Hal Rogers

Mr. Chairman, the Asia Foundation makes an important contribution to the development of democracy and economic reform in countries like Indonesia, China, other places in that part of the world where vital U.S. national interests are at…

I recognize the special problem the Commission faces, having funded a portion of the current year requirements with carryover funds. I would be happy to continue to work with the gentleman as the bill proceeds to ensure the necessary…

We spent time listening to people who spoke on a matter that everyone knew was subject to a point of order and we allowed that to take place. I want to continue to be as lenient as possible and will do so to work with my colleagues, but we…

Mr. Chairman, what this argument is about today is unlike what has been argued before in this body on this matter. This debate is about what was the intent of the Congress in 1995 when we passed the act in this bill that allowed the…

contrary to what we have heard, this amendment and this debate is not about whether one likes or believes in smoking, or whether it is good or bad for us. That is not the issue here. The issue is not whether this lawsuit has merits or not…

Mr. Chairman, the bill provides an increase of $13 million over the current level for the U.S. Trade Representative, International Trade Administration, and International Trade Commission. This funding continues the overseas presence of…

As I pointed out earlier, we actually increased the Patent Office expenditures in the bill by $33 million this year. Over the last 4 years we have increased them by $250 million. So they are not starving.

The fees that are generated by the Patent Office are not used for any other agency or any other purpose. They remain in that account to be used in succeeding years. We are not siphoning off the Patent Office fees for other expenditures.

I want to state to the gentleman that, since 1994, we have increased the funding for this office by $250 million, $250 million over the last 5 years we have increased them. In this current bill, we are increasing them by $34 million. Now…

We need more agents and support staff on the northern border. In fact, in the House report, we continue to admonish the INS for their failure to address the problems along the northern border, as well as their failure to hire the Border…

But the gentleman understands that the Bureau of Prisons has nothing to do with this; it is the INS, if anybody's fault, and BOP has nothing to do with it.

INS pays for the detention of all these people. It is not BOP. It is the INS. You are punishing the wrong people. If you were punishing INS, I might join you because I have got my complaints there, too.

The gentleman may have improperly drafted the amendment, because he may intend to cut from something else, but the fact is that he cut the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant.

This program is neither authorized or even well defined. No one knows what we are talking about here. What is a high gun violence area? There has to be some definitions so we can administer a law when it is passed. No one knows what that…

the local law enforcement block grants go through no State government. They go directly from here to their local police force, to their local sheriff, to their community police force. There is nobody in between. They can use it as they see…

Mr. Chairman, I am in opposition, of course, to the amendment; and I will insist upon the point of order. But before doing so, let me correct a couple of pieces of information. Like all other State and local law enforcement grant programs…

This belongs in the right forum, over there in the Committee on the Judiciary where you can debate this for all that it is worth, and it is worth a lot it sounds like; but please do not burden this bill with another rider. I urge the…

Mr. Chairman, we present to you H.R. 4690, making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, and the Federal Judiciary and related agencies for fiscal year 2001. This bill provides funding, Mr. Chairman, for the…

if I recollect correctly, the President's budget request was brought to the floor and voted on. Is it not correct that the House rejected the President's request by some 430 to 2. I ask the gentleman, what was the correct figure?

Well, Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I can tell that he is an expert on this subject, and I wonder if there is a way that we could somehow taste the fruit of his labors and test whether or not there ought to be a…

Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept this amendment. I support the work the SBA does to help women start and maintain small businesses. In fact, the bill includes funding for both the Women's Business Centers and the Women's Business…

Of course this is the wrong bill for Native American assistance. That is the Interior bill. What we deal with in this bill is crime. I think we have been very generous in the bill in providing I think probably a record amount for the Local…

I respect that. All of us recognize there is a tremendous problem, and that is why we put money in this bill that was not even requested by the President. I resent the fact that the gentleman maintains that there is nothing in this bill…

Mr. Chairman, the passage of this amendment would be an admission by the Members of this body that we cannot do the job our people elected us to do. We were elected by our constituents, all of us, to come here and pass on spending and…

Mr. Chairman, let me say I appreciate the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) and his concerns regarding this problem. And it is a problem. I do not oppose the amendment. As I understand it, his amendment would provide funding to help…