Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, over a year ago, Kate Steinle, a young woman in San Francisco, was murdered by a criminal illegal alien and died in the arms of her father.

At that time, as chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Appropriations, I swore that I would do whatever it would take to cut off every dollar of Federal money to every sanctuary city in America.

I persuaded the previous Attorney General to put that policy in place. Thankfully, with President Trump's election and the appointment of our new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, they moved aggressively to enforce existing laws, secure our border, and restore respect for the rule of law in this great Nation.

It is appalling and outrageous that a jury in San Francisco acquitted the killer who murdered Kate Steinle. This should renew our zeal as the Representatives of the people of this country to restore respect for the rule of law by cutting off every dollar of Federal money to every sanctuary city in American and to do whatever it takes to protect our citizens from criminal aliens who enter this country illegally and then commit crimes against the people of this great Nation.

What happened in San Francisco is an outrage, and I will not rest until we cut off every dollar to every sanctuary city in the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, due to extraneous circumstances, my flight did not arrive on time and I was unable to make votes on October 23, 2017.

Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 569, YEA on Roll Call No. 570, and YEA on Roll Call No. 571.

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

Mr. Chairman, pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution 504, as the designee of Chairman Frelinghuysen, I offer amendments en bloc No. 3 as part of consideration of division C of H.R. 3354.

The list of amendments included in the en bloc, Mr. Chairman, is at the desk and has been agreed to by both sides.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman).

Mr. Chairman, I wish to address the gentlewoman's comments, very briefly.

I want to thank the gentlewoman for bringing this matter to the House's attention. Harmful algal blooms are an important issue, especially to the State of Florida. We know how dangerous they are and the terrible effect they have had on our friends in Florida, who are already suffering the effects of this hurricane. Our prayers and thoughts are with them. All of us in Houston understand the severity of the problem they face, and we are praying for them and look forward to helping them in any way we can.

I will certainly continue to work with the gentlewoman on this issue that she brings to the House's attention.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert).

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the en bloc amendment. It is made up of noncontroversial items that we have worked out with the minority, and I urge its adoption.

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

Mr. Lipinski. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my two amendments included in the en bloc package being considered for Division C of H.R. 3354 I want to thank Chairman Culberson and Ranking Member Serrano for their leadership on this division, and for including these amendments in the en bloc package. These bipartisan amendments, cosponsored by me and my friend Mr. LoBiondo of New Jersey, protect critical functions at the National Weather Service. The Weather Service is essential to so much of what we do. From its critical functions like helping us predict, prepare for, and ride out extreme weather events to its everyday functions like telling us whether or not to carry an umbrella, life without up-to-date weather information is hard to imagine.

My first amendment (No. 89) directs the National Weather Service not to cut $1.2 million from the Climate Prediction Center. one of its National Centers for Environmental Protection The Service is further directed not to consolidate the functions of the Climate Prediction Center into the Weather Prediction Center. Keeping these two centers separate recognizes the essential and very different services each one provides. The medium- and long-term predictions offered by the Climate Prediction Center are used for planning by diverse industries including transportation, agriculture, energy, and public health. Its global datasets are used by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development to understand international phenomena like flood and drought that could impact food supplies and regional stability.

My second amendment (No. 88) directs the National Weather Service not to cut $10.1 million from its budget for Information Technology Officers, and to maintain an on-site IT Officer at each Weather Forecast Office. These officers do software maintenance, technical systems upgrades, and develop software and data products to meet local office needs. According to the Weather Service's assessment of its performance during Hurricane Matthew (2016), ``[Weather Forecast Offices] were unanimous in their support of having a local [IT Officer] present to address issues before, during, and after hurricane season.'' In addition, a significant number of IT Officers are also trained, experienced meteorologists who can augment the forecasting staff during extreme weather.

I think all of my colleagues can agree that supporting the National Weather Service is more important now than ever and I urge support for these amendments and for the en bloc package.

Mr. Chairman, as the designee of Chairman Frelinghuysen, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), my good friend.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Washington for his service to the people of Seattle, the people in his State, his service here, and for his devotion to this program.

I absolutely recognize the importance of the COPS Hiring Program and what an important impact it has had on the safety of local communities. We are especially grateful to our first responders in southeast Texas, southwest Louisiana, and the people of Florida. I don't know what we would do without our first responders. Our police officers and firemen have done a magnificent job in the wake of these terrible storms that we have had.

Given the staffing shortages and the current issues facing our law enforcement, the COPS program is especially important. As you know, the Senate has funded the COPS program in its bill, and I look forward to working with the gentleman to make sure the COPS program is funded in conference.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I have no particular objection to the amendment other than I am concerned about the offset. We need to make sure the Department of Justice has all the resources they need in order to protect this country. I am concerned about taking it out of General Administration. However, I am prepared to let the amendment go.

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

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

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

Mr. Chairman, we have, as you know, an extremely difficult budget year. Our constituent's hard-earned tax dollars are being stretched farther and thinner than ever, particularly in light of the disasters that struck Texas and southwest Louisiana and now Florida.

We have, in our Commerce, Justice, Science bill, protected America's investment and basic research through the National Science Foundation and its main grant account, the Research and Related Activities account.

We have funded the Research and Related Activities account at $672 million this year. We recognize that America's leadership in the world is grounded, in large part, on the innovations and discoveries that are made by unrestrained scientific research.

I am a very strong supporter of the National Science Foundation's scientific research. And while we would like to see higher levels of funding for the National Science Foundation for NASA and for other science-related research in this bill, until the Congress comes to an overall budget agreement, Mr. Chairman, we simply do not have additional funds, and we must live within our means.

The proposed offset that is offered by this amendment would seriously hinder program and financial oversight over the Department of Commerce and could result in professionals being let go.

Further, with respect to the gentlewoman's statement, I believe it is important that we defer to the National Science Foundation to distribute any additional funds according to the highest priority needs identified by the scientific community and not designate them for a specific directorate.

Should the gentlewoman's amendment pass, the funds will be added to the research and related activities account, in general. It will then be up to NSF to determine how those additional funds are spent according to the needs of the scientific community, that the offset is very damaging to the Department of Commerce and the important work they do, in fact, the constitutionally mandated work that they do, to provide for the decennial census of the United States.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks), my good friend and colleague.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman withdrawing the amendment. I want to express my support for the work the Legal Services Corporation does.

When we reach a budget agreement throughout the Congress for Legal Services, we will work with you in conference to help make sure they have the funds that they need to do their vital work to defend abused women, veterans, and members of the military who need assistance. They do important work. As soon as we find some extra room, I will work with you in conference to find them some extra support.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment, remembering that, first and foremost, the appropriations annual operating budget of the United States represents only 30 cents out of every dollar spent by the Federal Government.

I am keenly aware of how precious and hard-earned and scarce every dollar earned by our constituents is. We need to focus on the 70 percent: the automatic pilot programs, the looming insolvency of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is how we can really get our budget balanced.

We have done our part on the Appropriations Committee to bring down annual spending every year, and the ATF, in particular, plays an important role in protecting America's Second Amendment rights. You must remember that the ATF is now under the direction of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who shares with us a passion for protecting Americans' Second Amendment rights.

This amendment would cause serious damage to ATF's ability to end the backlogs. The ATF would not be able to speed up the processing of the National Firearms Act applications. The ATF would not be able to beef up the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which is so vital to help police officers identify the source of the bullet used in a crime.

This amendment would injure an agency that is doing good work today under the leadership of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to protect our Second Amendment rights. Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to oppose it.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), my colleague, the ranking member on the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to oppose this amendment.

ATF is doing a good job of protecting our Second Amendment rights, and this amendment would injure them severely.

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

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

Mr. Chair, this amendment would cut the Bureau of Prisons' operations by $10 million. This is a serious cut. The Bureau of Prisons performs an essential function in keeping our streets safe and protecting the people of America.

We have already funded the youth mentoring programs in our bill today at $75 million. It is 25 percent above the request, because of the value of these programs.

I certainly agree with the gentleman that these programs are successful, they are effective, but the Department of Justice is not even finished awarding the grants from fiscal year 2017, and this program is very healthy.

This program would also, Mr. Chairman, eliminate a longstanding authority the Bureau of Prisons has had for

contract flexibility that enables the Bureau of Prisons to manage its contracts in a way that benefits both the agency and the taxpayer. This includes contracts for halfway houses, reentry facilities, and juvenile detention.

This burden would strap the Bureau of Prisons, putting pressure on them and putting inmates in more danger, putting officers and staff in greater danger. If we want prisoners to get healthcare and rehabilitation, Mr. Chairman, and prisoners and staff to be safe, we have to adequately fund the Bureau of Prisons.

Mr. Chair, I urge Members to vote ``no'' on this amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, but I have no objection to this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I share my colleagues' support for law enforcement and have no objection to this amendment; and I will work with the gentlemen to ensure that the COPS program is funded when we get to conference, we have a budget agreement across the Congress, and additional funds are made available. The COPS program is an essential one that will be at the top of the list.

My support for law enforcement is reflected in the $100 million increase seen in the Byrne JAG Program, which is a

very flexible grant program for local law enforcement to use for a variety of reasons, including hiring police officers, including forensic work, lab work, and eliminating the backlog of rape kits, which is so important to getting dangerous criminals off the streets.

The Byrne JAG Grant Program is one that is increasingly popular and successful among the men and women of law enforcement, and that is why we have increased it by $100 million in this year's Commerce, Justice, Science bill to keep the men and women of America safe, to support our law enforcement officers of whom we could not be prouder.

We are immensely grateful for the work of our first responders and law enforcement. The people of Houston, the people of southwest Louisiana, the people of Florida have all relied on them in this time of crisis with these terrible floods in Houston, the hurricane in Florida. I don't know what we would do without our first responders and men and women in uniform in the law enforcement community protecting us every day.

Mr. Chair, I have no objection to the gentleman's amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Chairman Smith, I support your amendment to increase the physical and biological sciences and will fight for it in conference.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, I can. It is fully consistent with the authorization.

Mr. Chairman, I join the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris) in opposing this amendment because the EEOC, under the previous administration, has created this monstrosity of a burden on small businesses, and they did such a poor job of it that the Office of Management and Budget actually put the requirement under review and suspended it.

Mr. Chair, I strongly oppose this amendment. I join the gentleman in seeking to protect small businesses from this unnecessary and burdensome requirement. EEOC already has a huge backlog of cases involving actual complaints of discrimination that need to be resolved, people who need to be protected, and EEOC should focus on doing their job, clearing up the backlog, protecting people from discrimination where they actually already have a real complaint, not looking for needles in haystacks.

Mr. Chair, I urge Members to join us in opposing this amendment, and I recommend a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment. I understand his concern. I appreciate him bringing it to our attention. I understand similar language has already passed the House. I have no objection to him, and I urge Members to support it.

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

Mr. Chairman, I think it is entirely appropriate to make inmates help pay for some of the cost of their time in a halfway house. This program helps make inmate reentry into the community as seamless as possible. It has been a successful one. We want to reduce obstacles to make that transition without unnecessary burdens. However, this proposal would cut the Bureau of Prisons' operations by about $20 million. It would be forced to be absorbed by the Bureau of Prisons, that money that they are now receiving in reimbursement from transitioning inmates.

The Bureau of Prisons' resources are already stretched very thin, Mr. Chairman, and this money would come out of other programs such as reentry services, antirecidivism, counseling, and inmate health and safety that are needed for inmate welfare and a successful transition into society.

While I appreciate the intent of the gentlewoman's amendment, if the Bureau of Prisons were to have a cut of $30 million, then prison safety and prison services would be severely compromised, and that won't help inmates or officers.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to join me in opposing this amendment. I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment. Within 2 months of my becoming chairman of the subcommittee, the ATF did, indeed, attempt to ban this commonly used ammunition. Mr. Latta is exactly right.

I met, at the time, with the Director of the ATF. I am grateful that the ATF withdrew the proposed ban. The Director of the ATF, Tom Brandon, is doing a good job of protecting America's Second Amendment rights. I want to ensure Mr. Latta that I will continue to work to make sure that this rule is not put back into place.

As long as I am chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I will always zealously protect the unambiguous Second Amendment rights of every American to keep and bear arms.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly support the gentleman's amendment and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. Chairman, I understand my colleague is offering this on behalf of another Member who could not be here today, but I rise in strong opposition to this amendment.

Let me make sure that we read it so the people understand what we are talking about. None of the funds made available by this act may be used for the operation of a correctional facility by a private party or contractor, period.

This would shut down every privately operated prison and halfway house in the United States. Where are those 34,000 criminals going to go? Well, you would have to just turn them loose on the streets or pack them in like sardines in existing prison cells or spend billions of dollars over the next few years to house them.

This amendment is dangerous, irresponsible, and risks the safety of the public. By cutting off immediately all funding to private prisons, these 34,000 inmates would have to be released onto the streets of America. I can't imagine what kind of disaster that would result in.

Furthermore, I have always believed in the Yellow Pages test. If you can find a government service in the Yellow Pages, you ought to try to privatize it. As a general rule, the private sector is going to find a way to do it more efficiently, less expensively, and in a way that is going to save taxpayer money.

My experience with the private prisons that have operated in the State of Texas quite successfully throughout the Bureau of Prisons is that they are providing better security, better food, better healthcare, better transportation, better housing, better facilities for both the inmate and the staff. They have been very successful across the country. These 34,000 inmates will have nowhere else to go.

This amendment is extremely dangerous, destructive, and irresponsible. I urge Members to join me in opposing this amendment not only for the risk to public safety, but for the damages it will do to the hardworking people of America.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to join me in voting ``no,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to join me in opposing this amendment to protect the public safety of the people of the United States, to ensure that our tax dollars are efficiently used, but, above all, to make sure these 34,000 inmates are not released onto the streets of America.

Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I have no objection to the gentleman's amendment, and I support it. We have had it in previous bills. I hope the House will adopt it in this bill as well.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the gentleman from Colorado's amendment.

When Kate Steinle was murdered, I was the new chairman of this subcommittee, and I swore that I would find a way to cut off Federal funding to these sanctuary cities. That young lady's murder could have been prevented had the city of San Francisco simply cooperated with Federal immigration authorities and handed that criminal over to be deported immediately. That is all we are talking about here.

With the previous administration, Attorney General Lynch, I met with her as the CFO, so to speak, of the DOJ. I used the power of the purse that the Congress was entrusted with by the Founders of our constituents to persuade the previous Attorney General to adopt precisely the policy that Mr. Buck is attempting to make sure that we continue to follow.

I know, under Attorney General Sessions' leadership, sanctuary cities are not going to receive Federal money. That policy was first put in place last summer. At my insistence, current guidelines in the Department of Justice grant policies are that a local law enforcement agency has to certify that they are cooperating 100 percent of the time with Federal immigration authorities about individuals in local jails or State prisons. That is all this is.

If a State prison or local jail is housing someone who was in the country illegally when they committed the crime and were sentenced, before they are released, current Department of Justice policy adopted last summer, being enforced today by Attorney General Sessions, says you have to tell Federal authorities you are about to release this person so they can be immediately deported. That is common sense. It protects public safety, and it is a wise use of our tax dollars.

Mr. Chairman, the days of sanctuary cities accepting Federal money and ignoring Federal law are over. The policy under this administration, the policy I insisted be adopted last summer, is, if you want Federal money, follow Federal law, or don't ask.

I support the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly support the amendment. I will work with Mr. Roskam as the CFO of the DOJ and do whatever is necessary to help make sure they review these cases rapidly and return people's money to their rightful owners.

Once again, Mr. Roskam has brought a great amendment to the House floor. I look forward to working with him to ensure that his intent is implemented as quickly as possible.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to support the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, to everyone in Texas and Louisiana who has suffered the loss of a loved one or the loss of everything they own in this catastrophic flood, we are here today to tell you that help is on the way and to say thank you.

Help is on the way because today, in the Congress, there are no Republicans, there are no Democrats. We are all Americans here today, unified in our determination to move swiftly to help all those poor people who have suffered so much as a result of this catastrophic storm.

It is an unparalleled disaster in our Nation's history. My district suffered. We all suffered, all of us in southeast Texas, southwest Louisiana.

My brother and his wife lost everything. Their home is still underwater. My in-laws lost everything. Their home was destroyed, everything they owned and loved, but they are just personal possessions.

No one lost their lives. I can't imagine if you lost a loved one in this catastrophe.

But help is on the way. We are all unified here today. We are all working together to make sure that we get this immediate infusion of cash into the Disaster Relief Fund to help these people who have suffered so much and been displaced so abruptly and so catastrophically.

I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing this to the floor so quickly, thank our leadership for working together to get this done. I want to thank President Trump and his wife for personally donating $1 million to the relief fund for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. I want to thank, also, all of the first responders who sacrificed so much to save so many lives. I want to thank especially the people of America who stepped up to help the people of Houston.

I spent all of last week out in neighborhoods in boats and on trucks and in waders helping pull people and their property and their pets out of their homes.

Last Saturday, I ran into a group of guys, four guys, with a bass boat that drove all the way from Florida. They saw the catastrophe on television and said, ``We can either sit here and watch this or we can go help our fellow Americans,'' and they jumped in their truck and they drove that bass boat all the way to Texas to help us.

A guy from Michigan showed up in our neighborhoods just to help.

I want to thank my friend and my colleague, Congressman Garret Graves of Louisiana, who called me on the second day of the disaster and said: The Cajun Navy is on the way.

I said: What? I didn't know there was such a thing as the Cajun Navy.

Garret said: 110 trucks are on the way to Texas towing 100 boats loaded with thousands of meals of jambalaya and red beans and rice and diapers and water and radios and everything that you need to recover from a storm.

They just did it, our neighbors.

I have never been prouder to be an American, never been prouder to be a Texan or a Houstonian, to see people step up and help each other out of the goodness of their hearts, because we are Americans and we are the greatest nation in the history of civilization, and it is because we are all self-reliant. It is because we all look after each other as a community. We all love each other. We love our family, our God. We respect the law.

This great Nation that was founded on the rule of law is a bond that connects all of us, and we saw it in this disaster, and we thank you all from the bottom of our heart. Help is on the way.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Today, we are all Americans, arm in arm.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to thank everyone here in the House for their kind words and their prayers and their support this morning for the Hurricane Harvey relief bill. I want to thank you in particular, Chairman Frelinghuysen, for your hard work, along with the Speaker, to get that legislation passed through the House in record time to get relief to the people of Texas and Lousiana, and know that we are praying for the people of Puerto Rico and Florida who are facing this terrible hurricane right now.

Today, I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

I want to particularly thank my ranking member, Jose Serrano, who has been a good partner to work with and for his support when it comes to science, and NASA has deeply appreciated it. His input has improved the bill significantly.

I am also very grateful to Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey for their help in writing this bill, and the superb staff work on both sides of the aisle in putting it together.

This Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill provides $54 billion in discretionary funding this year, which is $2.6 billion below fiscal year 2017.

We have done our best to be good stewards of our constituents' hard- earned and very precious tax dollars. We fund critical programs in this bill while cutting or freezing lower priority programs.

One of the main priorities of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill is to fund both Federal and local law enforcement agencies. Our bill provides the FBI with $8.8 billion, which is a $92 million increase over the budget request.

The FBI has done a superb job in protecting this Nation against espionage, cybercrime, terrorism, and hate crimes. The threats against our security are real and evolving. We have done our best in this bill to make sure that the FBI has the resources it needs to continue to protect this great Nation.

The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill also provides increases across all other Federal law enforcement agencies, Mr. Chairman, to enhance their capabilities, to combat illegal immigration, violent crime, and go after human and opioid traffickers. Unfortunately, Houston, Texas, is a center of human trafficking. And our legislation makes sure that all Federal agencies have the resources they need to combat these modern human slavers.

We have provided funding for 65 new immigration judge teams to reduce the 500,000 immigration case backlog; we have got a $22 million increase in here, Mr. Chairman, for U.S. attorneys, an $88 million increase for U.S. marshals, a $98 million increase for the DEA, and a $35 million increase for ATF.

We have also provided strong funding for priority State and local law enforcement programs that protect women and children and help support our local police officers. I am especially grateful, and I want to say a special thank you, to all of the first responders who saved so many lives in Houston and across southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. Our first responders have been absolutely magnificent in helping protect the people of Texas, and I know they will be there for the people of Puerto Rico and Florida.

Our legislation includes $527 million to fight human trafficking and protect women against violence. We have provided $72.5 million to help protect missing and exploited children. We have provided $500 million for the Byrne JAG program to help local law enforcement agencies and $220 million to help

reimburse State and local agencies for housing criminal aliens.

Mr. Chair, the bill also provides $19.9 billion for NASA, which is a $218 million increase, and the bill advances space exploration and ensures America will remain the world leader in space exploration and technology.

The bill makes sure that the human spaceflight program is fully funded and that we will have Americans launched back into space on American-built rockets as soon as humanly possible.

The bill does not adopt the proposed cut to the National Science Foundation, and we have continued to fund basic scientific research.

We have included numerous oversight provisions, Mr. Chairman, to protect hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and we have also continued provisions included in previous year bills to protect our Second Amendment rights.

Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman for the time and urge all Members to support the CJS bill.

Mr. Speaker, last year, over 7,000 cases of human trafficking were reported in the United States. Unfortunately, the city with the largest number of cases was our hometown of Houston, Texas.

Human trafficking is an absolutely despicable and deplorable crime that demands swift action.

As chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I have spearheaded efforts to make sure that our Federal law enforcement officers have all the resources they need to crack down on these human traffickers, who are exploiting our children and young women coming across our borders.

We have to work together to provide justice and relief for these victims. That is why Congress has passed 16 bipartisan bills to combat this human trafficking epidemic.

These bills ensure that all law enforcement officers at the State, Federal, and local level have the resources they need and the support they need to fight this overwhelming crisis.

I am proud to support these measures, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that we crack down and drop the hammer on human traffickers.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, every day law enforcement officers across America put their lives on the line to protect our communities and our fellow citizens. National Police Week is an opportunity for all Americans to recognize and express our deep appreciation for those law enforcement officers and first responders for their selfless service.

I want to take a moment to honor those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

In Harris County, Texas, we recognize and remember the lives of Chief Clint Greenwood and Deputy Darren Goforth, who worked tirelessly to keep Houston safe. Both of these men served their communities and families honorably, and we are so grateful for their sacrifice.

As chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, it is and will continue to be one of my top priorities to ensure that our law enforcement officers have the resources they need to protect our communities and to protect themselves. We must always honor and protect those who protect us.

I express a deep thanks to the people of Texas and America, to all our uniformed officers, for their dedicated service to our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the reason you can't buy a house or a business with a 1- or 2-page contract is all

the detail in that big, thick stack of documents ensures that both parties are going to perform and do exactly as promised in the contract. The same is true of this appropriations bill. The Founders understood the power of the purse was the most important and powerful check and balance in the Constitution.

I am proud to support this legislation because the detail in this bill will help ensure that the agencies that are responsible for spending our taxpayers' hard-earned and very precious tax dollars have to perform according to the detail in this bill.

My portion of the bill--the Commerce, Justice, Science portion--is responsible for funding our Nation's law enforcement officers. Now that we have a President who will enforce the law, we ensure that our men and women in uniform who protect us have the resources they need in this bill. We funded the FBI with an additional $277 million to help those men and women fight terrorism, espionage, and cybercrime. The DEA, the Marshals Service, and the U.S. Attorneys all get increases to ensure our communities are made safer by combating gangs, drug trafficking, and violent crime. We make sure in this bill to fully fund opioid abuse programs to reduce this terrible plague that is now sweeping across our Nation.

We also in the Commerce, Justice, Science bill are responsible for funding the National Science Foundation, which we protected and made sure that the scientific community has the money they need to continue to do their great work.

I also, as a Houstonian and a Texan, take special pride in the funding that we have given to NASA to make sure that NASA will be restored to the glory days of Apollo with a funding total of $19.7 billion, and put them on a 50-year path to discover life in another world, the oceans of Europa, to look for that nearest Earthlike planet around the nearest star, develop an interstellar rocket propulsion system to go to at least 10 percent of the speed of light and to launch no later than 2069, the 100th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. We have directed NASA to launch the first interstellar mission to that nearest Earthlike planet.

To pay for these increases, we are freezing 29 programs and cutting about 15 others to make sure that these are paid for.

This bill protects our Second Amendment rights and contains pro-life protections that we have had in previous legislation. This is a good bill, Mr. Speaker. I urge all Members to support it.

Mr. Speaker, on account of illness, I was not present for votes on March 7, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 127, and YEA on Roll Call No. 128.

Today, Mr. Speaker, the Republican House takes an important step in restoring the trust of the American people in their elected Representatives and in restoring the rule of law in our Nation.

Two of the most important principles underlying our entire system of government are trust and the rule of law. The American people in the election last November decisively rejected the aggressive, liberal agenda of this President and of the Democrats in Congress.

They elected this Republican majority to stop the President from doing further damage to our system of laws and further damage to our Constitution. The American people elected us to preserve and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, but that work begins with trust.

We, today, are doing what the voters of America asked us to do in enforcing our laws on the border to ensure that our laws are respected, to ensure that our immigration law is fair, and that it treats everyone equally as the Constitution requires.

We are keeping our word to the American people to do precisely what we said we would do, and that is to overturn these illegal executive memos that are attempting to ignore what the law says the President must do. Not even King George III had the authority to waive a law enacted by the Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, once we have begun this path today of restoring that bond of trust, we will restore the rule of law in America because, without the law, there is no liberty.

In fact, the first design on one of the first coins ever minted in the Republic of Mexico, a coin which I have here with me, shows the liberty cap--liberty and law. There is no liberty without law enforcement, and the House today is doing what the American people hired us to do: to restore their trust and to restore the rule of law.

This is a law enforcement issue. Border security and immigration, these are matters of law enforcement. We trust the good hearts and the good sense of the officers in the field to do the right thing for the right reasons, which is to enforce our laws fairly and equally, because the people on the Rio Grande understand better than anyone else that if the law is not enforced, there cannot be safe streets and that you cannot have good schools and a strong economy without law enforcement.

We in Texas understand better than anyone else that this debate is far larger than it just being about immigration or border security. It is far larger than just these individual issues we will debate today.

Today, we in the Republican House are honoring the will of the American people. We will keep our word. We will make sure that the laws of the United States are enforced equally and fairly for all.

Above all, we will preserve and protect the Constitution and the America that we know and love. That was the message of the election last November.

Madam Chair, under the logic of the minority we have heard tonight, it would be that the President has taken this action because of the inaction of Congress in order to fix a broken immigration system.

Under that logic, President George W. Bush would have been within his rightful authority, in order to fix a broken economy, to refuse to collect the capital gains tax, just to issue an executive order, a memorandum by the director of the IRS: Do not collect the capital gains tax, the capital gains tax is now effectively zero, no matter what the law says, to fix a broken economy.

I would also point out to my colleagues in the minority that the examples that we have heard tonight of previous Presidents taking action are all based on the President's very broad authority under the war powers, under his authority as Commander in Chief, and also his authority to make treaties and receive foreign ambassadors.

In fact, the Supreme Court, Madam Chair, has said that the President is essentially the sole organ of the Federal Government in the field of international relations; so the authority of other Presidents in the past who have taken these actions, they have done so under their authority as Commander in Chief in the area of foreign affairs.

We in the House tonight, the new Republican majority in the House, are listening to the voters. We are responding to the overwhelming rejection of President Obama's policies by the American people.

Two short months ago, when President Obama said his policies were on the ballot, America answered and said ``no'' and elected the largest Republican majority since the 1920s to stop President Obama from dismantling the America we know and love, to stop President Obama from ignoring the law and the Constitution.

We in the House are using our authority to be good stewards of our taxpayers' hard-earned tax dollars. Our system of checks and balances gives us that authority, our responsibility, to prevent our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars from being spent for illegal purposes.

The first amendment we are taking up tonight is one step of many in this bill tonight. We are taking up a whole

series of amendments as steps to keep our word that we are listening to the American voters.

The first amendment is one based on a bill that I am proud to coauthor with Chairman Aderholt and other Members of the House that dismantles and defunds the President's illegal executive amnesty memos.

We have further taken action in this bill tonight to have the highest number of border patrol agents we have ever had before, keeping a minimum of 34,000 beds--detention beds--available for the purpose of enforcing the law.

The second critical part of this bill, Madam Chair, is that the Republican House is enforcing the law. This is a law enforcement issue because we understand in Texas, better than any other part of the Nation, you cannot have good schools, safe streets, and a strong economy without law enforcement.

We all know that our economy on the river, on the Rio Grande, is fundamental that the law be enforced to keep out the drug runners and the smugglers and the gunrunners and the criminals. No one has a stronger interest in safe streets and good schools and laws being enforced than those folks that live along the southern border.

President Obama's got this responsibility and he has refused to fulfill his constitutional responsibility as Commander in Chief to execute the laws faithfully. The House of Representatives is doing our job and honoring our word to the American people to preserve, protect, and defend the America we love by enforcing the law.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Appropriations be discharged from further consideration of H.J. Res. 131, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, time is short this evening, but it is such a privilege to be here to honor Ralph Hall.

Proverbs tell us that our good name is worth more than all the gold and silver on Earth, and that is certainly true of Ralph Hall, someone who I immediately bonded with when I came to Congress in 2001.

Ralph has been a mentor, teacher, and a dear, good friend. I could always--as we all could--count on Ralph to do the right things for the right reasons and be a man of his word. His first priority throughout his time here was to do right by the State of Texas.

As Lamar said so ably, Ralph always believed it is better to be respected at home and make sure the folks there knew what a good job he was doing for them. It was a real privilege for me to be able to serve with that good man. We will surely miss him.

What a privilege to be here tonight to honor him on this special evening.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard several of my Democratic colleagues tonight say this bill does not reflect American values. I am disappointed to hear them say that because it really reflects a fundamental, probably one of the most fundamental differences between our two parties, as we on our side as Republicans believe in the most important American value and that is enforcement. The first design on the first coin minted in the Republic of Mexico after the Revolution said: Liberty in the Law. We all understand as lawmakers, as Americans, that there can be no liberty without law enforcement.

The bill before us tonight is very simple, this is not complicated. This is a law enforcement issue. This is a law enforcement bill. Without respect for the law there can be no liberty, without respect for the law there can be no peace and quiet, there can be no prosperity.

My good friend Henry Cuellar, who represents the city of Laredo, whom I served with in the Texas legislature, understands better than most that, because Laredo is the largest inland port in the United States, his constituents need law and order in order to be prosperous, to be able to trade with Mexico, our most important trading partner. That relationship with Mexico is essential to the Texas economy, to the United States economy, and for that relationship to thrive there must be law and order, there must be respect for the law, and there must be peace and quiet on the streets of Laredo so children can play in the streets, so people don't have to worry about whether or not they can send their kids down to the corner store, whether or not they can thrive in the future. It is a tragedy what has happened in Nuevo Laredo. One of the most beautiful cities on the border is now essentially a ghost town because there is no respect for the law.

The bill before us tonight that the Republican majority has put together reflects our core value as Americans to respect the law, to enforce the law, with a kind heart and commonsense. We believe in the good judgment of our law enforcement officers and our National Guardsmen to use their good hearts and their commonsense as Americans to distinguish between the widow and her child who is escaping a terrible situation at home. We are trusting the good hearts and good sense of our immigration officers to know the difference between a tattooed criminal and a drug dealer and a smuggler, and the child who has come here innocently, brought up in the trust the President of the United States has made inviting them all up here. It is a tragedy for them, it is a tragedy for our border communities, it is a tragedy for the country to let these folks come into the country.

This is a law enforcement issue, it is a law enforcement bill. I encourage folks to vote ``yes.''