Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute and remember one of the most remarkable figures of the 20th Century and an example of a life well lived for those coming of age in the 21st Century.

Dr. Maya Angelou died this morning at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was 86 years old.

I first met Dr. Maya Angelou when I was a student at Yale University.

No matter how busy she was--and she was always in demand--Maya Angelou always had time to share with you; as a mentor, a teacher, a social activist, a mother, a sister, a woman of light.

She had a knack of making you feel better about yourself and life's possibilities.

I thank God for her voice, her survival and her spirit and for teaching little girls--with long hair, short hair, curly hair, afros or straight hair--the beauty of all people.

Dr. Maya Angelou epitomized what it is to be a great American who came from a unique and different background.

Dr. Maya Angelou was an American original, a phenomenal writer, woman of insight, eloquence, and artistry who gave voice to the rawness and loftiness of our history and our humanity.

From the struggles of her youth, through her work in the civil rights movement, to her success as an author and her time as the Poet Laureate of the United States, Maya Angelou embodied personal, moral, and artistic courage.

Dr. Maya Angelou reminded us of the beauty of diversity and the importance of the black experience. She wrote of the cry for freedom, the experience of womanhood.

Her story is the story of America. In the early 1960s, Dr. Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she became the associate editor of a magazine, The Arab Observer.

Dr. Maya Angelou went on to help Malcolm X establish the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964. Since 1981, she held the Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston- Salem, North Carolina.

Dr. Maya Angelou once said: ``I have created myself. I have taught myself so much.''

Dr. Angelou defied simple labels. She was a walking list of careers and passions. In addition to authoring books, she was an actress, director, playwright, composer, singer and dancer.

And if that was not enough she was the first female and first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco.

In November 2013 Dr. Angelou stole the show at the National Book Awards in New York when she was presented an award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

She was introduced that night by her friend, the famed author Toni Morrison, who said of Dr. Maya Angelou: ``Suffering energized and strengthened her, and her creative impulse struck like bolts of lightning.''

Mr. Speaker, today we lost one of the ``great souls'' which Dr. Angelou often wrote about.

I hope it is a comfort to her family that so many around the world mourn with them at this sad time. But through our sadness, we draw strength from the enduring power of her own words: ``Just like hopes springing high, still I'll rise.''

On a personal note, who can imagine a child who silenced herself for five years because of a brutal experience in her young life?

That silence could have ruined her life or been a rebirth of her life.

It was a rebirth.

Just like a butterfly she was reborn and throughout her life she gave us the gift of her genius.

So instead of saying good-bye, I say, as Dr. Maya Angelou said on January 20, 1993, at the inauguration of President Clinton, in her remarkable poem, ``A Rock, A River, A Tree'':

Here on the pulse of this new day

You may have the grace to look up and out

And into your sister's eyes, into

Your brother's face, your country

And say simply

Very simply

With hope

Good morning.

So long my friend. We will never forget you or all you did to make our world a better place.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on the Rule for H.R. 4681, the ``Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2014,'' and H.R. 4745, the ``Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015.

H.R. 4681 is a bill authorizing appropriations for our nation's intelligence agencies for Fiscal Year 2014 through Fiscal Year 2015. The bill provides funds for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities.

H.R. 4745 makes appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015.

Our nation is long past due for a Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill. This bill is about jobs--jobs-- jobs.

Unfortunately, H.R. 4745's $17.1. billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Transportation for fiscal year 2015, is $727.3 million below the funding for fiscal year 2014.

Included in the legislation is $15.7 billion in total budgetary resources for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is $7.3 million below the fiscal year 2014 enacted level and $446 million above the request.

This will provide full funding for all air traffic control personnel, including 14,800 air traffic controllers, 7,300 safety inspectors, and operational support personnel.

The bill also fully funds the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation Systems (NextGen) at $852.4 million, and funds Contract Towers at $140 million.

These investments will help ease future congestion and help reduce delays for travelers in U.S. airspace.

The Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport will benefit from funding provided under this bill: nearly 40 million passengers traveled through Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and an additional 10 million traveled through William P. Hobby (HOU); more than 650 daily departures occur at IAH; IAH is the 11th busiest airport in the U.S. for total passenger traffic; IAH has 12 all-cargo airlines handles more than 419,205 metric tons of cargo in 2012.

The funds being sent back to states will repair critical transportation infrastructure that is vital to local, state and the national economy.

Further the bill provides for funding for our Nation's housing and urban development programs that fund block grants, special housing programs that serve our Nation's elderly, young, disabled, and veterans.

The legislation includes a total of $40.3 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a decrease of $769 million below the fiscal year 2014 enacted level and $2 billion below the Administration's request.

The bill does not contain funding for any new, unauthorized ``sustainable,'' ``livable,'' or ``green'' community development programs.

Affordable safe housing is vital to the well-being of elderly, low- wage workers, the unemployed, under-employed, disabled persons and our Nation's veterans.

In 2012, Texas ranked second among the 50 states among states with workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 6.1 million workers paid hourly rates in Texas in 2012, 282,000 earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, while 170,000 earned less.

In the State of Texas the percentage of persons living in poverty makes the funds provided for housing and mass transit systems including light rail critical: 34% of children live in poverty; 21% of adults (19-64) live in poverty; and 17% of elderly live in poverty.

The funds provided will make it possible for low wage workers to have affordable options for travel as well as support access to affordable housing.

Let me thank the ranking member for yielding and, as well, the chairperson, and let me collectively add my appreciation for the two leaders of this committee. They have committed themselves, without question, to the security of this Nation. I thank them for their collaboration.

Mr. Rogers, I thank you for the work that you have done for the Nation and, certainly, for the commitment that you have made to the very important business of this committee.

Mr. Ruppersberger, let me thank you for your friendship as well and for the continued collaboration on an issue of great concern to me, but I will speak generally about this legislation and will, again, acknowledge some of the issues that you have looked at and considered and have even included in this legislation as it comes forward.

Mr. Chairman, I agree that detecting and disrupting and preventing a national security crisis is of paramount responsibility for this committee and many others, including the committee that I serve on, the Committee on Homeland Security. For that reason, I have interfaced with this committee on a number of issues.

I am very glad to note, in particular, that the issue of dealing with the expansive use that has been used, which I will talk about in the en bloc amendment, is clearly something that we should have considered, and in this bill, it did.

It got its hand around the enormous use of outside contractors in the intelligence business, and it emphasized recruitment and training. That is positive. There are young, bright persons who I know are willing to serve their country, and this legislation has committed itself to doing that.

Now, particularly with this legislation, I also want to appreciate the collaboration between the Judiciary Committee and this committee on the USA FREEDOM Act, and I want to say to America that we have corralled the megadata collection. We have done it in a bipartisan manner, and we will do more and do better.

So it is with appreciation for this legislation and in thanking the committee for working with my staff on

my amendment that I ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Chair, I rise to speak on H.R. 4681, the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014.

I want to thank the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for including my amendment in an en bloc.

My amendment to H.R. 4681 is simple and will be an important addition to the legislation, which I believe can be supported by every member of this Committee.

My amendment seeks greater transparency to Congress on the people who the Nation relies upon to perform certain types of work required of the Intelligence Community.

The Jackson Lee amendment requires the Director of the Office of National Intelligence to conduct an assessment of the reliance of intelligence activities on contractors to support Government objectives, including an assessment of contractors performing intelligence activities, which would include intelligence analysis.

The amendment would seek information on the skills necessary to perform intelligence related work and whether Federal employees had these skills. The amendment would also seek statistics on contractors preforming intelligence related work for agencies under the purview of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Something is very wrong when the process for screening and vetting government contractors does not identify someone who would have access to--as well as the ability to collect and remove sensitive information from government computers and publicly disclose that information.

If each person working in an intelligence role within the government decided to act on their own thoughts for their own purposes on whether they would or would not keep their oath to defend and protect our Nation's secrets then there would be chaos.

Our Nation suffers harm in ways we can see, as well as ways that we cannot see when unauthorized disclosures regarding intelligence resources occur.

It harms our ability to work with other nations who rely on our ability to keep secret the information they share with our Nation's intelligence agencies.

If our global assets and allies cease to trust our ability to keep their work with our intelligence, national defense or diplomatic agencies secret then they will not cooperate with us in our efforts to defend our Nation and our interest around the world.

Reckless disclosures make us vulnerable to our Nation's enemies who could make changes to how they hide information because the disclosure of national secrets reveals means and methods.

The world is a dangerous place--we have seen within the last 18 months--a bombing during the Boston Marathon, the rise in sectarian violence in Syria that included incidents involving the use of nerve gas; and Boko Haram which kidnapped nearly 300 girls from their school in northern Nigeria.

According to the United States Department of State Country Report on Terrorism 2013, published in April of this year indicates that there are 53 Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).

Designation of FTOs is important to our Nation's fight against terrorism and is effective in cutting off support for those groups so designated.

In 2013, Ansar al-Dine, Boko Haram, and Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Bi Biladis-Sudan were added to the list of FTOs.

FTOs are legally defined under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states the group must be: a foreign organization; engage in terrorist activity or retain the capacity and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism; and participating in terrorist activity or terrorism that threatens the security of the United States or its citizens.

United States' National security encompasses national defense, foreign relations, or economic interest.

The unauthorized intelligence disclosures last year impacted U.S. national security.

The intelligence breach came as a result of a government contractor making public sensitive information is still resonating both internationally and within the United States, where an important debate on privacy and civil liberties is still ongoing.

But also around the world the consequences of the unauthorized release of international activity by intelligence agencies is still playing out.

The timing of the release of information on the non-U.S. activity of our intelligence agencies caused tremendous tension in our relations with allies at a time when the United States was working to form a global response to the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria.

In addition to frustrating our efforts to form a strong global response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria it also caused economic harm to U.S. companies internationally.

Congress is not able to fully investigate the circumstances that resulted in last year's intelligence breach because the person with many of the answers to questions many of us have is now living in Russia.

However, we can look prospectively on how the work of the Intelligence Community under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence should fill positions that require security clearances.

The intelligence work by contractors and Federal employees is critical to the protection of the United States and our interest both domestically and around the world. We should approach the work of the intelligence community as we do when considering the work of the Department of Defense.

The work that our Intelligence professionals perform is critical, and a defense in depth approach is necessary to assure that no matter the challenge or the circumstances there will be well trained professionals in place to do what must be done to defend and protect the nation.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence 2013 Report on Security Clearance Determinations provides information on the number of persons with security clearance levels of Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret and had access to classified information as well as those who were favorably adjudicated but did not have access to classified information.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Special Security Directorate (SSD) of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive for compiling and processing the data for this report.

The 2013 Report on Security Clearance Determinations states that by October 1, 2013 the Nation had 3,738,026 Federal agency employees working for the: Office of the Director of National Intelligence Scattered Castles; Department of Defense; Joint Personnel Adjudication System; Office of Personnel Management; and Central Verification System (CVS).

In addition to surveying these agencies a special data call was made to the seven intelligence community agencies with delegated authority to conduct investigations or adjudications to fulfill specific reporting requirements directed by the fiscal year 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. These agencies were the: Central Intelligence Agency; Defense Intelligence Agency; Federal Bureau of Investigation; National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; National Reconnaissance Office; National Security Agency; and Department of State.

In 2013, the total number of persons with a Confidential, Secret or Top Secret security clearance totaled 5,150,379 individuals--of this number 3,738,026 were government agency personnel, 1,056,309 were contractors and 356,044 were categorized as other.

Between January and October 1, 2013 there were 777,168 security clearances approved--152,490 were government agency employees and 131,209 were contractors with an additional 12,785 designated as other.

Congress must have the ability to make decisions regarding how intelligence agencies fill positions that require security clearances because it has implications for the appropriations process.

The Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives 2012 Report to the President focuses on the classification practices of intelligence agencies.

The report addresses the power of ``original classification authorities'' also called ``original classifiers,'' which are individuals designated with Top Secret original classification authority to classify information.

Only original classifiers are authorized to determine what information, if disclosed without authorization, would be expected to cause damage to national security.

The original classification authority process comes before all other aspects of the security classification system. In 2004, the total number of original classifications was 351,150 and in 2012 the number was 74,477.

The cost of government security classification in 2005 was $7.66 billion and in 2011 the total was $11.36 billion.

The amount expended in 2011 included: 5.65 billion for protection maintenance; 1.53 billion for security management oversight and planning; 502.51 million for professional education, training and awareness; 352.4 million for classification management; and 52.76 million for declassification.

These costs cited are not all encompassing, but were generated by 41 executive branch agencies including the Department of Defense.

The funds expended do not include activity by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director for National Intelligence, the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency.

The focus on training is critical in the work of the Intelligence Community and it is important that this is a high priority for the agencies represented in the National Archive report.

The work by the Intelligence Community to address classification in an evenhanded way can help create and maintain a firm basis for classification of information that is sustainable can go a long way in addressing questions regarding what secrets are critical to our nation's national security and what the public has a right to know.

I thank my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee for their hard work in bringing this bill before the full House for consideration. I ask that members of the Congress vote in favor of this bipartisan en bloc amendment to H.R. 4681.

Mr. Chair, let me again thank the ranking member and the chairman. Let me also acknowledge the very fine men and women that work in our intelligence community in the United States and around the world.

I would like to thank the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for their efforts to include the Jackson Lee amendment in the en bloc amendments and thank them for working with my staff in a very cooperative manner.

The Jackson Lee amendment seeks greater transparency to Congress on the people the Nation relies upon to perform certain types of work for the intelligence community.

The Jackson Lee amendment requires the Director of the Office of National Intelligence to conduct an assessment of the reliance of intelligence activities on contractors to support government objectives, including an assessment of contractors performing intelligence activities, which would include intelligence analysis.

This complements the underlying bill, because the underlying bill has determined to assess the utilization and reduce the number of private contractors.

In a Time article dated Monday, July 19, 2010, a comment says:

Explosion of contractors in the intelligence community.

And that has been the case.

It is important that we recognize that contractors can be useful. But like the President stated publicly on August 26, 2013:

It is important that we have so many extraordinarily

capable folks in our military and our government who can do

this--and probably do it cheaper.

Well, I agree with the President and this committee.

I also take note of an article that cites NSA contractors using LinkedIn profiles to cash in on national security.

I believe that with the work that we are doing here in this legislation, along with my amendment, we will get our hands around the idea of outsourcing our intelligence work and develop a pathway of excellence, as we have in the past.

We will utilize our veterans, we will utilize military personnel, we will utilize young persons who are interested in this as a career, and we will have the finest intelligence staffing that we have ever had, as we have had in the past.

I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. I again thank the chairman and ranking member for including this in the en bloc amendments. I think we are on a pathway of greater success in securing this Nation.

Mr. Chair, I support H.R. 4681, the ``Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2014,'' a bill Authorizing appropriations for our nation's intelligence agencies for Fiscal Year 2014 through Fiscal Year 2015. The bill provides funds for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities.

My thanks to the House Rules Committee for making my amendment in order under the rule for H.R. 4681.

I appreciate the work of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence efforts to include the Jackson Lee Amendment in the En Bloc.

My amendment is simple and makes an important contribution to the bill.

The Jackson Lee Amendment seeks greater transparency to Congress on the people the nation relies upon to perform certain types of work for the Intelligence Community.

The Jackson Lee Amendment requires the Director of the Office of National Intelligence to conduct an assessment of the reliance of intelligence activities on contractors to support Government objectives, including an assessment of contractors performing intelligence activities, which would include intelligence analysis.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) 2013 Report on Security Clearance Determinations said that on October 1, 2013, the total number of persons with a Confidential, Secret or Top Secrete security clearance totaled 5,150,379 individual.

According to the ODNI 3,738,026 were government agency personnel, 1,056,309 were contractors and 356,044 were categorized as other.

Between January and October 1, 2013 there were 777,168 security clearances approved--152,490 were government agency employees and 131,209 were contractors with an additional 12,785 designated as other.

The cost of government security classification in 2oo5 was $7.66 billion and in 2011 the total was $11.36 billion.

The amount expended included: 5.65 billion for protection maintenance; 1.53 billion for security management oversight and planning; 502.51 million for professional education, training and awareness; 352.4 million for classification management; 52.76 million for declassification.

The assessment provided for through the Jackson Lee amendment would shed light on the work that our federal agency Intelligence professionals and the role contractors play in protecting our nation.

President Obama stated publicly on August 6, 2013 that it is important that we have so many 'extraordinarily capable folks in our military and our government who can do this, and probably do it cheaper.'

I agree.

That is why I introduced H.R. 4110, the HERO Transition from Battlespace to Workplace Act of 2014.

This legislation addresses the problem of underemployed veterans in obtaining positions that take maximum advantage of their skills and experience.

For some time I have worked to make sure that transparency, accountability and oversight were firmly established to guide the work of intelligence agencies, including introducing legislation such as

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to congratulate the service of retiring Admiral Robert Papp, Jr., the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and to acknowledge the coming on board, if you will, of Commandant Paul F. Zukunft; to thank them for their collective service and to acknowledge Admiral Robert Papp, Jr., for his commitment to a rising and excelling United States Coast Guard.

In every hearing that the Coast Guard appears before us, as a member of the Homeland Security Committee and a ranking member on Border Security and Maritime Security, I acknowledge that sight of Coast Guard helicopters rescuing thousands during Hurricane Katrina, plucking them out of the raging waters and saving lives. Many people don't remember 1,000 died.

Today, that ceremony is occurring. I pay tribute to them, and I hope that many of us will have the opportunity to congratulate both of them.

Thank you for your service to this Nation. You are remembered.

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

Mr. Chairman, let me take this moment to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Wolf, for his longstanding service and commitment to so many issues that so many of us have worked on for such a very long period of time, helping the most vulnerable and helping those who often cannot help themselves.

Let me associate myself with the remarks that have been made by the author of this amendment, and also the ranking member, Mr. Fattah, who spoke to the question of justice.

Mr. Chairman, I have served on the reiterations of the Legal Services Corporation in my own community way before coming to the United States Congress.

I am reminded of the early words of the Constitution that said that we organize to create a more perfect union. Then I matched that with our Bill of Rights that so many people, if they cannot recite all of them, they know issues like due process, right to a trial by jury, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of access and movement. All of those things are deprived to persons in many instances who cannot access the courts.

I remember, in particular, my Gulfcoast Legal Services Corporation, which worked extensively on issues dealing with housing, for good hardworking people sometimes come up against a brick wall, a hard wall, where they have done everything they could but they are facing eviction, they have come upon difficulty. There is relief for that eviction if they can get to the courthouse either to explain to their landlord or find some relief. Many have experienced housing discrimination, but they do not have access to the courts or to resources necessary to provide them with a lawyer to be able to address their injustice or their indignity.

I too am a strong supporter of the DEA. I sit on the House Judiciary Committee. I was hoping that we could find some pathway to move forward in recognizing that the numbers of those needing Legal Services Corporation dollars is mounting.

Lawyers in law firms have come to me who are members of the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association, and begged for the funding of the Legal Services Corporation. I believe that all of us on this floor have good intentions, and I know that we have a respect for the Legal Services Corporation.

I am hoping we can find a way to work with the gentleman's amendment and support it because I am, in essence, providing the documentation that I have seen firsthand, where people have stood under the scales of justice emptyhanded. They were not balanced, they did not receive support, because they could not access the courthouse, a vital and important part of democracy in America.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, again, let me offer my appreciation to Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fattah for leading this appropriations legislation.

Commerce, Justice, Science--Commerce, Justice, Science--the reason I say it in that way is because many of us are on the authorizing committee that is impacted greatly by the appropriators. I sit on the Judiciary Committee and have sat on the Foreign Affairs Committee and now sit on Homeland Security, which has a very, very important commitment to fighting human trafficking.

Just a few weeks ago, on March 20, in Houston, Texas, we held a field hearing on human trafficking. Interestingly, the day before, 115 people were found in a stash house, women and children, all compounded, living in dire and devastating conditions. The witness testimony was overwhelming.

I know the leadership that both the chairman and ranking member have given to this issue. I want to thank them for their funding of the Violence Against Women Act, as it has grown to provide more resources for those who are impacted by domestic violence, but also by human trafficking.

My amendment is very straightforward. In the testimony given to us by law enforcement officers, one of the local law enforcement officers--in fact, local sheriff--indicated the importance of providing local law enforcement officers the training needed to ensure that these victims who are traumatized will be willing to testify against a perpetrator, and the perpetrators are vile, they are vile. This has become one of the largest businesses in this Nation, billions of dollars, human trafficking and sex trafficking. It is an ugly thing to say, but in sex trafficking the product can be used over and over again, as interpreted by the person who has the business.

Houston has been known to be called the epicenter of human trafficking, sex trafficking. But it is a scourge on this Nation.

My amendment strengthens the ability by providing a half a million dollars to the Violence Against Women Act. It strengthens the ability of State and local law enforcement to identify, apprehend, and prosecute domestic child traffickers by requiring the Attorney General to make available the training and education that will empower them to gain the cooperation and active assistance of victims of human trafficking, who would otherwise refuse for fear of reprisal.

This, in fact, as I indicated, was clear in all testimony that was given and explained by those who were victims who were witnesses in this hearing and others.

Just recently, in the Border Security markup, I added an amendment to address the question of human trafficking resources in another agency, Department of Homeland Security. But trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in a civilized society. In fact, it has been called ``modern day slavery.''

Those who engage in this illicit trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We need the cooperation of victims. Sometimes they are scared. There are various resources, such as visas for nonimmigrant persons who are fearful of their present condition.

That means we need to ensure that State and local law enforcement agencies have the tools, resources, and the training necessary to identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who ruthlessly traffic in children and young persons.

I think it is important that Commerce, Justice, Science is involved in this particular area and covers this particular area. As I said, my amendment would cover the education on the availability of certain nonimmigrant visas for victims trafficked who cooperate in the investigation or the prosecution of the crime which the individual was a victim of.

So, in essence, this helps the victims. It gives them time, it gives them the ability to understand. It starts sometimes with local law enforcement. In the instance of these 115 persons in Houston, the arrest came, the notice came, or the call came to the local law enforcement, who later called ICE and others.

I would hope that this amendment would be passed because it, again, adds to our commitment to eliminate human trafficking, and it commits us to recognizing the vileness of child trafficking and sexual abuse of these individuals who come and the repetitiveness of this. In the instance of Houston, 99 were men; 16 were women, one of whom was pregnant; and 19 were juveniles. This happens over and over again.

The Jackson Lee amendment does strengthen the idea of making sure we are linked to local law enforcement, and that we are committed not only in the Federal system but we are committed in the system that we are in locally.

Let me conclude, Mr. Chairman, by indicating that I hope that my colleagues will support this amendment.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, let me offer my appreciation and thanks to Ranking Member Fattah and to Chairman Wolf for their work on this legislation and decades long commitment and advocacy on behalf of victims of crime, especially child victims, who are the most vulnerable and innocent victims.

Trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in a civilized society. Those who engage in this illicit

trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

That means we need to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies have the tools, resources, and training necessary to identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who ruthlessly traffic in children and young persons.

And one of the most effective resources in bringing criminals to justice is the cooperation and assistance of their victims.

Perpetrators of crime know that they are more likely to evade detection and punishment when their victims refuse to assist or cooperate with law enforcement. That is why they make it a point to instill fear in their victims--for their own safety or that of family and loved ones.

My amendment strengthens and complements the bill by providing another tool in law enforcement's arsenal to tip the balance in favor of victims.

The Jackson Lee Amendment will help ensure that: The U.S. Attorney General shall provide training for State and local law enforcement agencies on the immigration law that may be useful for the investigation and prosecution of crimes related to trafficking in persons, including education on the availability of certain nonimmigrant visas for victims of trafficking who cooperate in the investigation or prosecution of the crime of which the individual was a victim.

In 2007, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA), which created the T-Visa, and reserved it for those who are or have been victims of human trafficking.

The Nonimmigrant Status (``T-Visa'') protects victims of human trafficking and helps law enforcement by allowing victims to remain in the United States to assist in the investigation or prosecution of human traffickers.

Unfortunately, many victims of crime and victims of human trafficking are unaware of the existence and availability of this temporary relief.

And that is in part because many local and state law enforcement officers are not fully aware of the legal requirements governing this relief.

The Jackson Lee Amendment is intended to help fill this information gap by providing the informational resources to local law enforcement who will be able in turn to share that information with the victims.

On March 20, the Homeland Security Committee, of which I am a senior member, held a field hearing in my home city of Houston on ``Combating Human Trafficking in Our Major Cities.''

It was a fitting venue because, regrettably, Houston is the human trafficking capital of the United States.

Ninety-nine were men, 16 were women, one of whom was pregnant, and 19 were juveniles.

All of them had been kidnapped or smuggled into the United States.

Who knows what those women and children may have faced had they not been rescued and the perpetrators caught?

The Jackson Lee Amendment strengthens the bill by strengthening the hand of state and local law enforcement in combating the scourge of human trafficking.

By helping them, we will catch more human trafficking criminals. And we help rescue and save children from becoming victims.

I urge my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee Amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, let me, again, express my appreciation for this appropriation and make a statement regarding some of the jurisdiction that comes under Commerce and Justice that is not particularly being discussed at this moment, but I thought it was appropriate because we do have discussions regarding civil rights.

I wanted to mention that, over the last couple of months, we have had some unfortunate discussions around the National Basketball Association regarding issues of discriminatory conversations that were not responsible to the vastness of the NBA or its regulatory scheme.

We regulate, on Judiciary, the National Basketball Association, the NFL, and Major League Baseball and many other sports. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to raise questions about diversity and about the outreach into minority communities.

Today, in Houston, Major League Baseball is having what they call the civil rights weekend. I will be looking forward to calling in Major League Baseball to address some of the questions of diversity and race in their particular support.

It is interesting that they are having an event in Houston now, with not one local elected official present, or respected or asked to be present. To me, that raises the question of whether or not Major League Baseball even gets it.

We are delighted that they have chosen to honor some icons, and I honor them as well and will, hopefully, have the opportunity to recognize them by way of my office tomorrow.

Again, as we talk about justice questions, as I sit on the Judiciary Committee, over the years, have dealt with players' associations and antitrust issues, questions of discrimination that cross the gamut of sports organizations, it is really disturbing that we come to the 21st century and 2014 and have these same issues being raised again.

Just as I turn, for a moment, to the NBA, I just want to make the point that, as there is a decision to look at options for the Clippers, I am not from the area, but I would hope that, as there are options to look at a purchase of the Clippers, that it is not done without opportunities for minority purchasers to be involved--investors.

We are not where we need to be, and, again, the Justice Department deals with civil rights, and Major League Baseball is not where it needs to be when it comes to a city, has an event on civil rights, and has no local elected officials that are engaged, no outreach programs that are extensive the way they need to be.

I thank the chairman for allowing me to raise this point regarding the question of civil rights that falls under the jurisdiction of this committee, the funding of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, but also, under my authorizing committee, and raise a concern that we have work to do, not only in this Congress, but we have work to do into these major sports organizations that represent diversity, but they don't really have diversity.

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

Amendment Offered by Mr. Kilmer

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

Mr. Chairman, my amendment is a simple amendment, as well, that I can imagine nothing more than bipartisan support for.

First of all, I want to again thank the chairman, Mr. Wolf, and the ranking member, for their steadfastness and leadership on this appropriations bill, and to again acknowledge Mr. Wolf in his service and tenure not only to his district, but to the Nation.

I believe that we all have come for the common understanding that this Nation is founded on principles of due process and justice, and as well the recognition that we have a system of criminal justice laws that there are people who will be incarcerated.

I am very glad that I serve on the Judiciary Committee, where my chairman, Chairman Goodlatte, along with Ranking Member Conyers, established an overcriminalization task force.

With that in mind, it is to discuss how you look at laws and be fair to the individual that may be the victim, but also the person that was the perpetrator, or to look at the different charges and various offenses and determine whether or not today, in 2014, they are still appropriate.

My amendment is an amendment that addresses the question of the existing authority of the Attorney General to manage executive responsibilities under 28 U.S.C. 509 and 28 U.S.C. 510 as relates to authorizing the performance by any other officer and as it relates to all functions of agencies and employees.

It speaks to the question of prison overcrowding. It is straightforward, as I indicated. It makes a positive contribution to the problem.

The United States incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world's inmates, even though it only has 5 percent of the world's population. Thirty years ago, there were less than 30,000 inmates in the Federal system. Today, there are nearly 216,000--an increase of 800 percent.

Mr. Chairman, I have worked on this issue for almost two decades. In the early 1990s, I offered an amendment for good time, early release legislation, to look at providing relief to inmates who had been in the Federal system and reached the age of 45, had in fact not been engaged in any violent crime with a weapon, and had no violent incidents while they were incarcerated. We made the recommendation that we would have the opportunity to release those older inmates.

I am very glad to say that Senator Kennedy had the same kind of legislation. Over the years, we managed to get it into the authorization bill.

But, as I indicated, no other country imprisons a larger percentage of its population. The prison system costs $6.5 billion. That is part of the appropriations today.

My amendment will alleviate this overcrowding by clarifying that nothing in this bill prohibits the Attorney General from exercising his statutory authorities to expand the use of executive clemency to address prison overcrowding and redress sentencing injustices, so long as he does so in a manner consistent with the law and the Constitution.

Much of the overcrowding of our Federal prison system is a direct and proximate result of a proliferation of offenses carrying mandatory minimums. That is the basis of the Over-Criminalization Task Force. Again, I applaud the Judiciary Committee for that.

Heretofore, we had the 100 to 1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine. We in the Judiciary Committee changed that, along with the Senate. The President signed that legislation.

We now know the cost of imprisoning so many nonviolent offenders is fiscally unsustainable and morally unjustifiable. Remember, my emphasis has been that which is within the context of the law. And the legislation that I offered for the good time, early release was for nonviolent offenders.

It will take the combined efforts of policymakers, reform advocates, legal professionals, and private citizens to solve the problem. I can assure you there is a bar of lawyers that are interested in making sure that their clients come under the law and are treated fairly under the law.

My amendment gives life to this question by allowing the Attorney General, whoever it might be, to act within the law.

Just quickly, I give an example of Clarence Aaron of Mobile, Alabama, who was arrested in 1992 with 20 kilograms of power cocaine and distributed it as crack cocaine. It was in 1992. He received an enormous sentence. He was a first-time offender, and received a life sentence.

These are the kinds of issues that can be addressed if we are acting within the law.

My amendment simply says to act within the law using the authority that is given and to be able to address these questions of the overincarceration of persons and to give people a second chance.

I ask my colleagues to support my amendment.

Thank you for this opportunity to briefly explain my amendment.

Let me offer my appreciation and thanks to Ranking Member Fattah and to Chairman Wolf for their work on this legislation and decades long commitment to the administration of justice and to developing sensible reforms to make our criminal justice system better.

Thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment, which is simple, straightforward, and makes a positive contribution to the problem of overcrowding in our federal prisons.

The United States incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world's inmates, even though it only has 5 percent of the world's population.

Thirty years ago, there were less than 30,000 inmates in the federal system; today, there are nearly 216,000, an increase of 800 percent!

No other country imprisons a larger percentage of its population than the United States or spends anywhere near the $6.5 billion that we spend annually on prison administration.

The Jackson Lee Amendment will help alleviate this overcrowding by clarifying that nothing in the bill prohibits the Attorney General from exercising his statutory authorities to expand the use of executive clemency to address prison overcrowding and redress sentencing injustices so long as he does so in a manner consistent with law and the Constitution.

Text of Amendment

At the end of bill, before the short title, add the

following new section:

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentleman's amendment and will add the point that many of these Federal workers are women who are the head of their household, and, therefore, the undermining of their compensation based upon overtime and the theft of wages because they are not paid fully for their work and hours really undermines the family.

So I believe that this is a very important amendment, and I ask my colleagues to support the gentleman.

Offered By: Ms. Jackson Lee

Amendment No. 6: Page 12, line 4, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(reduced by $400,000)''.

Page 72, line 9, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $400,000)''.

Offered By: Ms. Jackson Lee

Amendment No. 7: Page 12, line 4, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(reduced by $2,000,000)''.

Page 72, line 13, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $2,000,000)''.

Offered By: Ms. Jackson Lee

Amendment No. 8: Page 34, line 8, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(reduced by $500,000)''.

Page 38, line 2, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $500,000)''.

Offered By: Ms. Jackson Lee

Amendment No. 9: Page 34, line 8, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(reduced by $1,000,000)''.

Page 65, line 11, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $1,000,000)''.

Offered By: Ms. Jackson Lee

Amendment No. 10: At the end of bill, before the short

title, add the following new section:

Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Smith for their work on this bill and their devotion to the men and women of the Armed Forces.

I also thank them for including in En Bloc Amendment No. 1 the Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment, which makes three important contributions to the bill:

1. First, it strongly condemns the ongoing violence and the systematic gross human rights violations against the people of Nigeria carried out by the militant organization Boko Haram, especially the kidnapping of the more than 200 young schoolgirls kidnapped from the Chibok School by Boko Haram;

2. Second, it expresses support for the people of Nigeria who wish to live in a peaceful, economically prosperous, and democratic Nigeria; and

3. Third, it requires that not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment, the Secretary of Defense shall report to Congress on the nature and extent of the crimes against humanity committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Since 2013, more than 4,400 men, women, and children have been slaughtered by Boko Haram.

The victims include Christians, Muslims, journalists, health care providers, relief workers and schoolchildren.

I am confident that the international community working with the African Union will assist the Government of Nigeria in bringing an end to Boko Haram's reign of terror and ensuring that its crimes against humanity are documented so its leaders can be held accountable.

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a letter to President Obama from myself and 15 House colleagues commending his decision to deploy American security experts and equipment in Nigeria to help locate and rescue the more than 200 Nigerian kidnapped schoolgirls and to work in concert with the Government of Nigeria and the African Union to bring Abubakar Shekau and other leaders of Boko Haram to justice.

The Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment affirms that the United States stands with the civilized world in solidarity with the people of Nigeria.

The Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment affirms that the United States is fully committed to the fundamental principle that women everywhere have a right to be free, to live without fear, and should not be forced to risk their lives to get the education they want and deserve.

I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for including this amendment in En Bloc Amendment #1 and all Members to support it.

Congress of the United States

Washington, DC, May 8, 2014.

President Barack Obama

The White House, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. President: We are writing to commend your decision

to deploy American security experts and equipment in Nigeria

to help locate and rescue the more than 200 Nigerian

schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. We

support your action and we strongly urge you to work in

concert with the Government of Nigeria and the African Union

to achieve this objective and to bring Abubakar Shekau and

other leaders of Boko Haram to justice.

Boko Haram, a militant group designated by the State

Department in November 2013 as a Foreign Terrorist

Organization, has been conducting a reign of terror against

innocent Nigerian women, children, and men since 2009, when

it killed hundreds of persons during a raid of a police

station in Maiduguri. In the last four years, Boko Haram has

carried out more than 480 violent attacks against a broad

array of targets: Christian and Muslim communities,

government installations, schools, hospitals and medical

facilities, aid workers and journalists. Since the beginning

of 2013, more than 4,400 innocent persons have been killed

and thousands more left homeless.

According to media reports, the leader of Boko Haram has

threatened to ransom or sell the girls into the human

trafficking market for about twelve dollars each ($12.00

USD). This outrageous conduct cannot be tolerated or

overlooked. Not only is it a violation of the girls' human

rights, it is also contrary to United States policy

supporting and promoting equal access to education and

economic opportunity for women and girls.

We know that terrorist groups cannot operate effectively

without reliable and steady funding to support its criminal

acts. Therefore, we urge you to work with the international

community to detect, disrupt, and dismantle the funding

networks financing Boko Haram, which published reports

indicate has received as much as $70 million from other

Islamist groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

(AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), the Al

Muntada Trust Fund, and the Islamic World Society.

Additionally, we urge you to consider working with the

Government of Nigeria to develop its own capacity to deploy

specialized police and army units rapidly to rescue the

schoolgirls and bring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to

justice. Such units also can be deployed to prevent and

combat sectarian violence in cities and around the country

where there has been a history of sectarian violence. The

creation of an elite highly-trained rapid response unit would

appear to be a sound short-term strategy that the Government

of Nigeria should employ in dealing with violent groups like

Boko Haram. This approach was used to successful effect by

the Indonesia Government in 2004 to neutralize the Laskar

Jihad terrorist organization.

Finally, we call upon you to take appropriate action to

help the Government of Nigeria establish a Victim's Fund to

provide humanitarian relief and economic assistance to the

victims of attacks by Boko Haram so that they can rebuild

their lives and communities.

``People are the great issue of the 20th century,''

declared, then-Senator Hubert Humphrey in 1948. The well-

being of people remains the great issue of the 21st century.

And there is no better measure of any society than the way

its treats its women and girls. Boko Haram understands that

when Nigerian girls are educated, Nigerian women can succeed;

and when Nigerian women succeed, Nigeria succeeds. And that

is why it is so important that the United States help Nigeria

ensure that Boko Haram fails.

Thank you for your leadership and your consideration of our

recommendations. We stand ready to work with you to bring

about the safe rescue of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls

and to reunite them with their families and loved ones.

Sincerely,

list of signatories

Marcia L. Fudge, Karen E. Bass, Donald Payne, Jr., John

Lewis, Yvette D. Clarke, Robin Kelly, Janice Hahn, Sheila

Jackson

Lee, Terri A. Sewell, Corrine Brown, Frederica Wilson,

Gregory W. Meeks, Barbara Lee, Marc Veasey, Members of

Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of our nation's veterans and express my views regarding H.R. 4031, the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014.

This weekend the nation will mark the occasion of Memorial Day the time our nation pauses to recognize the valor, and self-sacrifice of our nation's veterans.

We must remember that freedom is not free.

That is why the timing of the disclosure is especially troubling regarding accusations made by a whistleblower about the treatment of veterans seeking healthcare at the Phoenix Veterans medical facility.

Now, more than ever, we must renew our commitment to keep our promises to the nation's more than 2 million troops and reservists, their families, and 23 million veterans.

The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center located in Houston, Texas serves the 32,477 veterans who I have the privilege of representing in my Congressional District.

The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center serves as the primary healthcare provider for almost 130,000 veterans in southeast Texas.

Veterans from around the country are referred to the DeBakey VA Medical Center for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases.

DeBakey VA Medical Center provide vital healthcare services to Veterans in the Houston area and through the nation. The Medical Center houses:

A Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic;

Network Polytrauma Center;

an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program;

Liver Transplant Center;

VA Epilepsy and Cancer Centers of Excellence;

VA Substance Abuse Disorder Quality Enhancement Research Initiative;

Health Services Research & Development Center of Innovation;

VA Rehabilitation Research of Excellence focusing on mild to moderate traumatic brain injury;

Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center; and

one of the VA's six Parkinson's Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers.

In late 2012, the MEDVAMC received official designation as a Kidney Transplant Center. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Katy, Lufkin, Richmond, Tomball and Texas City, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics log more than a million outpatient visits annually.

Earlier this week I joined other members of the Congressional Women's Caucus for the Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to remember the contributions of women who served our nation proudly in uniform.

Veterans are told that the care that they need can be found at Veteran medical facilities around the nation and we must be certain that they have access to the care that is provided.

The veterans who have served our nation deserve better than what we have been made aware of due to the disclosures related to the Arizona VA facility in Phoenix.

It has been reported that physicians at the Phoenix Veterans Hospital ignored mandates to prioritize treatment of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The placement of veterans on secret waiting lists who later died is unconscionable and should be criminally investigated if proven to be true.

The Veterans facilities serving veterans in Houston, to my knowledge, are not under investigation regarding these terrible reports related to accusations of mistreatment of our nation's veterans.

I know that there are concerns regarding the implications of H.R. 4031 on civil service protection for federal employees at the Veterans Administration.

I am mindful of those concerns, but I am also very focused on making sure that our veterans receive the healthcare that they need.

Should this bill become law, I will make sure that veterans received the care they need, while monitoring how the authority provided under this bill is used.

The intent of this bill should not be solely for the removal of people from federal service unless there is cause for such action--like in the case of the Phoenix reports if proven to be true.

Falsifying federal records that may lead to the deaths or further degradation of health of our nation's veterans if true should disqualify a person from federal employment and the receipt of bonuses.

Our nation's veterans need help now--not later.

The work that Congress along with the Administration can do today to make sure that the promises made to our veterans and their families are kept should be done.

The bill would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to remove any individual from the Senior Executive Service upon determining that such individual's performance warrants removal, and remove such individual from federal service or transfer the individual to a General Schedule position at any grade that the Secretary deems appropriate.

A part of the important job of our Nation's Secretary of Veterans Affairs is to administer a national hospital system for our nation's veterans.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs needs more than just the power to fire, but the authority and means to hire hospital and facility administrators at competitive rates when compared to the private sector.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs needs the ability to make decisions regarding distribution of resources and facility management.

The Secretary must have the ability to make decisions and the power to act on whether to open additional facilities or enter into agreements with private or other public hospital systems to meet the healthcare needs of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans along with the needs of our aging veteran population who have increased need for healthcare.

The Veterans Administration needs Congressional intervention by making sure that the Secretary can be held fully accountable for how the Department functions because they have the authority and the means to manage the agency as it should be managed.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs would always be ultimately accountable to the oversight of Congressional Committees, and must provide greater transparency to veterans and their families on what the agency is doing to meet the needs of veterans.

But it is within our power as Members of Congress to make sure that our nation's veterans receive the best medical care that modern medicine has to offer to them and their families.

In the State of Texas we have over a million Veterans under the age of 65 and nearly a half million who are over the age of 65.

I believe that a message of unity is critical to the wellbeing of our men and women in uniform and those transitioning out of uniformed service to our nation.

Veterans share a kinship in ways that too few Americans who have not served can understand.

Our men and women in the military have fulfilled a commitment to this nation and to each other that we should imitate in our actions to work to provide for veterans now that their military service has ended.

Today, I want to renew my commitment to our nation's veterans by encouraging my colleagues to act to keep the nation's promises to them.

Congress must communicate its wholehearted support for the security of the nation by addressing mindless cuts created by sequestration.

I firmly believe that Congress must act to care for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen, both on and off the battlefield.

I believe that the nation's concern for their wellbeing must be more than in words, but must be reflected in deeds.

Veterans demonstrate a love of country and a measure of devotion making us proud as their Representatives, but we must offer to each veteran a level of comfort that the promises made to them will be kept.

Their quiet dignity sets aside concerns for self because their vision is broader than the moments of partisanship that we see too often in Washington, DC.

I ask that my colleagues remember the damage done to the budget of the Veterans Administration through cuts, sequestration, and the government shutdown.

Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that the passion that I see in the actions and words of fellow Members of the House will translate into a long- term commitment to mend what is broken at the VA and strengthen what is working well.

We should recognize the great work being done by a majority of doctors, nurses, therapists, and medical aides at the dozens of veterans medical facilities around the nation.

We must remember that the leadership at Veterans Affairs needs the funding and authority to make decisions regarding implementing solutions to overcome challenges of providing the best care possible to our nation's veterans.

We should seek reports on the ability of the VA to meet the challenge of the returning veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the needs of Veterans from previous wars with the current level of funding, personnel, offices, and medical facilities.

I am in support of our veterans and seek a bipartisan solution to resolving the problems with VA backlogs and the treatment of veterans and their families.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank the ranking member and the chairman for this work.

I also thank Mr. Sensenbrenner, who we have worked with from the first stages of the PATRIOT Act, when the Judiciary Committee passed it out on a bipartisan basis after that terrible and heinous act of terror. Unfortunately, it was changed.

Today, I want to announce that megadata collection as we know it has ended. That is a major tribute to the American people, and the Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence Committee heard them.

More importantly, the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee stand united. Can we do more? Should there have been an open rule or a number of other amendments that Members wanted? Yes. I believe in participatory democracy.

Today, we end bulk collection under the PATRIOT Act section 215. We can always do better. Today, we prevent the bulk collection under FISA pen register and National Security Letter authorities and vow to the American people that we increase the transparency.

Let me make it very clear, when we first discussed and debated the PATRIOT Act, reverse targeting, to me, was heinous. It means that it captured an innocent American person as we were looking for someone who happened to be a terrorist.

Today, in this bill, we have any communications as to which the sender and all intended recipients are determined to be located in the United States and prohibit the use of any discrete, nontarget communication that is determined to be to or from a United States person or a person who appears to be located in the United States, except to protect against an immediate threat to harm. It is eliminated. Reverse targeting is no longer.

In addition, I introduced a bill some time ago called the FISA Court and Sunshine Act of 2013. In that bill, it required the Attorney General to disclose each decision, order, or opinion of the FISA Court, allowing Americans to know how broad of a legal authority the government is claiming under the PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct surveillance needed to keep Americans safe.

I am pleased that, in section 402 and 604 of the USA FREEDOM Act, it requires the Attorney General to conduct a declassification review of each decision, order, or opinion. It opens it up to the American people. That includes a significant construction of interpretation of the law and to submit to Congress within 45 days.

I thank the gentleman.

As indicated, the bill specifically contains an explicit prohibition on bulk collection of tangible things pursuant to section 215. The FREEDOM Act provides that section 215 may be used only where specific selection term is provided as the basis for the production of tangible things.

Clearly, we worked very hard to contain what was an amoeba that would not end. Finally, I believe section 301 of the bill, as I indicated, was included, as it was in my amendment in H.R. 3773.

Let me conclude by simply saying that the Bill of Rights lives. The Bill of Rights is for the American people, both the right to freedom, both the right in essence to privacy, and our respect for the gathering of intelligence to protect us from terrorists.

This bill, the USA FREEDOM Act, is indeed an enormous step forward. Let us work together to move us even more, but today, we end megadata collecting as we know it.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we have made a giant step forward for civil liberties, respect for the integrity of the American people, and their right to freedom, as well as for the protecting of all of us from terror.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and a co- sponsor, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3361, the ``USA Freedom Act,'' which is short for ``Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection, and Online Monitoring Act.''

The USA Freedom Act is the House's unified response to the unauthorized disclosures and subsequent publication in the media in June 2013 regarding the National Security Agency's collection from Verizon of the phone records of all of its American customers, which was authorized by the FISA Court pursuant to Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Public reaction to the news of this massive and secret data gathering operation was swift and negative.

There was justifiable concern on the part of the public and a large percentage of the Members of this body that the extent and scale of this NSA data collection operation, which exceeded by orders of magnitude anything previously authorized or contemplated, may constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy and threat to the civil liberties of American citizens.

To quell the growing controversy, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and released limited information about this program. According to the DNI, the information acquired under this program did not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber.

The DNI stated that ``the only type of information acquired under the Court's order is telephony metadata, such as telephone numbers dialed and length of calls.''

The assurance given by the DNI, to put it mildly, was not very reassuring.

In response, many Members of Congress, including the Ranking Member Conyers, and Mr. Sensenbrenner, and myself, introduced legislation in response to the disclosures to ensure that the law and the practices of the executive branch reflect the intent of Congress in passing the USA Patriot Act and subsequent amendments.

For example, I introduced H.R. 2440, the ``FISA Court in the Sunshine Act of 2013,'' bipartisan legislation, that much needed transparency without compromising national security to the decisions, orders, and opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or ``FISA Court.''

Specifically, my bill would require the Attorney General to disclose each decision, order, or opinion of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), allowing Americans to know how broad of a legal authority the government is claiming under the PATRIOT Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct the surveillance needed to keep Americans safe.

I am pleased that these requirements are incorporated in substantial part as Sections 402 and 604 of the USA Freedom Act, which requires the Attorney General to conduct a declassification review of each decision, order, or opinion of the FISA court that includes a significant construction or interpretation of law and to submit a report to Congress within 45 days.

I also am pleased that the bill before us contains an explicit prohibition on bulk collection of tangible things pursuant to Section 215 authority. Instead, the USA Freedom Act provides that Section 215 may only be used where a specific selection term is provided as the basis for the production of tangible things.

Another important improvement is that the bill's prohibition on domestic bulk collection, as well as its criteria for specifying the information to be collected, applies not only to Section 215 surveillance activities but also to other law enforcement communications interception authorities, such as national security letters.

Finally, I strongly support the USA Freedom Act because Section 301 of the bill continues the prohibition against ``reverse targeting,'' which became law when an earlier Jackson Lee Amendment was included in H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act of 2007.

``Reverse targeting,'' a concept well known to members of this Committee but not so well understood by those less steeped in the arcana of electronic surveillance, is the practice where the government targets foreigners without a warrant while its actual purpose is to collect information on certain U.S. persons.

One of the main concerns of libertarians and classical conservatives, as well as progressives and civil liberties organizations, in giving expanded authority to the executive branch was the temptation of national security agencies to engage in reverse targeting may be difficult to resist in the absence of strong safeguards to prevent it.

The Jackson Lee Amendment, codified in Section 301 of the USA Freedom Act, reduces even further any such temptation to resort to reverse targeting by requiring the Administration to obtain a regular, individualized FISA warrant whenever the ``real'' target of the surveillance is a person in the United States.

In retaining the prohibition on reverse targeting, Section 301 achieves honors the Constitution by requiring the government to obtain a regular FISA warrant whenever a ``significant purpose of an acquisition is to acquire the communications of a specific person reasonably believed to be located in the United States.''

I should that nothing in Section 301 requires the Government to obtain a FISA order for every overseas target on the off chance that they might pick up a call into or from the United States.

Rather, a FISA order is required only where there is a particular, known person in the United States at the other end of the foreign target's calls in whom the Government has a significant interest such that a significant purpose of the surveillance has become to acquire that person's communications.

Mr. Speaker, while the bill before is a good bill, it is not perfect. No legislation ever is.

In particular, my preference would have been to retain the provision in the bill as originally introduced establishing an Office of the Special Advocate to vigorously advocate in support of legal interpretations that protect individual privacy and civil liberties.

As initially contemplated, the Office of the Special Advocate would be authorized to participate in proceedings before the FISA Court and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, and to request reconsiderations of FISA Court decisions and participate in appeals and reviews.

Regrettably, the provision establishing the Office of the Special Advocate fell victim to a compromise and replaced with a provision authorizing both the FISA court and the FISA Court of Review, if they deem it necessary, to appoint an individual to serve as amicus curiae in a case involving a novel or significant interpretation of law.

Under this arrangement, the presiding judges of the courts must designate five individuals eligible to serve in that position who possess expertise in privacy and civil liberties, intelligence collection, telecommunications or any other area that may lend legal or technical expertise to the courts.

The Office of the Special Advocate arrangement in my opinion is superior because it provides for mandatory participation of the public advocate rather than the discretionary involvement of court designated amicus curiae provided in the bill before us.

Mr. Speaker, as I noted in an op-ed published way back in October 2007, nearly two centuries ago, Alexis DeTocqueville, who remains the most astute student of American democracy, observed that the reason democracies invariably prevail in any military conflict is because democracy is the governmental form that best rewards and encourages those traits that are indispensable to success: initiative, innovation, courage, and a love of justice.

I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a copy of that op- ed.

I support the USA Freedom Act because it will help keep us true to the Bill of Rights and strikes the proper balance between our cherished liberty and smart security.

I urge my colleagues to support the USA Freedom Act.

NSA Reform Takes Its First Steps

The USA FREEDOM Act takes steps to:

End bulk collection under Patriot Act Section 215. The bill

requires the government to show the Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Court that the specific records it seeks from

phone companies pertain to a specific email address, account

number or other ``selection term'' before it can demand a

customer's personal information. It creates a new collection

authority for call records but takes meaningful steps to

ensure that such records are not vacuumed up wholesale, as

was happening under the secret programs revealed by Edward

Snowden.

Prevent bulk collection under FISA pen register and

National Security Letter authorities. The bill also requires

the government to use a ``selection term'' that uniquely

describes its surveillance target and serves as the basis for

collecting information from a telephone line, facility, or

other account. This would help ensure that the government

won't use pen registers and National Security Letters as

convenient substitutes for the 215 program.

Increase transparency. Finally, the bill requires the

government to provide to Congress and to the public

additional reporting on its surveillance programs, while

enabling companies who receive national security

informational requests to more fully inform customers about

the extent to which the government is collecting their data.

Additional governmental reporting requirements and more

particularized third party reporting authorities, however,

are needed in order to ensure that Congress and the public

have the information they need to perform truly robust

oversight.

While the bill makes significant reforms to U.S.

surveillance law, Congress clearly chose not to let the

perfect be the enemy of the good. And, to be clear, more work

needs to be done. Some of the additional reforms we are

calling for, which were in the original USA FREEDOM Act,

include:

Ensuring that judges in the Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Court (FISC) have the authority to determine

whether an application passes legal muster and do not return

to being mere rubber stamps.

Limiting the circumstances under which the government can

gather records more than one ``hop'' out from a target to

help ensure Americans' information is not unnecessarily swept

up.

Closing the ``back door'' search loophole in the FISA

Amendments Act to prevent the government from searching

information collected under Section 702 of FISA for the U.S.

persons' communications content.

Mr. Speaker, all that we do and all that America does is owed to the greatness of our Constitution and to men and women whom we will honor this coming Monday, Memorial Day.

I call today upon Americans, wherever they may be, to stop for a moment to honor them.

A few years ago, I passed unanimous legislation on this floor to honor all of those who had ever served in combat. But we honor those who fell in the line of duty. This coming week, we will remember them, as we should every year.

As I go home, I will be visiting one of my veterans hospitals to be reminded of those who still stand, and to commit that we will fix every problem that denies or undermines the health care system of our veterans.

I have introduced the Heroes Act to ensure that veterans who have gained many good skills in service can equate those skills to civilian work, that they are treated with respect and dignity as managers and leaders, because that is what they were when they served in the United States military.

And so we honor our fallen soldiers and their families. We will gather today as Americans this weekend. We will stand united under the flag, saying thank you, for you have told all of us that freedom is not free.