Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Yea'' on rollcall No. 592, and ``Yea'' on rollcall No. 593.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the 75th anniversary of Indian Rock Dam in York County, Pennsylvania.

Indian Rock Dam was completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 as part of an unprecedented boom of water resource infrastructure construction across America that stemmed from the Flood Control Act of 1936.

It is an earth and rock structure measuring 1,000 feet long, rising 83 feet above the streambed that dams up to 9.1 billion gallons of water that otherwise would inundate downstream communities.

While impossible to prevent all floods, we can limit the damage and risk. Since Indian Rock Dam was completed in 1942, it has prevented more than $55 million in potential flood damage to our community of York, Pennsylvania.

Managed by the Corps' Baltimore District, Indian Rock Dam is one of the 13 Corps dam projects in the Susquehanna River watershed.

For 75 years, Indian Rock Dam has been a silent protector for our citizens. For that and its continued benefit of reducing risks to Americans downstream, I am proud to recognize the 75th anniversary of Indian Rock Dam.

Mr. Speaker, today I extend my sincere congratulations to Dr. Michael Snell, Superintendent of the Central York School District, for being named the ``Superintendent of the Year'' by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Dr. Snell earned his bachelor's degree at Kutztown University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Temple University. He gained administrative experience in the Hempfield and West York Area School Districts before ultimately being named Superintendent at Central York School District.

Dr. Snell presides over a growing school district of more than 5,800 students, and a steadfast dedication to providing educational opportunities through which students strive to achieve their full potential. Dr. Snell is a recognized leader in our community, serving on the boards of the York County Economic Alliance, the Byrnes Health Education Center and myriad other organizations. His numerous honors and awards are a testament to his commitment to students, his personal integrity and his tireless work ethic.

Dr. Snell's colleagues describe a forward-thinking leader who looks ``outside the box'' for solutions rather than settling for obvious ones. His peers also describe a true professional who dedicates his time to mentoring new superintendents and preparing the next generation of educational leaders.

On behalf of Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District, I congratulate Dr. Michael Snell on being named the ``Superintendent of the Year'' by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. I wish him continued great success and service in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I did not vote due to other commitments. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call No. 560, Yea on Roll Call No. 561, Yea on Roll Call No. 562, and Yea on Roll Call No. 563.

Mr. Speaker, 5 years ago today, Caitlan Coleman, an American citizen from York County, Pennsylvania, which I am privileged to represent, was taken hostage by the Haqqani Network, an offshoot of the Taliban, while hiking near the Pakistan and Afghanistan border.

Caitlan has given birth to two boys while in captivity, boys whose only life experience has been that of a hostage and surrounded by violence and fear. I speak with Caitlan's mom and dad regularly. While my heart breaks for them, as fellow Americans, as a father with children of my own, I am crestfallen and horrified for them.

Caitlan and her family are Americans. We cannot rest until they are released and returned safely to the arms of the United States. I urge my colleagues to join me in praying for the safe return of Caitlan, her husband, and her two children, but also for her family and loved ones for whom time stopped 5 years ago.

I implore the U.S. State Department to use every resource at our disposal to bring our American citizens home.

Mr. Speaker, today I offer my sincere congratulations to the members of Valley Grange No. 1360 on its 110th Anniversary.

Valley Grange No. 1360 was officially chartered on October 7, 1907. The Grange is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, fraternal organization that advocates for rural America and agriculture. Family and community are its foundations and the Grange was the first national organization to give full voice and vote to women.

Valley Grange No. 1360 has been a leader in the Grange organization, producing two Pennsylvania State Grange Masters--J. Luther Snyder and Carl Meiss; two National Grange officers--J. Luther Snyder and Fae Snyder--and it is the home of several past State Grange officers and youth ambassadors.

Valley Grange No. 1360 has also been very committed to its community throughout the years, supporting organizations such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts, the local Little League and has contributed to countless charitable endeavors.

On behalf of Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District, I thank the members of Valley Grange No. 1360 for their dedicated service to their community and congratulate them on their 110th Anniversary. We wish them continued great success in the years to come

Mr. Speaker, today I offer my sincere congratulations to the residents of the Borough of Biglerville on its 200th Anniversary.

This community began as Middletown in 1817 and didn't see formal development of the land until 1843. Around 1883, a local farmer decided to plant acres of apple trees, and soon after train service was established and the community began to grow. Middletown was renamed Biglerville in 1903, after Colonel William Bigler, the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania.

Today, Biglerville is a lovely town with a great sense of community. Appropriately, it's home to the National Apple Museum, which promotes the history of the apple and fruit industry and its economic importance to this region. Biglerville is also home to many civic minded citizens who devote their time and efforts to make their community a great place in which to live and work.

On behalf of Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District, I congratulate the residents of the Borough of Biglerville on their 200th Anniversary, and wish them continued great success in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, today I offer my heartfelt congratulations to my constituent, Walter T. Lord, on his upcoming retirement after more than 34 years of service to the United States of America.

Major General Lord currently serves as Military Executive for the Reserve Forces Policy Board, Office of the Secretary of Defense. The Reserve Forces Policy Board serves as an independent advisor to the Secretary of Defense, providing advice and recommendations on strategies and practices to improve and enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of the Reserve components.

General Lord has commanded at the platoon, company, squadron, and coalition headquarters levels. He has held critical Army and Joint Staff positions at every level from unit to coalition in the United States, Germany, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Afghanistan.

His numerous commendations and awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and others, are a testament to his steadfast courage, personal integrity, tireless work ethic and impeccable character. His enduring legacy of service to our Nation truly is exceptional and sets the standard for all to follow.

On behalf of Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District, I commend and congratulate my constituent, fellow brother-in-arms, and friend, Major General Walt Lord upon his retirement and for his exceptional service to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, today I offer my heartfelt congratulations to my constituent, Rick Panzar, on his upcoming retirement after more than 24 years of service to the United States Air Force.

Since he began his service to our Nation, Mr. Panzar has been assigned to the 366th Fighter Wing, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota; and since 2002, the 193rd Special Operations Wing in Middletown, Pennsylvania. He's deployed to Egypt, Bahrain, Turkey, Italy and Afghanistan. His numerous commendations and awards, including the Global War on Terror Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Air Reserve Forces Meritorious Service Medal and others, are a testament to his courage, tireless work ethic and character. His enduring legacy of service to our Nation truly is commendable.

On behalf of Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District, I commend and congratulate Rick Panzar upon his retirement and for his service to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following exchange of letters:

House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on

Intelligence,

Washington, DC, September 8, 2017.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following exchange of letters:

House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on

Intelligence,

Washington, DC, September 8, 2017.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2468) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a homeland intelligence doctrine for the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago, an unprecedented attack against the United States revealed immense gaps in how the United States approached domestic security and information sharing. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security was established to consolidate 22 existing Federal agencies and reshape the domestic intelligence and counterterrorism structure in the United States.

Over the years, DHS has matured and refined its Intelligence Enterprise, or what we know as DHS IE. Even now, however, the Department has struggled to fully unify the various intelligence offices within the component agencies. This has limited the value DHS provides to the intelligence community and its State and local partners. Disparate guidance for the intelligence components within DHS undermines the Department's ability to fully utilize important data and conduct analysis.

DHS needs to follow the model of many other members of the intelligence community and produce an intelligence doctrine that clearly articulates roles and priorities across the DHS Intelligence Enterprise. The lack of this internal structure reflects a painful legacy from the pre-9/11 era in which bureaucracies operated as silos and were poorly coordinated.

H.R. 2468 empowers DHS to address this continued failure. By requiring the Department to produce guidance to all its components on the processing, analysis, production, and dissemination of information and intelligence, this bill helps to professionalize the DHS Intelligence Enterprise. Such a doctrine will guide how operational information from across DHS is incorporated into a wider strategic Homeland Security picture. This will increase the use of Department- specific information in its analytic products and processes.

H.R. 2468 also takes another step in strengthening the Department's Intelligence Enterprise by formalizing the Department's existing support for the DHS Chief Intelligence Officer, or the CINT. Though the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, or the I&A, serves as the Department's Chief Intelligence Officer, these two roles carry different statutory authorities and distinct missions.

Therefore, Congress should support both functions by authorizing staff support for the CINT. H.R. 2468 does not authorize new hiring but, rather, reauthorizes the Department's existing staff assignment and, most importantly, makes those assignments permanent.

It is now time to hold the Department accountable for developing a common foundation among members of the Department's Intelligence Enterprise. By requiring DHS to produce these guidelines and by ensuring the Department's leadership is properly and reliably supported, H.R. 2468 helps us to work to fulfill the promises made to the American people 16 years ago: Never again.

I am very pleased the text of H.R. 2468 was included in the larger DHS authorization bill, which passed this very House in July. I urge my colleagues to support the standalone measure to improve the quality of DHS' analytical

products and help the Department better serve the intelligence community and its State and local partners.

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

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2468, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2433) to direct the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis to develop and disseminate a threat assessment regarding terrorist use of virtual currency.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Homeland Security Assessment of Terrorists Use of Virtual Currencies Act introduced by the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice) is an important measure targeting new ways terrorists may be raising or transferring funds through the use of virtual currencies.

The bill directs the DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, in coordination with Federal partners, to develop and disseminate a threat assessment regarding the actual and potential threat posed by individuals using virtual currency to carry out activities in furtherance of an act of terrorism, including the provision of material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization. It also directs the Under Secretary to share this threat assessment with State, local, and Tribal law enforcement officials through the National Network of Fusion Centers.

As the threat of terrorism evolves, so do the methods to finance and support the actors who plot to attack the United States. The Federal Government must evolve as well to meet these novel and technologically- based challenges. This bill positions the Department to detect the new digital-based methods in terrorist financing and support methods that have already been utilized and to prepare for those that are soon to follow.

This measure was considered by the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence and included in the Committee on Homeland Security's DHS authorization bill, which passed this very House in July.

I want to take time to thank the gentlewoman for her work and for her diligence on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to support her bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, my friend from New York has done an excellent job in outlining, explaining, and articulating her legislation; therefore, I have no other speakers. If the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice), has no other speakers, I reserve the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support a good, well thought-out, meaningful, and useful bill, H.R. 2433.

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

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for yielding.

Madam Chair, this is an ideologically driven solution in search of a problem. The U.S. oil and gas system represents only 3\1/2\ percent of overall domestic greenhouse gas emissions. You ask yourself: If that is the case, if over 96 percent of the problem is elsewhere, why wouldn't we focus on that? It is ideological, that is why.

The temperature impact of this emissions reduction is miniscule, at a mere .0047 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, and, of course, that is a model and that is predicted. No one really knows for sure. But we can know this for sure: it is miniscule.

EPA's own research shows that combined oil and gas methane emissions have fallen 19 percent since 1990. During the same period, natural gas production has risen 52 percent and oil production has increased 28 percent.

The cost of this unnecessary regulation will be $530 million per year by 2025, again, to get .0047 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. 322,000 Pennsylvanians' jobs are supported by the oil and gas industry, and we can't afford it.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote for the Mullin amendment.

Mr. Chairman, first I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado for the amendment and the committee for the opportunity. The U.S. Institute of Peace is intended to be a nonpartisan independent national institute funded by Congress, and I question both the nonpartisan nature of the Institute and the need, quite honestly, for the Federal Government to fund it now, at least $1 billion over these many years at $35 million a year, and, as the gentleman from Colorado said, in a duplicative effort.

Nobody is against peace and nobody is against love. The question is: Do we need a State Department doing it at the cost of billions of dollars and then this other organization doing the exact same work at a cost of another $35 million annually when we are $20 trillion in debt and more, maybe up to $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities? And then to add insult to injury, regarding the nonpartisan independent nature that the taxpayers are forced to fund, on January 5th of 2016, on an episode of C-SPAN, Manal Omar, the acting vice president for the Middle East and Africa Center conducted a highly divisive,

partisan attack on then-leading Republican primary candidate Donald Trump and the Republican party as a whole.

Some of her more egregious statements include: ``What Trump is doing is inciting violence, make no mistake about it. He has blood on his hands.'' And ``Trump and other Republican rhetoric have validated that type of violence against Muslims. It has given them an excuse to actually turn the negative rhetoric into violence.''

Her comments followed the violent attacks in San Bernardino and Paris.

To my knowledge, no punitive action was taken against Ms. Omar, and she continues to serve as the associate vice president for the Middle East and Africa Center at USIP.

I wrote the Institute a letter in that regard inquiring as to her status, whether there would be punitive measures taken for this obvious partisan and vicious attack on the Republican Party and the candidate that was then leading, and, of course, I didn't hear back until, oh, I don't know, 2 days ago, when we saw that there was an amendment to defund the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Again, Mr. Chairman, to add insult to injury, this place spends $35 million, including telling the American people what they should think about their politicians. That is not their mission, that is not what we are paying for, and that is why we should stop paying for it.