[Congressional Record: November 15, 2001 (Extensions)]
[Page E2094-E2095]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr15no01-55]
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2500, DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND
STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002
______
speech of
HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2500, the
Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations Conference
Report. I'd like to thank our Chairman, Frank Wolf, and our Ranking
Member, Jose Serrano, for putting together such a fair conference
report under the significant funding constraints faced by the
Committee.
As my colleagues know, one of the most critical functions of this
bill is to provide resources for our law enforcement to assist them in
enforcing the laws of our nation and keeping our citizens safe. The CJS
bill contains the majority of funding for federal law enforcement
personnel, and funds critical grant programs which get the resources
out to the local law enforcement agencies which work so hard to keep
our communities safe.
While we know that additional resources will be needed in the future,
the bill provides significant funding to make sure that our federal law
enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
Drug Enforcement Agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and
the Border Patrol, have adequate funding to do their jobs in light of
the tragic events on September 11th. I am particularly pleased that the
bill provides important, much-needed increases for the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, including an increase in the number of border
patrol agents and INS inspectors, while at the same time dedicating an
additional $45 million above base funding in order to tackle the
existing backlog in the processing of immigration cases.
While I am pleased with the overall bill, I am disappointed that the
Senate provision permanently extending Section 245(i) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act was not included in the final
conference report.
245(i) allows certain eligible immigrants to apply for green cards in
the United States, rather than returning to their home countries to
apply. Without Section 245(i), people fully eligible for green cards
will be forced to return to their countries of origin and barred from
returning to the United States for up to ten years--ripping families
apart and causing many employers to lose qualified and well-trained
employees. The issue is not whether these immigrants are eligible for
legal residence, nor when they can adjust, but rather from where they
can apply to become permanent U.S. residents.
As my colleagues know, the LIFE Act, which passed last year, provided
a window of just four months for people to file applications with the
INS or Department of Labor. For various reasons, thousands of qualified
immigrants were unable to benefit from this short extension by the
April 30th 2001, deadline. In the rush to apply, many eligible
applicants had their files returned by the INS because of technical
mistakes after the deadline expired. In addition, many immigrants did
not have their papers filed properly, or even at all, by unscrupulous
individuals purporting to be immigration lawyers.
Many members, including myself and the membership of Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, believe that Congress should pass a permanent
extension Section 245(i). While some may disagree with this view, it is
clear that some sort of extension is long overdue. President Bush, the
AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all publicly supported an
extension of this important provision.
The Senate passed a compromise extension of 245(i) more than 2 months
ago, and the House was set to vote on this legislation on September
11th. It is my sincere hope that the leadership of the House will re-
schedule a vote on this critical legislation as soon as possible. I
look forward to working with Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Serrano
to ensure that an extension of 245(i) is passed before Congress
adjourns for the year.
Mr. Speaker, having expressed my concern about the omission of
section 245(i), let me now focus on some of the positive aspects of the
bill and why I will support it. For example, I am very pleased that the
conference committee was willing to provide funding for a variety of
initiatives and projects that are of importance to Los Angeles and
California.
The Los Angeles Conservancy works with a variety of community
interest groups and developers on rehabilitation and restoration
projects. The funding in this bill will assist the L.A. Conservancy
with their renovation of historic St. Vibiana's Cathedral. In addition,
the conservancy's Broadway Redevelopment project will rehabilitate a
number of theaters in the historic area of Los Angeles. Both projects
fit into an exciting downtown redevelopment plan that is strengthening
the economic foundation of this once neglected area of downtown Los
Angeles.
In addition to economic development funding, I am also pleased by the
number of projects that have been included to help our nation's kids
through the Department of Justice's juvenile justice programs and
community-oriented police (COPS) programs. In Los Angeles, several
groups that are working with teenagers will receive support for their
promising efforts. The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU)
operates a family-based gang violence prevention program, Project
JADE--the Juvenile Assistance Diversion Effort--is a well-regarded
community-based organization working to expand its juvenile crime
prevention program. Para Los Ninos provides intervention for first-time
juvenile offenders and their families, including after-school programs
for at-risk youth. Another program included in our bill is LA's Best, a
nationally recognized afterschool program which operates in schools
throughout the city of Los Angeles.
I was also pleased to work in cooperation with Governor Davis and
Republican and Democratic members of the California delegation to
acquire funding for other projects of regional and statewide
importance.
One of the proudest achievements of the California delegation is a
project that honors the longtime service on the Commerce-Justice-State
Subcommittee of our late colleague, Julian Dixon. Funds are provided to
assist Julian's law school alma mater, Southwestern University School
of Law, with construction of its state-of-the-art Julian Dixon
Courtroom. The courtroom will facilitate the teaching of
[[Page E2095]]
advocacy and litigation skills. It will also provide Southwestern,
which serves a significant populace of minority law students, with a
community resource for jurists and lawyers. The university has
committed to a better than one to one match for the federal funding.
Mr. Speaker, there are not many issues where 100 percent of the
diverse 52-member California House delegation come together, but
support for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is one of them.
A united and unanimous delegation is responsible for seeing that $565
million was provided for this important program that reimburses
California and other impacted states for the costs associated with
incarcerating illegal aliens.
Several other California projects also received attention. The
California Center for Integrative Coastal Research, CI-CORE, is a new
research initiative pulling together the strengths of several
California State University campuses, including San Jose, San
Francisco, Hayward, Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, Long
Beach, Los Angeles, and San Diego. With the increased burden placed
upon California's coastal resources due to agriculture, industry and
urban development, better understanding of the oceans and our coastal
region is imperative in making informed commercial, recreational and
environmental policy decisions. CI-CORE will provide timely,
indispensable and appropriate environmental data to regulatory agencies
that are responsible for the development and enforcement of management
policies.
The University of California's textile research program will receive
funding and designation as one of the member institutions of the
National Textile Consortium (NTC). California is the leading
manufacturer of apparel in the U.S. and is the largest employer in the
apparel and textile trade, yet until now, no California university was
included in the NTC. The inclusion of its research program, whose
strengths include polymer science, fiber mechanics, fabric performance,
and fashion theory, is long overdue.
The California Spatial Reference Center at Scripps Institute will
also receive special attention. The center's research and activities
support an accurate spatial reference system in California that is
integral to decision-making by policy-makers at the local, state and
federal level. As California faces significant seismic and geologic
activity each year, an up-to-date spatial reference system is central
to our ability to perform environmental monitoring, manage our civil
infrastructure, and respond appropriately to emergencies of all kinds.
And finally, a modest amount of funding is provided to support the
Central California Ozone Study. This study is being conducted to
understand the relative role of local emissions and transported
pollutants on air quality. The study is a collaborative effort by the
California Air Resources Board, local governments, and industry, and
has already received over $8 million in state and local contributions.
In light of the change in federal air quality standards for ozone, the
deregulation of utilities in bringing new power generation to
California, and the on-going process of developing State Implementation
Plans for air quality, the Central California Ozone Study is a vital
ingredient to ensure the cleanest air possible for all Californians.
I have enjoyed working with our chairman, ranking member and all the
members of the Commerce-Justice-State-Judiciary Subcommittee this year
on the wide variety of programs and agencies within our jurisdiction.
Our work is a constant balancing act, but I believe a good balance has
been achieved. I urge support of the conference report.
____________________
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