Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member for bringing this resolution to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to support H. Res. 792, which would urge the Secretary of the Interior to recognize the historical significance of Roberto Clemente's place of death near Pinones in Loiza, Puerto Rico, by adding it to the National Register of Historic Places.

Formalizing the site of his untimely death will create a place for our Nation to honor Roberto Clemente's career and legacy. He was a trailblazer in baseball and in his life of service outside of baseball.

Born in 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker's pride and humanitarian ways won

him universal admiration. Some said that he had a very unorthodox way of hitting the ball, yet he had four batting titles and 3,000 hits exactly on the last day of the season--the last season he played before he passed. He won four batting titles.

He had one of the most incredible arms in right field you ever saw. I still remember a day in New York when he threw a ball from the right field fence to third base without a bounce. For a person of my age, who cannot throw the ball but 100 feet, perhaps, that was quite a sight to see.

But there was another person in Clemente: the person who was always trying to build up people of color; who was always trying to build up a relationship with Latin America, knowing how important baseball was to Latin America and how important baseball was to Latin Americans and people in the territory of Puerto Rico. He played a role in being that ambassador, to the point where, when Nicaragua suffered a hurricane that killed about 7,000 people and thousands of people were without food or water, he decided to lead a couple of planeloads of relief efforts to Nicaragua.

But as times had it in those days--and perhaps even these days, too-- some, if not all of the supplies he was sending of food and water to Nicaragua were being stolen and sold on the black market. So he decided he was going to go himself on the next trip. He was so revered and respected in Nicaragua, nobody would dare touch anything if he was on the ground. So he left on a plane on December 31, 1972. After taking off, the plane went into the water. Roberto's body was never found.

I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I so believe that we Puerto Ricans, whether we are from New York, New Jersey, or Puerto Rico, born or not born in Puerto Rico, still hold a certain need to have found him and to have given him the proper burial. But that never happened.

When we do what we do today, hopefully, we continue to honor this man who was not only the first Latino in the Hall of Fame, who not only batted 317 in his lifetime, which is not an easy accomplishment, and who not only had 3,000 hits and had a rifle for an arm, who was-- although people would say it was only two World Series--the only player to get a hit in every single World Series game he played--14 of them-- he was just exceptional. To this day, I can tell you that there are more Puerto Ricans who use the number 21, although it has nothing to do with them, on their email, than any other number. There are more kids in Puerto Rico and throughout the States and the other territories who, when joining a team, ask for number 21 on their uniform, for Roberto.

That is what he means to us, that is what he means to the country, and as the people in Pittsburgh will tell you, it is not just Puerto Ricans. It is Americans in general. This is a great thing we are doing. I applaud and support the efforts of the chairman and the ranking member.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to honor Awilda Rivera, who is a Senior Congressional Assistant and Caseworker in my district office and is retiring after more than 30 years of service. She has been a key part of my team for almost the entirety of my time in Congress, and my staff and I will sorely miss her.

Awilda began her work on behalf of Bronxites in 1988, with my predecessor, Congressman Robert Garcia. She later joined my staff, and has been with my office for more

than 27 years. Her work was always stellar, and she consistently went above and beyond the call of duty to help constituents with whatever problems they had. She had a hard time saying no to assisting individuals in need. Helping others is, and I believe will always be, her passion.

Although she has worked on a number of casework areas, Awilda primarily focused on immigration issues. Awilda's knowledge of our immigration laws likely outstrips that of many immigration attorneys, and other elected officials frequently sought out her advice and assistance on casework issues. It is not an exaggeration to say that she has helped literally thousands of my constituents obtain citizenship, resolve visa issues, and help family members living at home and abroad. I cannot tell you the number of times that people relate stories to me about how she helped them or a close family member resolve a problem.

Awilda's passion for The Bronx is evident in her work and in her commitment to our community. She has lived in The Bronx all her life and raised both of her children in our borough. Today, she is a mother of two, Octavia Rivera and Jazmine Velez, and grandmother to Timothy, Noah, Camille and Andre.

Awilda comes from a musical family. Her father plays the guitar and her son, Octavia Rivera, is a well-known artist who goes by Toby Love. Her brother is also a musician. Awilda loves music, dancing, and--above all--her family. In fact, she plans to help care for her father in Puerto Rico in the future.

My constituents will deeply miss Awilda's advocacy, her compassion, and her selflessness. She is a legend in the community. I am deeply grateful for Awilda's dedication to helping others, and to the work that she has done for my office and my constituents. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to Awilda Rivera for her distinguished service and extensive contributions to The Bronx and to the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to Georgette Magassy Dorn, Chief of the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress.

Georgette Magassy Dorn was born in Hungary and was raised in Spain and Argentina. She immigrated to the United States in 1956. She has a bachelor's degree from Creighton University, a Master's degree from Boston College, and a doctorate degree from Georgetown University, which she completed while working at the Library of Congress. For twenty years, she was visiting lecturer at Georgetown University. She published books and articles on Latin American culture and served as an officer in many professional organizations including the Latin American Studies Association.

Ms. Dorn has been leading the Hispanic Division since 1994 and will be retiring on October 12, 2018 after more than half a century of distinguished service to the Library of Congress. She started working at the Hispanic Division in 1964 as a Latin American Area Specialist and in 1968 became the Curator of the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape succeeding Francisco Aguilera. In her role as curator, she recorded over 400 poets and novelists from Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, the Caribbean, and the United States for the Library's archive. Nobel laureates that Ms. Dorn recorded include Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), and Camilo Jose Cela (Spain). Among U.S. Latino writers are U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, Ana Castillo, Sabine Ulibarri, and Rudolfo Anaya. The Archive also includes other Nobel Prize winners from the Hispanic world--Gabriela Mistral Chile), Juan Ramon Jimenez (Spain), Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala), and Octavia Paz (Mexico).

In addition to her work as a curator, Ms. Dorn was also the Head of the Hispanic Reading Room assisting patrons searching for materials. With the support of the Library, she expanded an active internship program for college students and recent graduates to work with the Library's world-class Hispanic collections. Beginning in the early 1990s, Ms. Dorn oversaw the automation of the ``Handbook of Latin American Studies,'' which is an annual, annotated bibliography in the humanities and social sciences prepared by a dedicated staff in the Hispanic Division with the help of 120 contributing editors from all across the United States. This important research tool has been prepared in the Hispanic Division since 1939 and has been published annually by the University of Texas Press in Austin. Since 1995 the Handbook is available online free of charge.

Ms. Dorn has overseen an ambitious digitization plan, in addition to the ``Handbook,'' in order to share the Library's rich collections. As a result, one of the Division's most visited sites is the Spanish- American War of 1898.

Her other important contributions include developing the Hispanic collections in all formats and securing valuable historical items from donors for the Library. In recent years, she succeeded in acquiring visual materials by Latino artists for the Library's Prints and Photographs Division.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to Georgette Magassy Dorn for her distinguished service and extensive contributions to the Library of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

I rise to sadly oppose this disaster supplemental, which does not do enough to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This is a bill created by Republicans with little Democratic input. At some point, they decided that rather than working in a bipartisan manner, they wanted to try and address these disasters without taking into account some of the most important Democratic priorities.

In particular, it does not address many issues crucial to Puerto Rico's recovery in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. For instance, it does nothing to address the looming Medicaid cliff, which will devastate health kits access and delivery on the island early next year. It does not waive numerous local cost share requirements, which will make it extremely difficult for the government of Puerto Rico to access large parts of the Federal funding made available here.

It does not do enough to help States like New York and New Jersey and others that have generously opened their arms to our fellow citizens displaced by these storms.

It expands the powers of the Puerto Rico Fiscal Oversight Board, giving them authority to approve the recovery plans of Puerto Rico's government.

The end result of all of this is further delay in Puerto Rico's recovery. This is not the message that we want to send to 3.4 million American citizens this holiday season.

As I look at my notes and as I look at what this debate may become today, it really comes down to one point: we as Americans, we as the United States Congress, we as the U.S. Government still have not come to grips with the fact that, yes, we have territories, that, yes, we have colonies.

If you ask the American people, ``Are the people of Puerto Rico American citizens?'' you would be shocked before all this information went out on the hurricanes how many would say: ``I don't know. I served with some in the Army, but I don't know if they are citizens.''

Well, I think, more and more, we need to know that the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianna Islands, and Puerto Rico are part of the American family. It is not as a long gone member of my party once told me when I said: What are we going to do about Puerto Rico in this bill?

He said: Well, we have no money left over.

I said: Did you have money left over for the 50 States?

He said: Well, they go first.

I said: Why do they go first? Why can't the whole family go together?

So my plea that I have made for years, I continue to make. There is a bigger issue than the one we are discussing today, and that is the fact that we have territories. We have colonies. They are part of the United States. They should be part of our family. We should treat them as such.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in honoring the memory, legacy, and public office of Maurice Hinchey.

Mo and I were elected in the same election in 1974 and met during freshman orientation that December on a cold Albany day. From then on, we were friends.

I came from the South Bronx, so I knew about the issues of the environment, but I didn't know the intricacies of how they should be approached legislatively. He taught me all about it, as he did our whole freshman class. From day one, he was that person who spoke about saving this Earth, saving this country, and saving this land that has been loaned to us.

In addition, Maurice was, as has been said here, one of the nicest guys you could ever imagine. He was a unique elected official. He was a liberal in a conservative district who was loved by his constituents.

Early in my assembly career, the first year, I visited his district and saw how he cared for the people and how they cared for him. He took me all around. It was wonderful how he loved his community.

He taught us that there were places outside of New York. I will always remember Maurice used to say to me: I have got to go to New York City once a month.

I said: Why?

He said: Just to charge my batteries, get the big city lights, and then I come back.

He was a special human being. He could play softball and swing a bat like no one else.

I will miss you, my brother. I will miss you. You are special. The people will miss you forever.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.

This bill is a first step in helping Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria. It will provide FEMA and the governments of the islands with the funds needed to address immediate relief needs and begin the recovery process.

I do want to thank the chairman and ranking member for their commitment to this issue and for taking my phone calls at all different times, on weekends. You have been very helpful and very supportive.

Both will be visiting the island tomorrow and will be able to see firsthand the dramatic and comprehensive needs that Puerto Rico is facing.

Right now, 85 percent of the island still lacks electricity more than 3 weeks after the hurricane hit. One-third of the island doesn't have access to clean drinking water. Most of the island still lacks cellular service, hampering the vital information to deliver assistance in the areas that are needed.

Federal employees on the island now are doing important and vital work, but we need more boots on the ground. This funding provides them with the resources needed to do that in the short term.

But to succeed, there needs to be a commitment from the highest levels of government to ensure the recovery of all areas that are part of our Nation, including its territories. Unfortunately, given the President's latest Twitter rant this morning, it seems unlikely that we have that focus and commitment.

So it is up to us in Congress to make sure that the Federal Government doesn't forget about Puerto Rico, and that is what I intend to do in the days and months ahead. But to both of you and to our membership here, thank you for not forgetting Puerto Rico. This is an ongoing battle and an ongoing issue.

Mr. Chairman, I am in support of the en bloc amendments. We have worked on it jointly, and I support all of the amendments that are included in the en bloc.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Rosen).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).

Mr. Chairman, I would just like to take a moment to say to my friend that my prayers and my thoughts are with him, his family, his constituents, Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, South Carolina, my birthplace of Puerto Rico, and all the other folks who have been through this very difficult time.

I intend to use my vote on appropriations in whatever way it can to serve to help those communities as they get back on the road to recovery.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment, and I commend the authors for offering it.

This effective program funds a series of centers that help small- and medium-sized manufacturers to develop new products, attract new customers, and reduce protection costs.

Because this bill received an inadequate allocation, the chairman was forced to partially agree with the President's efforts to undermine our manufacturing sector, and the bill currently contains a cut of $30 million from the MEP program. This amendment provides an important downpayment in restoring funding for this important program. We will have to do better down the line, but this is a good start.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to support the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I feel comfortable with Mr. Cohen withdrawing his amendment because I know the chairman, Mr. Culberson, is very supportive of this program.

It is interesting to note that this program was born in a bipartisan fashion, with President Nixon, at that time, being the main supporter of it.

The bill only provides $300 million for Legal Services, which is a cut of $85 million from fiscal year 2017. This amendment provides a downpayment towards restoring these cuts, and I commend the authors for offering it.

We should not be cutting LSC funding at a time when more people than ever qualify for these services. Legal aid providers always must turn away more than half of eligible applicants. They already do that, and these cuts would only create a bigger problem.

Very briefly, in closing, there are a lot of issues that we can discuss that make America great. One of them is the right to legal representation. If you can't afford it, then this is where programs like Legal Services come in and support.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

This reduction would have a significant impact on public safety. The ATF would be investigating fewer firearm traffickers and violent gangs. They would be unable to respond effectively to theft burglaries from Federal firearms licensees. These cuts would weaken the ATF's ability to do its primary responsibilities: combat violent crime and regulate the firearms and explosive industries.

Not surprisingly, a reduction of this magnitude would result in approximately 400 employees being laid off. According to the ATF, that means they would have to eliminate approximately 200 special agents, 65 industry operations investigators, and 135 professional technical positions. The elimination of these positions at ATF directly degrades the Department's capacity to combat violent firearm crimes and regulate the firearms and explosives industries.

I just think that this is not a proper amendment at this time or, for that matter, at any time, and I join the chairman in agreeing on this.

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

Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this very misguided amendment. This amendment would allow felons and other dangerous individuals to try to regain the ability to own guns by sending an application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

I am not sure why the Member would offer an amendment that makes it easier for felons to get guns. Most Americans would be shocked by such a proposal. Each year since 1993, Congress has prohibited ATF from processing applications from felons seeking to have their gun rights restored, and with good reason.

Prior to 1993, there were numerous examples of felons who had their gun rights restored by ATF only to go on to commit further crimes later. For example, in 1977, Michael Paul Dahnert of Wisconsin was convicted of burglary. In 1986, he was granted relief and allowed to, once again, own firearms. Two months later, he was rearrested and charged with first degree sexual assault and four counts of second degree sexual assault, for which he received 5 years in prison.

In 1977, James Morgan was convicted of perjury to a grand jury. In 1988, he was granted relief and allowed to gain and own firearms. He was arrested that same year for first degree wanton endangerment and later sentenced to 6 months confinement and 2 years probation.

These are only a few examples. It is important to point out that the gentleman's amendment makes no distinction as far as the seriousness of the offense for which the individual was initially denied a firearm, and ATF would need to investigate all applications for gun rights restoration. Furthermore, simply processing these applications would require significant ATF agent resources and would divert ATF away from its core law enforcement mission of fighting firearm offenses.

Since 1998, when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System was put in use, well over 1 million firearm transfers have been denied after background checks established that the individuals attempting to purchase the firearms were prohibited from processing firearms.

Even if only 20 percent of the denied individuals file an application with ATF to have their gun rights restored, this would require the efforts of hundreds of full-time ATF agents to perform background checks of these individuals. The agents would be diverted

from their primary law enforcement investigation.

Even though ATF is legally required to ensure that the applicant ``will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety,'' we know that this process is not perfect, as evidenced by the examples I just gave.

The bottom line is that this amendment would give guns back to felons and, at the same time, sharply reduce ATF's resources for pursuing violent crime investigations. Both of these outcomes would seriously harm public safety, and for these reasons, I strongly urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, if you hear the opposition to this amendment, you would think that discrimination does not exist in this country any longer. Oh, how I wish that were the case.

Mr. Chairman, I support the amendment. This amendment would strike the harmful EEOC rider which blocks the EEOC from collecting data on the expanded EEO-1 form. This data collection would allow EEOC to better examine pay patterns by industry and/or geographic region and/or employer or establishment, conduct comprehensive statistical analysis, and evaluate the context of the discrimination allegations.

The EEOC will use the data primarily for early assessment of allegations of discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, or race. In short, the newly expanded form will be critical to closing gender and racial wage gaps. Preventing the collection of this information will result in less oversight and more wage discrimination.

Mr. Chair, I strongly support the amendment.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. Chair, if the gentleman had brought some cooked fish, I probably wouldn't read this.

Mr. Chair, this is not an appropriate amendment for inclusion in an annual spending bill. Congress should not be in the business of micromanaging fish conservation in this manner.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is an interstate compact that was established in 1942 as a mechanism to allow Atlantic coastal States to join forces in managing their shared fishery resources.

For over 75 years, this Commission has served as a body for the Atlantic coastal States, coordinating the conservation and management of 27 nearshore fish species. Each State is represented on the Commission by three commissioners who participate in deliberations and interstate fisheries management, fisheries science, habitat conservation, and law enforcement.

Through these activities, the States collectively ensure the sound conservation of management of their shared coastal fishery resources. We should allow the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to do its job in managing fish stocks. We must not allow the House to be in the business of second-guessing them and micromanaging fish regulations in particular locations.

There is a process currently in place for addressing these issues at the regional level, and we should allow that process to work. A stock assessment for striped bass is planned for next year. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission can make a determination as to whether it intends to ask the Federal Government to open up the Block Island Transit Zone to striped bass fishing.

Currently, the consensus position of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is that the fishing restrictions should remain in place. I believe that this is a bad precedent for Congress to interfere with this State-driven process.

For that reason, I oppose the amendment.

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

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. This amendment is very inappropriate for this bill and sets a bad precedent. We should not be tying the hands of the ATF as it attempts to keep our law enforcement officers safe.

The Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act established a process to ensure that police officers do not face a threat of armor-piercing bullets capable of being fired from concealable semiautomatic handguns. This law passed the House of Representatives in 1985 by a vote of 400- 21. Then it later passed the Senate by a vote of 97-1.

For far too long we have dealt with irresponsible riders on appropriations bills that put limits on our ability to keep our communities and our law enforcement officers safe. This is just one more example.

Mr. Chairman, I urge the defeat of this amendment.

I may say to my colleagues that this is one of the issues that baffles me the

most. I don't hunt, but I respect people who do. I don't target practice and target shoot, but I respect people who do. But it seems that more and more every day, as we have more and more violence, we want more and more stronger weapons because otherwise we are going to lose our rights if we don't do so.

Mr. Chairman, our rights are at the ballot box and many other places, not just in our holster. I think if we continue to do this, first of all, this is the wrong place to do it, and, secondly, it is the wrong thing to do.

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

Mr. Chairman, just very briefly, I usually don't get up a second time, but to my friend--and he is my friend--it is a confusion in this country. This is not about protecting the Second Amendment. We all do. Everybody does.

It is about common sense and asking: Where does it stop? How do we keep it from growing? How violent can we get? How many people can we shoot?

That is what this is about. It is not about the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is well protected. Trust me.

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

Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment is very straightforward. It would prohibit funds allocated in the bill from being used on the construction and operation of private, for-profit prisons.

The use of private prisons in our country is a crisis. More and more Americans are being locked up in facilities that don't respect basic human rights. One in four people behind bars worldwide is in a United States jail. That is right. A country with less than 5 percent of the world's population accounts for a quarter of all the world's prisoners. In fact, our prison population has continued to increase over the past few decades, even as statistics have shown a decrease in crime.

According to the FBI, violent and major property crimes are at historic lows. Nevertheless, more and more Americans are getting locked up. There are several reasons for this: from overly punitive mandatory minimum sentences to the cycle of poverty in the school-to-prison pipeline.

But one thing is for sure: so long as there is an incentive to build prison cells for profit, there will be more Americans unnecessarily behind bars. So long as we perpetuate the prison industrial complex, we will find it harder and harder to reduce our bloated prison population and make meaningful reforms to our criminal justice system.

Last year, an investigative reporter for The Nation uncovered horrible conditions at private correction facilities. Inmates were not receiving basic medical care, even items required by the Bureau of Prisons. In one case, they were kept in rows of bunk beds in un-air- conditioned domes, baking in the heat and the sun. In another case, the poor conditions sparked riots by the inmates.

Now, don't get me wrong. I feel no sympathy for violent criminals who have no remorse for what they did and deserve to be locked away for their crimes. But our Founders knew that we have an obligation to maintain respect for human life, and they enshrined it in our Constitution by protecting against cruel and unusual punishment.

When this report came to light, President Obama's Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, chose to act. The President issued a memorandum saying that we would phase out the use of private prisons, partially by seeking to reduce our prison population.

But in February, in keeping with this administration's policy of simply reversing everything President Obama did, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the order. He has since indicated that we won't continue to use private prisons.

We will use more of them, and we will lock up more people to fill them. What a disgrace. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a waste of countless American lives that could be turned around and made into successful citizens.

I am proud that in my home city of New York we have decided to divest our pension system from the for-profit prison industry. But now it is time for the Federal Government to divest itself as well.

We must continue to work on comprehensive criminal justice reform that seeks to reform mandatory minimum sentences and curb the failed war on drugs and focus on reentry and reintegration so that those who serve time can become productive members of society, rather than lifelong inmates.

Tonight, we can start with this amendment and send a message to the Trump administration. Tonight, we can tell him not to reverse the progress made under President Obama and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Tonight, we can say that making money off of incarcerating individuals is simply inconsistent with American values.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).

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 amendment.

This executive order was signed by President Obama in July 2010. The National Ocean Policy is designed to improve stewardship of our oceans, coasts, islands, and Great Lakes by directing government agencies with differing mandates to coordinate and work together. The National Ocean Policy creates no new authorities.

The result of increased coordination is better stewardship of our national heritage through improved government efficiency, better development and use of data and information, and a process of open and transparent stakeholder engagement that informs decisionmaking. This increased coordination between agencies needs to take place on a Federal level to reduce inefficiency, waste, and redundancy between agencies.

The National Ocean Council brings together State, local, and Tribal governments and all of the oceans uses, including recreational and commercial fishermen, boaters, industries, scientists, and the public, to better plan for, manage, harmonize, and sustain uses of ocean and coastal resources.

The bottom line is that the National Ocean Policy offers an avenue for thoughtful planning around issues affecting ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes areas. It is the best choice for stakeholders looking to be involved in the process.

For all of these reasons, I urge the defeat of this amendment.

Before I reserve the balance of my time, on a personal note, it is amazing how much work we have done in the south Bronx with what little bodies of water and green space we have, how much we cherish it, and how much we feel that it has been a gift that we continue to work on. We no longer have earmarks, but when we did, it did a great job in restoring a lot of areas.

I see how, in other parts of the country and at the Federal level, we want to undo years and years of progress. I keep thinking of Republican leaders who took a different view. Teddy Roosevelt would be so upset at so much of what we are doing today because he saw the world in a different way. Thank God that he was our President for that period of time when we needed him for that particular issue.

Just on a personal note, I understand that a lot of people see the world differently than I do. Where I come from, tonight people know they now have places where they can row a boat, where they can eventually swim, where they can fish, and where a beaver named Jose has returned.

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, I oppose this unnecessary amendment. All this amendment does is prohibit use of funding to violate current law.

As we all know, Federal grant recipients of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, are not using Federal funds in contravention of Federal law.

The amendment is really about so-called sanctuary cities. This and other amendments like this seek to effectively overthrow community policing by diverting State and local police from their core mission of protecting public safety. Imposing this one-size-fits-all approach would degrade trust between immigrant communities and local police, thereby undermining public safety in all communities and for all residents.

We should not be attempting by word or deed to turn our local law enforcement into an arm of Federal immigration efforts. I live in a sanctuary city, and I can tell you with great certainty that amendments like this one will make my hometown less safe. People will be less likely to report crimes and cooperate with investigations simply because of the concern that they will be deported for interacting with local law enforcement.

What we need is broad and humane immigration reform which would place undocumented immigrants on a workable and earned path to citizenship, thereby allowing them to contribute even more to their families, communities, and our country.

Our immigration system is broken, but this amendment does nothing to fix it. I urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment.

And I must say, the sanctuary cities, as they are called, have a lot of support from law enforcement throughout the Nation because they know that they need to speak to people in the community and get information on who the bad guys are or who the bad gals are, number one.

Number two, this is going to be a boom for the legal profession because just about every city and every State is going to sue if this ever became law. And we actually started holding moneys back because they know how much help is brought to their community and how much they want to keep it in place.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3440, the DREAM Act, to protect New York DREAMers like Mila, who is able to go to college, get a job, and get a driver's license thanks to DACA.

Mr. Chairman, I thank Ranking Member Lowey.

I wish we could be here under other circumstances. The process to consider the CJS portion of this bill as part of an omnibus package is not in keeping with how the appropriations process should work. Each bill should be given individual consideration under an open rule.

Some on the other side are cheering this floor process, which is ironic given their years of opposition to such a lumped-together package.

I am not sure what has changed their minds today, and at this point we don't even know if Members will be allowed to offer amendments that are necessary to improve half of the bill and rein in this out-of- control administration because the Rules Committee has not yet provided us with that information.

I also wish that the substance of what we are considering this week were better. As the ranking member of the CJS Subcommittee, I can say that the CJS portion of this bill received an inadequate allocation. After scorekeeping adjustments, the bill includes an approximately 1 percent cut below fiscal year 2017. This is far below the level needed to adequately fund the programs in this bill which are crucial to economic development, scientific innovation, and protecting our Nation's cherished constitutional values.

Before we touch upon these serious problems, let me mention some areas where both sides agree. I do want to commend Chairman Culberson for rejecting several of the worst ideas in the Trump administration's budget. This includes rebuffing proposals that would have reduced research funding at the National Science Foundation and eliminated the Minority Business Development Agency. This bill also rejects cuts to educational efforts in the NSF, NASA, and a proposed cut for the FBI.

Unfortunately, far too many of the President's terrible proposals are given credence by this legislation. The Legal Services Corporation, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program, and the Economic Development Administration all absorb significant cuts below the current funding level. The Census Bureau is greatly underfunded and will be unable to complete the important and necessary work that must be done now to prepare for the 2020 Census.

A number of other programs are shortchanged, including climate change research programs at NSF and NOAA, several National Weather Service initiatives, and a number of DOJ grant programs, like the COPS Hiring Program and several police reform grant programs. Democrats and Republicans, alike, support most, if not all, of these programs, but we simply cannot fix these problems under this allocation.

I am also troubled that this bill allows many of the administration's most disturbing priorities and initiatives related to immigration and civil rights to move forward without the necessary congressional oversight. In the wake of Charlottesville and Tuesday's DACA decision, there are many in this country who are justifiably questioning the President's commitment to tolerance, fairness, and inclusiveness.

The Trump administration's budget request for the Department of Justice raises those questions as well. A proposal to harm immigrants by increasing criminal enforcement is funded in this bill. There is no attempt to limit the Department's actions to undermine affirmative action, support voter restriction that disproportionally hurts minority populations, and ignore LGBT protections. Many of these ideas have long been rejected by the American people, but the President and the Attorney General continue to give them credibility.

Democrats and Republicans have offered amendments to limit the reach of these drastic policy changes, but at this point, it is unclear whether any of these amendments will be made in order. I hope we will have a serious opportunity to make changes to this bill, but that seems unlikely.

In its current form, I cannot support this portion of the bill or the bill as a whole.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New York for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise--and you should listen to this very closely--in support of this bill. I do it because both sides understood the importance of coming together and trying to work on a solution to this situation. I have to say that the Republicans came to the table understanding that they had the majority of the votes, but that they also had the majority of the responsibility to make sure it was a unified decision that was made.

For my hometown of New York, there is money to reimburse the protection of Trump Tower, where the President has spent a lot of time and where the police department has to be picking up the bill. The Legal Services Corporation, one of our greatest programs, was scheduled to disappear. This bill does not allow that. Hispanic-serving institutions at the National Science Foundation are still alive and doing well. This bill allows for so many different issues in NOAA and in NASA to continue to grow.

But most of all what this bill does, in my opinion, is prove something that perhaps--and I'm not being naive here--we can carry forward. When we set our minds to coming together and when we set our minds to working as one group of people on behalf of our country, we can do it.

This bill we will vote on today, I will vote proudly because I know that we could have made this into another fight. I know for the next budget we will have differences. But please, my brothers and sisters, remember we were able to come together. And some on TV tonight will say that this side sold out or that side sold out. No. Both sides worked for the American people, and it works well.

Mr. Speaker, this past February we celebrated Black History Month, during which time we recognize the important contributions made by African-Americans to this great nation. Nowhere is that heritage more visible than in New York City. That is why, at my office's annual Black History Month Celebration, I was honored to recognize Ms. Naimah Bilal, who has been a lifelong, tireless community advocate.

Born and raised in Harlem, NY, she started her community involvement at an early age. She and other community members marched for an overpass to be built for the newly constructed FDR Drive, where many accidents occurred as people tried to cross over to the park where the basketball and handball courts were located. Her efforts were successful, the overpass was built and accidents decreased.

Later, Naimah and her family moved to Lenox Avenue in Harlem and she continued to be active on several committees at Masjid Malcolm Shabazz.

Naimah worked for the NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) Representing the Clerical Staff of this Agency and Delegate of DC 37 until retiring after 22 years in October 2007.

Upon moving to the Bronx, she got involved with several community based organizations including the 44th Precinct Community Council and CASA (Community Action for Safe Apartments). She is the President of Council Member Vanessa Gibson's Tenants Block and Neighborhood Council and President of her Tenants Association. She is an active member of DC37 Retirees.

Ms. Bilal prides herself on being a mother, grandmother, great- grandmother, and a community organizer. She encourages all to get involved, especially the Youth, so they have a full understanding of what is going on in their communities and to be aware of what their rights and responsibilities are so that they are empowered and civically engaged. Ms. Bilal serves as a wonderful example of those important values. She has made great contributions to the Bronx and my congressional district, and I am truly thankful to count her as a constituent.

Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in honoring Ms. Naimah Bilal for her continued commitment to service.

Mr. Speaker, we recently celebrated Black History Month this past February. During my office's annual Black History Month Celebration, I was honored to reflect on the tremendous contributions African-Americans have made within my district in Bronx County, and to recognize several outstanding individuals contributing to their community. Let me mention one of those people today--Bronx County District Attorney Darcel Clark. She is the first woman in this position, the first female African-American District Attorney in the state of New York, and has been a trailblazer for criminal justice throughout her professional career.

District Attorney Clark became the District Attorney for our county on January 1, 2016. Prior to her election, District Attorney Clark served as an Associate Justice for the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department; a New York State Supreme Court Justice in Bronx County; and a Criminal Court Judge in Bronx and New York Counties. She spent more than 16 years on the bench.

District Attorney Clark is also a lifelong Bronxite, raised in NYCHA's Soundview Houses. She attended public schools in New York City, graduating from Harry S Truman High School. She attended Boston College and received her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science where she was the first recipient of the University's Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Scholarship. She then went on to earn her law degree at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C.

District Attorney Clark returned home in 1986 to begin her legal career at the Bronx District Attorney's Office. She prosecuted many cases, including drug felonies, violent crimes, and homicides. District Attorney Clark served as a Supervising ADA in the Narcotics Bureau and the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court Bureau. In 1999, she left the Office for her first judicial post.

District Attorney Clark also serves on the Boston College Board of Trustees and has served in leadership positions in the National Association of Women Judges and the Black Bar Association of Bronx County.

Throughout her career in public service, District Attorney Clark has worked to ensure fairness, accountability, and justice for Bronxites. In her new role as Bronx County District Attorney, she has already made the office more responsive, and worked to reduce case delays that have diminished trust in our system of justice. She is an important role model to all in our community, and I look forward to working with her in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in honoring Ms. Darcel Clark for her tireless work to ensure justice and commitment to the people of the Bronx.

Mr. Speaker, this past February, I was honored to recognize outstanding members of the Bronx community during my office's annual Black History Month Celebration. During that time, we gave pause to commemorate the innumerable contributions that African Americans have made--and continue to make--to our Nation. Today, it gives me great pleasure to rise in honor of one of those exceptional individuals, a trailblazer in youth civic engagement through the power of music. It is with great pleasure and admiration that I stand before you to honor Mr. Bervin Harris.

Mr. Harris is the Co-Founder and CEO of Renaissance Youth Center in my district. He has over 30 years of social development experience in the areas of youth services and community development, and cofounded the Youth Center in 2001. As CEO, he has created and managed several successful programs throughout the Bronx community. Renaissance Youth Center serves close to 4,000 youth a week at multiple sites, providing children in the Bronx with educational programming, tutoring, and musical lessons. Mr. Harris also manages, writes and directs for the center's Music With A Message (MWAM) Band, performing with them in close to 100 shows a year. Mr. Harris is also the director of the center's citywide youth council, Youth In Power, with more than one thousand teens participating.

Under the direction of Mr. Harris, the youth council participates in precinct, community board, and mayoral meetings by partnering with community organizations and advocating for their peers and neighborhoods. Recently, the council led the charge to hold a local slaughterhouse owner accountable for properly disposing of their trash and keeping the surrounding area clean. Their efforts brought this quality of life issue to the attention of the health department and local elected officials which in turn forced the business owner to address the community's concerns. Mr. Harris has built many partnerships for Renaissance including with the New York Police Department, Carnegie Hall, NYC Parks Department, Berklee College of Music, and many more.

Prior to Renaissance, Mr. Harris was the program director at a Beacon program where he more than tripled the annual budget and was recognized as one of the 4 ``Model Beacons'' by the Department of Youth and Community Development.

Mr. Harris is also an artist on Capitol Records where as an accomplished musician, singer, song writer he has produced and written songs for a wide variety of musicians, ranging from Hip Hop artists like KRS-1 to R&B artists like Mary J. Blige to Jazz artists like Herbie Hancock. Mr. Harris has also written the music score for the stage play I Sing 4 Luv and recently co-wrote and directed the stage play Bronx Side Story. Mr. Harris received his undergraduate degree from Old Westbury College and management certificate from Fordham University.

Mr. Harris is an incredible advocate for the youth of our community, and he has made our borough a much better place because of his efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in honoring Mr. Bervin Harris for his passion for uplifting the youth in our community.

Mr. Speaker, this past February, we all celebrated Black History Month. As part of that celebration, I was honored to hold my annual Black History Month event, and to take time to recognize and pay tribute to outstanding members of the New York City community. I was proud to pay tribute to my friend, New York City Public Advocate Letitia ``Tish'' James. She has been a public servant for many years, and worked tirelessly to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.

Ms. James is the first African-American Woman to serve as the New York City Public Advocate and the first woman of color to hold city wide office. This position is vital to New Yorkers, as she acts to ensure that New York City's government is responsive, efficient, and promoting policies that help all New Yorkers. Her office investigates problems at city agencies and pushes solutions both through our court system and through the New York City Council.

Since her election in 2013, Public Advocate James has worked on numerous issues important to Bronxites, including criminal justice reform, paid family leave, and protecting tenants and affordable housing. She has helped lead the push for police accountability, including the use of body-worn cameras by the New York Police Department. She has also worked to ensure that special prosecutors are used in all cases of police misconduct.

She has also worked to hold landlords accountable to ensure that New Yorkers have safe and affordable housing. Through the development of the `Worst Landlords' list and her active legal strategy to ensure that landlords are held to account for unsafe living conditions, she has made a difference in the lives of many Bronxites and New Yorkers.

Prior to being elected Public Advocate, Letitia James represented Brooklyn as a Member of the New York City Council from 2004 to 2013. As a City Council Member, she fought for Paid Sick Leave, and passed the Safe Housing Act, which ensured that thousands of families in rental buildings receive prompt and full repairs to their apartments. She was also an early critic on the Council of the Office of Payroll Administration's CityTime contract, a payroll system later found to be overly costly and difficult to manage. As a result, she worked to pass legislation addressing oversight of high-cost service contracts with the City of New York. While Chair to the Council's Sanitation Committee, she pushed-through a revolutionary recycling package that included expanding plastic recycling, a new clothing and textile recycling program, and improved public space recycling.

Public Advocate James is a graduate of CUNY's Lehman College and Howard University Law School. She previously served as an Assistant Attorney General, and a public defender. She currently resides in Brooklyn.

Tish James has helped many of my constituents, and many residents of New York City. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my distinguished colleagues join me in honoring Public Advocate Letitia James for her perseverance and dedication to fighting for all New Yorkers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a good friend and colleague, Mr. Robert Garcia, better known as ``Bobby,'' who passed away on January 25, 2017. Bobby was an influential leader and trailblazer in New York, first serving the people of the South Bronx as a representative in the New York State Assembly and as the first Puerto Rican in the New York State Senate. His decade-long career in the U.S. House of Representatives began when he was elected to Congress in a special election on February 14, 1978 on the Republican and Liberal tickets to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Congressman Herman Badillo. He took his seat on February 21, 1978 as a Democrat.

Bobby played an instrumental role in several local, national, and international initiatives and served New York for more than 25 years. His legacy of public service will not be forgotten.

Bobby was born in the Bronx in 1933 to Puerto Rican parents. His dedication to serving his country was demonstrated at a young age when he served overseas during the Korean War in the U.S. Army's Third Infantry, earning two Bronze stars. He attended college under the GI Bill, and then began a career in public service.

Bobby's political career is highlighted by his dedication to fight against inequality, intolerance and injustice. He worked on issues such as immigration reform, voting rights, Puerto Rico, economic opportunities, and U.S. policy towards Central America. Representing the South Bronx, Bobby is remembered as a significant reformer and a leader for those whose voices were too often lost. While in Congress, Bobby served on the Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. He also sat on the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, where he championed the Garcia Amendment to the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to ensure the recruitment of minorities for the civil service.

During his time in Congress, Bobby was a co-founder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which allowed the Hispanic community to gain national recognition in Congress and helped develop young Latinos to be the next generation of leaders in America. In addition, he co- sponsored the bill establishing a national holiday to commemorate the life of civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bobby also advocated to transform the South Bronx district through federal funding, jobs and projects. He co-authored the Kemp-Garcia Enterprise Free Zone Bill as an initiative to attract businesses to areas faced with severe depression, unemployment, and poverty.

Bobby also had a profound respect for and a deep understanding of religious and spiritual development for others, and was active in several Christian organizations.

Bobby received numerous awards and recognition for his pioneering work and was an outstanding citizen, a transformational leader in New York, and an important voice for the Hispanic community. Garcia was a pioneer and a legend in the Latino community, and those that knew him will never forget him. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring our former colleague, Robert Garcia, for his service, leadership, and accomplishments. He will be greatly missed.