others.

This morning I met with the new president of Cal Tech and talked about the efforts there at a great university in your State, and they received well over 10 percent of the initial awards in the BRAIN Initiative from NIH because of the leading research. I have been--and some of the people think I may have some designs on retiring to California. I have spent some time there now with Stanley Prusiner, who is a Nobel laureate in neurology. He was the first one working with people like Virginia Lee and John Trojanowski to begin to really understand the early formation of this disease and how it affects people.

I want to talk just for a minute about how this affects families--and then I will yield--not about the science of it. There are significant scientific hurdles, with over 100 billion neurons, tens of trillions of connections. We do not now know how the brains of human beings work, but we don't have a good understanding yet of how the brains of much smaller insects or animals actually function. This is a great scientific challenge. I think it is the most important frontier for all of science to focus on, and that is why I am so dedicated to it.

When it comes to families--and I heard you speak about your own--this is something that has a tremendous impact. And dementia is something that, as people are healthier, their bodies are healthier, their brains are degenerating. We are going to face more and more of this.

We had a former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, talk about, if we could just reverse for a few years the onset of Alzheimer's, it could save our country trillions of dollars. But put the dollars aside. What this is really about is valuing families and understanding that as much as science is something that we all take a great interest in, that what should focus us is to make sure that our scientific endeavors are focused on how to improve the life chances of the people who we represent.

So the World Health Organization says there are a billion people worldwide, NIH says 50-plus million Americans suffering from brain illnesses. We know that you have your finger on the pulse, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for conducting this Special Order.

I know that so many members want to participate, I am going to now yield back my time, but you can count on us as we go forward to continue to work with you and to work with the pharmaceutical industry and to work with our academic enterprises, and we are going to have even more success going forward not just in finding treatment but we have to put as our goal finding a cure. So thank you.

If the gentleman would yield for just a second.

I met just a few days ago with Henry Markram with the European Human Brain Project, where the EU has put now a billion-and-a- half euros on the table to help with the mapping of the brain. One of the things that we talked about and what is clear is that we have to bring these global efforts together and connect them. This is not about one researcher somewhere discovering the solution to this. This is going to take a combined effort, and we have to have a certain urgency about it, and we have to demand that it be done now. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, we are here because the President of the United States has requested an emergency supplemental appropriations of about $3.7 billion. The Senate has acted in the range of about $2.7 billion. The House now comes in at one-sixth of the request to deal with this crisis. It ignores the wildfires in the West, the challenges that relate to other parts of the bill that were presented by the administration, and it says we are acting responsibly.

I rise in opposition to the bill. I understand what the majority is offering, and I think it has been stated pretty clearly.

I believe, if we have children who are presented to us without adults--who have been the victims of trafficking, which is what the majority has said, they have been trafficked by cartels and paid criminal enterprises to bring

them to our border; the majority says some of them have been sexually abused and mistreated in other ways--I don't believe that our response should be to close the door.

So as we think about our responsibilities as the United States of America, a Nation that had 12 million people without documents when the President was sworn into office--50,000 children, just like the 5-year- old girl that my colleague said he met and talked to--the idea that our moral responsibility is to say to her, ``You go back to where you came from,'' I don't believe that that is what we should be doing.

So I reject this--not because of the numbers or the other things. I think this is morally deficient, that our great country would say, as we demand other countries around the world take in refugees who are facing dangerous circumstances, that what our answer is, No, not here. Not in our backyard.

Well, I thank the gentlewoman, and I thank the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. As an appropriator, we were going to proceed in an appropriations bill with this naming, but after consulting with the chairman, he felt that it was important that we proceed under regular order and that this was important enough that we have an actual piece of legislation, and he guided me through this process.

I want to thank the chairman for his advice on the matter, and also, we were able to round up every single member of the Federal delegation from our State who were enthusiastic in their support for this, and our cosponsors--and our two United States Senators have introduced a companion bill in the Senate, Senator Toomey, and our senior Senator, Senator Casey. We thank Senators Toomey and Casey for their support.

Mr. Speaker, Bill Gray served for 12 years as Budget Committee chair and as majority whip. He was an accomplished lawmaker and leader in a bipartisan way. He helped to lead the budget negotiations with President Reagan's administration, which at first sought to eliminate Amtrak, but in the conclusion, it was Secretary Stockman who said that it was Bill Gray's leadership that allowed for necessary cuts to be made in other areas of the budget, but for Amtrak to continue to receive the necessary support, so that it could be a vital part of our transportation infrastructure.

He also, as the chairman has indicated, directly impacted the station in Philadelphia by arranging for some urban development action grants to be the focus of revitalization of the station at 30th Street.

Now, I live in a city in which we have the Betsy Ross Bridge, the Walt Whitman Bridge, and the Ben Franklin Parkway, but to add to this now the Bill Gray Station at 30th Street I think appropriately recognizes the historical contribution of a young man who was elected at 38, who served in this Congress, and provided extraordinary service.

When he left here, he went on to lead the Nation's most aggressive effort ever in terms of scholarships for students to pursue colleges who were coming from underrepresented categories.

He served as a special envoy for President Clinton, in terms of interacting around challenges in Haiti, and on a day where we had the Young African Leaders summit here in Washington, some 500 young leaders, Gray is most remembered in Africa because he championed and passed successfully the divestiture of South Africa, the legislation that would effect the divestiture of stock to end apartheid, and as a freshman, he passed a bill that created the African Development Bank. Freshmen at that point, and even today, find it difficult to pass major legislation in our House.

So I think it is great that we have come to this moment, and even though I passed other very important pieces of legislation, I am extraordinarily and personally honored to be able to carry this bill. I thank the gentlewoman from Florida, the ranking member, and the chairman for all of the courtesies that have been extended.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

I am aware that he was raised by educators and that his father was the president of a great college in Florida. I think it is appropriate that you would come in from Florida to help us move this bill forward. But Bill Gray loved you, and he loved the State of Florida. He made that his home once he retired from the Congress representing Pennsylvania.

I am convinced, in terms of someone mounting a pulpit, there are very few people who could claim the mantle that he claimed as pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church. He was just an extraordinary figure. There are so many stories on a bipartisan basis that could be told. I think it is great that years--decades--after his service and before a year has passed since his passing that the House is taking this step today to honor his service. It honors us that he served here.

Will the gentleman yield?

I was aware of that, and he constantly reminded those of us from Philadelphia that it wasn't Penn or some of these other institutions in which he got fortified for his national service role.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, let me first thank you and thank the chairman and the ranking member who have done an extraordinary amount of work developing this bill, everything from the nonproliferation work and the security and modernization of our nuclear weapons enterprise, the renewable and nuclear support programs, the energy labs, and their support of the Office of Science at DOE. I know the committee has worked very hard.

I rise tonight to offer an amendment which at the conclusion of my remarks I will withdraw, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say a number of things. One is that I have traveled with the chairman and other members of the committee over these many years to many of our national energy labs. And in particular, I have focused on the nuclear weapons enterprise, but I rise today in support of and wanting to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their support for the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub in Philadelphia.

The administration had asked for an appropriation. The committee in its work has decided to go well beyond that, and I want to thank the chairman publicly. Even though it is in Philadelphia, I don't rise in a parochial sense. I also thank you for your support for the other labs. The Pittsburgh lab, for instance, is where the work was done that has enabled us to tap the Marcellus Shale. These labs are so vitally important. The science that is done there has increased our country's capacity in terms of energy, and I thank the chairman and the ranking member.

Mr. Chairman, at this time I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Ponsie B. Hillman, an educator, an advocate, and pioneer in the civil rights and labor movements. Her life was defined by a love for education and driven by the staunch determination to share it. She passed away on June 26, 2008, but her legacy remains vivid.

Ms. Hillman was born in Maryland, October 7, 1918. The determination and success that characterized her early education would foreshadow her later success. She battled overwhelming social odds by prioritizing her schooling and pulling ahead of her peers. During Ms. Hillman's senior year, she received the highest grade in the county on the state exam. She supported herself through college on scholarships and summer jobs, graduating from Morgan State College in 1939.

Ms. Hillman moved to Philadelphia in 1948. She taught business at Vaux High School for 6 years before taking a post as a mathematics teacher at Roosevelt Junior High. She spent her summers furthering her own education by taking classes at Columbia University, earning a Masters in Mathematics and Education. Never ceasing to take every opportunity to learn, she continued attending classes at Sarah Lawrence College where she was able to offer her children their first view of higher education. She also studied Intergroup Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1959, Prince Edward County, VA, had closed its public schools to avoid court ordered integration. Ponsie Hillman arrived in the summer of 1963 to partake in the United Federation of Teacher's effort to establish Freedom Schools. She volunteered as a teacher for those students no longer able to receive an education. She was greeted with hostility from those who did not understand integration and from those who refused to accept change. Using the local church for classroom space, Ms. Hillman was successful in providing quality education to over 600 students that summer. She received an American Federation of Teachers award for her work at the Freedom Schools in Prince Edward County.

In addition to her selfless dedication to educating others, Ms. Hillman's contributions to the education community matched her passionate appetite for learning. She became an integral part of the community and consistently fought for teachers' rights, fair wages, and higher quality teaching. She won the NAACP's highest individual award for outstanding achievement as a teacher and was named a lifetime member. Ms. Hillman completed a 5-year term as a delegate to the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers where she served on the executive board, sharing her experience and cultivating ways to combat national education challenges. During her tenure, she organized the Afro-American Heritage Committee, the Asian American Committee, and initiated United Federation of Teachers summer camps. She was noted for her solidarity to the Union and her commitment to serving the community of educators.

I am pleased to honor Ponsie B. Hillman for her unceasing efforts and outstanding progress in working to make education equitable and attainable for all students. Her legacy in Prince Edward County and her mark on the national education system will inspire generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Gerlach amendment to H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 considered en bloc. This amendment recognizes the sacrifice of the Wereth 11, a group of eleven African-American soldiers of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion of the United States Army who lost their lives in dedicated service to this country during the Battle of the Bulge in Wereth, Belgium. The adoption of this amendment would ensure that history remembers and pays tribute to these men, and I was pleased to work with Mr. Gerlach on this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the impact of the work of Dr. D. Walter Cohen. Dr. Cohen's career brought extraordinary accomplishments to both Philadelphia and the global medical community. He set the highest standards in education and forged international partnerships for the promotion of peace. Today, I am pleased to honor Dr. D. Walter Cohen's contributions to education and science.

Dr. Cohen was born and raised in Philadelphia. He earned both his undergraduate degree and a D.D.S. from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a research fellowship in Pathology and Periodontics at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, he returned to Philadelphia to commence a distinguished academic career.

In 1951, Dr. Cohen returned to Penn as an associate professor and embarked on a career that would exemplify leadership, dedication, and the highest standard of innovation. During his tenure, he established Penn's Department of Periodontics and served as its first chairman, became a Professor of Periodontics, and ultimately became Dean of Penn Dental Medicine.

As Dean, Dr. Cohen is widely credited for revitalizing the school's educational program by establishing a preceptor model of education, introducing new courses, recruiting a new faculty, and establishing a residency. His book describes the innovative program that changed the way Penn educates dental students; ``Educating the dentist of the future: The Pennsylvania Experiment.'' Dr. Cohen's career was ultimately recognized with the 2013 William J. Gies Award from the American Dental Education Association, which honored his superior achievements in dental education.

His accomplishments have considerable international impact. In the 1950's, he initiated a fellowship exchange between the U.S. and Israel. After raising $500,000, he was able to bring over 18 full-time faculty members to train at Penn. The program's success paved the way for the creation of The D. Walter Cohen Middle East Center for Dental Education in Israel. The center allowed dentists throughout the Middle East to study at the Hebrew University Hadassah School in Jerusalem. The program strengthened the partnership between the U.S. and Israel while promoting peace and education.

Dr. Cohen's exemplary leadership helped to unite 41 U.S. dental schools under the Alliance for Oral Health Across Borders. The Alliance is committed to promoting peace through health education. By crossing borders, health providers build bridges among dental and health professionals around the world. These connections provide education, improve the state of oral health globally, develop leadership and advocacy, and promote collaborative research.

His legacy will endure through lasting contributions and through those who have recognized them. He was awarded honorary membership by the British Society of Periodontology, and given the Legion of Merit Award from the French Government. The American Academy of Periodontology offers a grant in his name, the Dr. D. Walter Cohen Teaching Award. It is my privilege to recognize the distinguished career of Dr. Walter Cohen for contributing to peace and education around the world.

Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word.

This is an extraordinary and important amendment, and the issue is important not just in Tennessee, but throughout the country. So I also support the amendment, and I urge its adoption.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, to establish justice, the Founders had embraced at the earliest moments the notion that access to our court system was a critically important, indispensable right of citizenship in our country. We had a Republican President, President Nixon, who created the Legal Services Corporation to provide access to our courts, notwithstanding the economic circumstances of Americans.

Legal Services operates in each of our States, and we have a responsibility as we consider this bill to think about where the gaps in justice exist. The chairman has been extraordinarily helpful in trying to focus on this question. However, I think that in terms of the numbers as presented, I side more with the author of the amendment inasmuch as that DEA we are funding--and it is critically important in a city like my own and in communities all across our country--but we are funding DEA at $35 million above the request. That is after OMB, after DEA walked through their numbers, looked at the budget, ascertained what was needed. The committee's mark at the moment, the chairman's mark, would provide more than what was requested, whereas, when we look at Legal Services, it is $80 million shy of what was requested.

So I think that if we are trying to balance the scales of justice here, the idea that thousands of active service military personnel have relied on Legal Services to protect their homes from foreclosure, to deal with other types of issues, that we have veterans who depend on access to community Legal Services or Legal Services as provided under this program, that the House at this moment should consider the author of the amendment and his point, which is that we should provide an additional--it is less than $20 million--is it $15 million?--for the Legal Services Corporation; and that in terms of the DEA we would still be funding it higher than the requested level, but we would be making sure that not only citizens could have access to the courts, but that Active Duty military and our veterans would have access to lawyers that they otherwise could not afford to protect their legal rights, given the fact that they wear or have worn the uniform to protect our due process rights.

I stand in support of this amendment, and I hope that the House would vote in favor of it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, this is extraordinarily important, and I want to share that I also am interested in seeing what we can do. Our support of these coastal communities is vitally important. Woods Hole and its work in your great State, and the work of NOAA, have made a vital difference, and I share the chairman's concern on this matter, and we will work together on this issue.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

It is said that you need to be able to hold opposing, competing views all at once, so here we go.

First of all, I think that the DEA is one of our extraordinary law enforcement agencies under DOJ. I think the Attorney General has done a great job, and I definitely believe that the administrator of DEA has done a great job rounding up cartel members and doing all kinds of work, interfacing with Interpol in its efforts.

So on one level, I disagree with my colleague in his characterization. However, I also agree that the $35 million plus-up over the requested amount is too large, which is why I supported and will support the notion that some percentage of those dollars should go into legal services versus going to an agency that didn't need it or request it, so I don't think we should be plussing it up by $35 million, notwithstanding the fact that I don't agree with the gentleman, in terms of their performance, per se, on a host of issues.

Now, I think that the gentleman is really concerned about the underlying question about his home State and States similarly situated, and I agree with him there that the State has made a different decision and that there should not be unnecessary harassment relative thereto, but if we are going to repeal prohibition every 100 years or so--we did alcohol in 1933--maybe we are at the moment where we are going to do something similar on marijuana.

It does not mean, however, that we think every illegal narcotic in the world should be available without penalty or punishment for every single person who might desire it. So the country is trying to make some decisions, and we have to kind of parse through this as we work forward.

So I rise to say that I don't support the amendment in which we would take this $35 million and put it into what is called deficit reduction. I suggest that the 41,000 veterans who are able to fight off foreclosure and other challenges by using legal services last year, those dollars should go to legal services, so that our veterans can have the legal services that they need in order to interface with our civil court system and to have the rights that they fought for protected.

So I think the House will be able to work its will. I hope that we vote against this amendment and that we support the effort to put these dollars into legal services and that we continue to hold high the great courage and sacrifice of our law enforcement agencies as they fight crime here and abroad.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

I also will work on behalf of the red snapper.

Will the gentleman yield?

I also would like to join in in whatever we can do from our side to help in this matter so they can come to a positive resolution.

Let me thank the gentleman from the great State of New York, and I pledge to him that I would be more than willing to work with him to increase the number of Latino or Hispanic students who pursue STEM education and in support for Hispanic-Serving Institutions through the National Science Foundation.

I pledge to work with you on this matter.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, early one morning, I went over and visited the ATF and met with Todd Jones, the administrator, and met a large number of his critical leaders there at the agency. They are doing an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances.

The chairman points out that they have had success where they have been able to focus. I would be willing to work with the gentleman on his area of concern to try to get some focus.

But to deal with his broader point, it is true that we need to be doing more to make the lives of Americans safer. We have 1,000 marines off the coast of Libya today because we are going to evacuate Americans. We have had eight or so hearings, and we have a new investigation, over the tragic attack that took place that took the lives of our Ambassador and three others in Libya.

But we saw a shooting right here in America over the weekend in California, and you won't see a big clamor here for us to have hearings or to do a lot. And we do need to rebalance these issues. We need to be doing more. It is our responsibility to do more to protect the American people not just when they are abroad but here at home. The ATF and these other agencies play a critical role.

This amendment, its offset is problematic. I would hope, as the chairman said, that we can work with you on this so that we can try to provide more resources to ATF and not necessarily take it away from this particular activity in terms of what we have to do in terms of a commercial crew.

I hope that the gentleman will find a way to work with us on this rather than proceed forward with a vote. He would have my pledge that we would work with him and the chairman as we go forward into conference.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I want the House to take note that we have increased this account already in last night's action, so this would be duplicative. Plus, it would take away funds from the agency that we were just referring to, that is Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. It doesn't make sense for us to take money away from this agency at a time when we need to be providing more resources to it.

Therefore, I will stand in opposition to this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I enthusiastically support the chairman's decision to accept it.

I thank the gentlelady from Texas, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, in rural areas, a lot of times, these challenges go without the same notice that they might bring in a large, metropolitan area. I think it is so useful that the gentleman has brought this matter to our attention, and I am glad that we were able to work through this.

I indicate our support for this amendment, and I thank the gentleman.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I rise to object to the amendment, not because of the purpose thereof, but because of the offset.

The Byrne-JAG Grant Program has enjoyed a great deal of support in the chairman's mark, and obviously we need to do more, if we could. But the gentleman seeks to take money away from the research efforts at DOJ, and I want to make a point about this.

The notion that we should continue to do what we have been doing as a country flies in the face of all the facts. We imprison more people than any other country on the face of the Earth on a per capita basis. We have created a circumstance in which we have violent crimes at levels that are not seen in any other developed country on Earth.

We need to be thinking anew about this. That is what the Criminal Justice Task Force that the chairman and I have worked on has been created to do. That is why we moved to evidence-based justice investment activities, so that we can measure safety of communities based on what is being done.

The idea that being tough on crime is going to make our families safer hasn't worked out all that well. What we need to do is to be smart on crime.

So the idea that we want to take money away from researching and understanding what works and what doesn't work works against-- normally--the position of the other team. The other team usually is here on the floor saying that we should fund those things that work and not fund those things that don't work.

The research efforts at DOJ are designed exactly for that purpose. They are designed to determine what is actually working.

I met with the heads of court systems and criminal justice efforts throughout our country, Democrat and Republicans alike. They say that this research effort has enabled them to focus in on what can make communities safer in terms of policing in criminal justice and prison- related activities.

So I support his goal, but I reject his offset. I would ask for Members to oppose this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

There is no one in this House that has been more focused on the problems of gangs and has talked about it more than Chairman Wolf. So when he says that this is a matter he is concerned about, he has shown that over the years.

This is an important effort. It is a program that, if we can find a way to fund it, we should.

My colleague, who served as mayor of one of America's great cities and is now a Member of the Congress, is right to point this out. I look for an opportunity where, perhaps as we move to complete this bill in conference, we can see if there are other resources available.

I think in the offset there probably is some wiggle room, but we need to pay a little bit closer attention to it.

So I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment, but I may have some concerns about the offset. And whatever the result of the amendment, you have heard the chairman say--and I join in--that we would be glad to work with you on this effort.

Thank you for offering the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, when you listen to our highest law enforcement officials in the country and our national security officials, they join the Chairman's very early point.

When he was saying it, no one was paying attention, I think, that cyber attacks are the greatest threat in terms of our economic infrastructure and some of our national military infrastructure is challenged by cyber attacks also.

There is an account in DOJ that is the target of affection for this amendment; that is cyber and high economic crimes. This is a very important area.

We remember the fiasco with the retailers being attacked by cyber attacks, mainly centered from Ukraine, and the disaster that occurred over the holiday shopping season.

This is a very important area. I would be glad to work with the gentleman to see whether we can do something to make sure that this account has the resources it needs.

Aeronautics, on the other hand, we are well above $100 million or so than the requested level, but it is a very important area, and I join with the chairman in prioritizing it.

I went out to Washington State. I visited Everett, a plant of almost 100 acres under one roof, the largest and widest building anywhere in the country, and saw them constructing these Dreamliners, tens of thousands of Americans working every day.

We don't want those secrets stolen either, however, through cyber attacks; so we need to find a happy medium that meets the country's interests.

I don't know that we want to cut that account. The chairman is right. Our balance of trade in aeronautics is well over $200 billion. It is our most significant export on the manufacturing side, so we have to be careful as we proceed.

I thank the gentleman for offering the amendment, and whatever the result of the amendment, I think that the chairman and I want to work to make sure that we are doing everything we can do to protect against cyber attacks.

In the economic atmosphere that the country is in and the competition that we face, we don't need to be innovative and then have our innovation stolen by others.

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

I would like to be heard, Madam Chair, if the gentleman would reserve his point of order.

Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chair, this program has not been reauthorized by the Congress. So let's go back to that.

This is a program that was created to provide support to local communities to be able to hire 1 million additional police officers nationwide, and it was put into place. It has operated well, and ever since this became the law of the land in the Clinton administration, the crime rate nationwide has gone down.

We have not reauthorized it, but we have funded it each and every year because it is the right thing to do. On one level, the American public is paying taxes, and safety, to them, is having police officers in their communities and that when they dial 911, there is someone there to respond.

At the same time that we have had this back and forth about the COPS program, we have provided well over $6 billion of the American taxpayers' money for police officers and training in Iraq and in places like Afghanistan to provide police officers in communities in countries far away from the streets of the gentleman's city, New York City, or my hometown of Philadelphia.

Now, it is true that the Congress has not done its work. We haven't reauthorized the transportation bill or the education bill or the COPS program. There is a whole line of bills that we have not found the ability to come together around, and there are a host of programs in these appropriations bills that are being funded, even though the authorization has lapsed.

So I think that in this particular instance, even though the point of order is correct and proper, it moves aside what should be the primary concern, which is to have cops on the street and connecting young people up with cops, which is the point of this amendment, to say that law enforcement officers are paid for under this grant program.

I want to let every Member know that when this bill is finished, when it comes out of conference, there will be money for the COPS program. The only thing that this amendment seeks to say is that some of those cops should have, as their primary responsibility, interacting and intervening in the development of youth gangs because we know that if we can grab ahold of these young people while the concrete has not yet hardened, we can prevent them from taking on a life of criminal or antisocial activity.

So I thank the gentleman for offering the amendment. I think it is correctly on point, and I appreciate the chairman reserving his point of order so that I can make the point that, even though unauthorized, we have the authority to appropriate this money--and we will, as we did last year and the year before and the year before that. Because at the end of the day, cops on the street, when someone dials 911, they are not dialing in the hopes of help. They are dialing because they really need help, and we need to have police officers who can respond.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Yes.

If the gentleman would reserve his point of order.

Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

In every single instance and when we deal with this question in law, we provide an exception for incest, and for some reason in the language, that is missing in this instance. So I thank the gentleman for pointing that out.

I do realize that we are probably not on the right side of the point of order, but I do think that it is an important point and that none of us would want to create a circumstance where someone's choices were limited if they were the victim of incest. So, hopefully, we will find a way to deal with this notwithstanding the point of order. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chair, OSTP is doing enormously important work on behalf of our country, and Congress also has an oversight role, and if the chairman of the Oversight Committee is having difficulty getting an answer to a question, I would be glad to try to help facilitate that and work with the chairman.

We do have some arcane rules here in Washington about advisers to the President not being in a position to be able to talk directly to Congress, but the head of the agency, as the chairman said, could be brought up with his subordinate, Mr. Park, to answer whatever questions there may be.

I kind of think that we are closing the door on that particular issue relative to the Affordable Care Act, but you deserve answers, no matter what, on this question, but when we talk about the budget of this agency, when there are 50 million Americans suffering from brain- related diseases, when China has almost an absolute monopoly on rare earth elements that we need to find our way around for national security and other reasons, OSTP is doing some vitally important work, and we can't take 20 percent of their budget, but we can get to the point where you can get the answers that you desire and rightfully.

You are the anchor of the Thursday prayer group, and you are someone who is a responsible Member of Congress, and we want to make sure that you get your answers. I will work with the chairman.

I yield to the gentleman.

What the chairman offered--he said $150,000 if we can't get you Holdren or someone to give you a satisfactory answer to your question. There are some rules about executive branch agents, individuals, and advisers to the President not being compelled to testify, but when you have line staff people running an agency, Holdren is available, and we can have him come with his staff and answer these questions.

Reclaiming my time, let me say: Let's work through it. We can work together.

The chairman has given you his assurances that he will work with you, but there is no possibility that we can afford to cut this agency by 20 percent. I need to oppose this amendment.

We would love to work with you to get you the answers because you are not trying to punish OSTP, you are trying to get legitimate answers to legitimate questions, and we want to help you and facilitate that.

Madam Chair, I think we have resolved this, and I yield back the balance of my time.