forever the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table and down the enrolled will take the chair temporarily september thirtieth two thousand and six and for other purpose when the committee of the whole rose earlier today the amendment offered by the gentleman from maryland mr gilchrist had been disposed of and the bill had been read through page to  two chapter two department of defense department of defense military military personnel military personnel army six million five hundred six million two hundred twenty three thousand dollars military personnel navy one billion sixty one miller and seven hundred twenty four thousand dollars military personnel marine corps eight hundred thirty four million one hundred twenty two thousand dollars military personnel air force one billion one hundred  the justice department is working on a plan to distribute one hundred twenty five million dollars in emergency funds that were provided in the last hurricane supplemental bill for state and local law enforcement yesterday in our appropriations subcommittee hearing i asked the attorney general what portion of the funds texas would receive the attorney general told me and i quote the law requires us to consult with both house and senate appropriations and that is ongoing believe me the last thing i want to do is to victimize the victims again victimized the states who stepped in and bore the brunt of these terrible tragedies texas did exactly that i say this is stepped in and bore the brunt of all of these terrible traged directly with the fallout from hurricane rita and directly by taking in hundreds of thousands of evacuees now the attorney general should deliver to the committee a plan that includes the needs of law requisite number of words the minute the gentleman is recognized for five minutes i thank the chair for recognizing mr chairman mr chairman all of us had images invented in our mind about the devastation coming from hurricane katrina and hurricane rita we are finding out even today that hurricanes are not the only way that mother nature can cause destruction in my district wildfires are raging it is estimated that since sunday approximately eight hundred fifty thousand acres have been consumed while far it is estimated by the governor's office that in the last three months or so approximately three point seven million acres in texas have been burned by wildfires that were my colleagues benefit is roughly is bigger than the size of connecticut approximately two percent of the land mass in texas has been burned in these cars just in the last three months in the farms that are going on now is estimated ten to twelve thousand head of cattle have been destroyed because of these far now obviously this this devastation is continuing it is not possible in this bill to take action to to have some sort of disaster really but i know all of my colleagues are concerned about disasters whatever the cause may be and i'm particularly grateful to the subcommittee chairman the gentleman from texas mr bonior for his concern and consideration in looking at ways as this film moves forward when perhaps we can look at ways to assist those who are devastated by what may well be the fires of the century and i would y to the distinguished subcommittee chairman at this time pretty commented like tonight well i think my friend for yielding and mr thornberry makes absolutely clear that this is a problem that we need to deal with while there are tragedies that continue in the gulf states and many much of the money that is being debated in this appropriations bill is going for a much needed cause the people in texas that have been affected by these fires are not getting the attention that others are getting and have been getting now for many many months this has been going on now for so many days and weeks with no  in sight and i want to assure mr thornberry that this is only the beginning in this process and that while he is one of the great leaders in this effort to try to provide some relief for many of our producers who have been affected the entire delegation from our state is working hard on this and i commit to the gentleman my friend to mr thornberry that we will work diligently to try to remedy this and to provide some assistance earlier the territory you're talking about in texas is just about the size of my district in which you can put five eastern state that's huge territory i've been watching your problem was real interest and and there's little question that the house our committe needs to be responsive and we're going to everything we can to work with you i appreciate to both the chairman lewis and chairman barney working on this mr chair my pocket emphasize one thing it is hard for the pictures to convey the magnitude of this disaster when you have such three more than three and a half million acres that are devastated twelve thousand head of cattle it is a disaster of enormous proportions and i and i appreciate very much the willingness of the distinguished chairman here and other members to work to help mitigate the effects of this disaster when it is completed and with that i would yield back the balance of my time jaylen yield back to what purpose the gentleman from wisconsin ra's as chairman  the last word gentleman's recognize the five i'm being asked every two seconds by members what's the story about tonight let me simply suggest and ask the general of california if you concurs it is my understanding that we're trying to do is to put together unanimous consent agreement under which we would be able to complete our business of debating all of the pending amendments within about another eleven hours that assumes that we can get that u c agreement if we can't the debate could go on far longer we don't quite have that u c agreement worked out yet but we're trying to and what we're hoping to do is were going about putting together the ends consent agreement that will package these amendments to protect the rights of those members who felt the moments and the meantime were and actually expedite the process so we can complete this work tomorrow and in the meantime there are hopeful if that's the case and really circumstances we will have no more votes tonight it's also my understanding that afterwards there is an intention to have the energy and commerce committee also bring up a matter relating to the low income heating assistance program at the end of this part challenges to the five state region struck by katrina and by rita as it relates to the administration of elections as you know new orleans has an election coming up within the next thirty days other jurisdictions have elections i tried to offer fifty million dollars in the committee through the a c i want to say the gentle lady i appreciate her leadership on this issue i support her amendment i hope it's made in order i hope it is not object to and i hope that we can see it adopted i want to tell the gentle lady as well that mr nolan berg and i have been discussing this because fema has said that they cannot expand under the stafford act certain expenditures which are required to administer the elections particularly in new orleans because that's upon us another jurisdiction says well they did pay for the loss of machines they did pay the loss a ballot boxes and other paraphernalia necessary but they have said no to the sanford act they cannot pay for the election expenses in either new or in either alabama mississippi louisiana  will read them in page or line one reserve personnel army one hundred sixty six million seventy thousand dollars reserve personnel maybe one hundred ten million four hundred twelve thousand dollars reserve personnel marine cor ten million three hundred twenty seven thousand dollars reserve personnel air force one million one hundred forty thousand dollars national guard personnel army ninety six million dollars national guard personnel air force one million two hundred thousand dollars operation and maintenance operation and maintenance army eighteen billion three hundred eighty million three hundred ten thousand dollars operation and maintenance navy two billion seven hundred ninety three million six hundred thousand dollars operation and maintenance marine corps one billion seven hundred twenty two million nine hundred eleven thousand dollars operation and maintenance air force five million three hundred twenty eight million eight hundred  sixty nine thousand dollars operation and maintenance defense wide three billion two hundred fifty nine million nine hundred twenty nine thousand dollars operation and maintenance army reserve one hundred million one hundred thousand dollars operation and maintenance navy reserve or two hundred thirty six million five hundred nine thousand dollars operation and maintenance marine corps reserve fifty five million six hundred seventy five thousand dollars operation and maintenance air force reserve eighteen million five hundred sixty three thousand dollars operating inane inside army national guard one hundred seventy eight million six hundred thousand dollars operation and maintenance air national guard thirty million four hundred thousand dollars afghanistan security forces on one billion eight hundred fifty one million eight hundred thirty three thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven iraqi security forces on three billion seven million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven procurement aircraft procurement army five hundred thirty three million two hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand a missile procurement army two hundred three million three hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight procurement of weapons and track combat vehicles arming one billion one hundred eighty three million three hundred fifty one thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand a procurement of ammunition army eight hundred twenty nine million six hundred seventy nine thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight other procurement armine seven billion five hundred twenty eight million six hundred fifty seven thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight aircraft procurement navy two hundred ninety three million one hundred eighty thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight weapons procurement navy ninety million eight hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight procurement of and the nation's navy and marine corps a hundred thirty million one hundred ninety six thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand hundred procurement navy one hundred eleven million seven hundred nineteen thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand a procurement marine corps three million two hundred fifty million five hundred eighty two thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight and prosper chairman air force six hundred sixty three million five hundred ninety five thousand dollars to remain available until put temper s two thousand a group chairman of ammunition air force twenty nine million forty seven thousand dollars remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and eight other procurement air force one billion four hundred eighty nine million one hundred ninety two thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand a pro chairman defense wide three hundred thirty one million three hundred fifty three thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand a research development test and evaluat research development testing evaluation army four hundred twenty four million one hundred seventy seven thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven research development test and evaluation navy one hundred  twenty six million eight hundred forty five thousand dollars three main available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven research development test and evaluation airforce three hundred five million one hundred ten thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven research development test and evaluation defense wide one hundred forty five million one hundred twenty one thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven revolving management funds defense working capital funds five hundred two million seven hundred thousand dollars they want to report will continue or each other depart and of defense programs defense health program one billion one the california in chapter two of title one and the item relating to defense health program and certain after the dollar amount the following reduced by twenty million dollars increase by twenty million gentlewoman from california is recognized to five minutes thank you mr chairman mr chairman my amendment address is one of the most critical needs facing our men and women returning home from iraq and afghanistan and that's a sensible and reliable prosthetics and orthotics care for our veterans like no war before the war in iraq has seen on president the numbers of their losing those create new demands and challenges for our health care system that we must provide for our returning men and women in addition twenty percent of our practitioners will be retiring over the next ten twenty years and a further need for training mine mehmet today provides twenty million dollars to expand the u s training capacity for prosthetics and orthotics to the u s schools accredited by the national commission on work that excess and prosthetics education this expansion will dramatically improve services for the nation's military amputees and orthopedic lee disabled or returning from the current conflicts practitioners are trained each year in the united states on a broader scale my amendment is an x excellent investment and a health feel that will continue to grow for example over one point two million individuals live with limb loss absence in the united states annually physicians perform over one hundred eighty five thousand mt take sions in the united states and a proud five hundred seven a day the number of haitians it is is expected to rise due to the devastating complications of diabetes as the grenade for rehabilitation practitioners well trained in the various disciplines of rehabilitation will continue to be a growing trend only this funding will be an investment in our veterans hospitals across the country i asked and mr chairman that my colleagues support this important amendment and i thank the gentleman from new york mr chairman i rise strake last word where jim is recognized the five minutes thank you mr chairman i rise as chairman of the military quality of life subcommittee on appropriations within whose responsibility this amendment lies active duty service people the only concern i have is that this would take twenty million dollars out of the defense health budget and it move it basically to training those very prospective thoughtful ideas it needs to be done and the only the only concern is is the current needs of the defense health budget but i am prepared as chairman to accept this amendment to move forward as we come to conference if there's any need to reassess would we divide on the amendment if not the question is on the amendment of the gentlewoman from california all those in favor say aye all those opposed any opinion of the amendment therefore has adopted then the number one printed in the congressional record offered by mr souder of indiana gentleman is recognized for five minutes i think the chairman and my intention is to withdraw this amendment but i want to express my frustration at a actually a combination of issues but particularly related to to colombia that i have been a strong advocate that the military has been slow in responding in afghanistan to the in a relationship to the heroin problem in afghanistan and of the military efforts and will be there again next next week to meet on the ground to see how we're progressing and i have grave concerns that the deal the money that's being spent in afghanistan is not being spent as wisely as i would like nevertheless i am happy that the defense department is starting to understand the link between what is being done in narcotics and the heroin funding the attacks on our troops and men and women in our armed services there but we have a grave problem down in the eastern pacific and that is we've spent this money in the andean initiative and in plan colombia what we've seen is as naval resources which are very limited have been transferred out of that is own in the d o d has not made digital vestments in that mind them it would address the problem of an oiler when our coast guard vessels go out to interdict in drug interdiction to the department of homeland security they have always been dependent just like many intelligence assets are on d o d and d o d has not given them an oiler with which to refuel so logically the drug dealers of which we see far more than we used to we can see him coming at us we've gone from twenty thousand to thirty thousand in america real deaths on the streets of america because we're not interdicting things that we can see because we don't have an oiler in the eastern pacific that last sunday in the washington post a big article make some investment in an oil or we can talk all we want about intercepting narcotics but if you don't have a way to refuel their ships out in the water and if the united states navy takes all the resources from it we can't fight the war on narcotics so i'm going to withdraw this amendment because i understand the supplemental is focused on afghanistan in iraq i support being in our characters ever in afghanistan but i'm very concerned and i'm hoping that the appropriations committee will work with us on getting this oil or work with the o d because this is essential to the war on drugs without asking their citizens with rob levin is there objection without objection the amendment is withdrawn the clerk will read page twenty line twelve office of the inspector general six million one hundred twenty thousand dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven related agencies intelligence community management account one hundred fifty eight million eight hundred seventy five thousand dollars general provisions this chapter's section twelve zero one transfer of on section twelve zero two a authority to provide for the types of the four one accepted specified in subsections two and three of this section support under this section shall be limited to type as defined in section ten thirty three c one public law one o five dash eighty two the secretary may transfer equipment for counter drug activities three for afghanistan the secretary may also provide individual and served weapons for counter drug forces section twelve zero three total at vance billings for working capital funds shall not exceed one billion five hundred million dollars section twelve zero four not to exceed four hundred  twenty three million dollars may be used to fund the commander's emergency response program to remain available until december thirty first two thousand and seven section twelve o five supervision and administration cost may be obligated at the time of a construction contract is awarded section twelve zero six none of the funds may be used to finance programs or activities denied by congress without prior written notification to the committee chapter three bilateral economic assistance funds appropriated to the president united states agency for international development child survival and health programs on five million three hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september m n offered by mr engel of new york page twenty six line eight after the dollar amount insert the following increased by five million dollars page twenty six line sixteen after the dollar amount in thirds the following increased by five million dollars paid twenty seven line seventeen after the dollar amount inserted the following entry fight forty million dollars this is their objection to the amendment at this point without of job objection the point of all it is reserved for the gentleman new york is recognized for five minutes thank you mr chairman my men and men men speaks to the immediate needs of our southern neighbor haiti this amendment would increase economic support funds by forty million development assistance by five million and child survival and health funds by five million totaling an additional fifty million dollars for haiti it is my intention to offer and withdraw this amendment after a history of instability poverty and democratic setbacks haitians poured onto the streets of their country last month to cast their votes demonstrating their desire for a better future and after a contested vote counting period the front runner in the presidential election renee provide was declared the winner with nearly fifty two percent of the official vote compared to less than twelve percent to its closest contender such a large mandate mandate and a large margin of victory gives preval a strong mandate and the gym to see to reform and rebuild haiti's institutions and fractured society yet the challenges a vast the same massive underlying problems still play haiti and a second round of elections looms in the coming weeks now is the time i very strongly believe for the united states to tangibly demonstrate that it stands with the haitian people in their quest for democracy and stability we've long had a special relationship and a special obligation to the people of haiti i believe that there exists a limited window of opportunity to help haiti which was opened by the recent successful elections we should seize this opportunity by expanding our assistance to haiti and the hague people in the me in the immediate future my amendment does just that my amendment provides fifty million dollars  emergency f y o six supplemental assistance for our impoverished neighbor in the south haiti of course is the poorest country in the americas specifically the and then increases economic support kunz by forty million developmental assistance by five million in child survival and health by five million this supplemental funding directly addresses the profound social needs in haiti all providing support for future elections reconciliation and efforts jumpstart local economies mr chairman i would like you to know that members of the subcommittee on the western hemisphere where i'm the ranking member recently wrote a bipartisan letter supporting fifty million dollars of additional assistance in this supplemental legislation i would like to thank chairman barton and the other members of the subcommittee for their support i ask unanimous consent to include this letter in the record the gentleman for request were because on the general lee thank you election signaled the beginning of a transition not an end we just believe that this additional assistance is the least we can do at this critical time to help haiti we obviously have a legislation moves forward i ask that the house work with the senate to include emergency aid to haiti it is my hope that in the end congress will heed the bipartisan call of the subcommittee and provide of important additional aid to haiti as i said i am i'm going to at the end withdraw my amendment because i believe that this is the best way to move this and then going forward by working with the senate and hopefully we get it there and it comes here so i urge my colleagues to to listen gentleman is recognized for fasm a german i understand the gentleman from new york is going to withdraw and i will not take more than a few seconds here i want to make only one point to other members here because what the gentleman is proposing is certainly one that is is humanitarian and we certainly agree with his his attempt efforts to try to do everything we can to restore order to the very troubled nation of haiti but i think it's important to understand that in knowing these elections were coming in the two thousand  appropriation bill the foreign assistance amount included in there is one hundred sixty one hundred ninety four million dollars in addition the president is requesting in f y o seven one hundred sixty three billion dollars almost none of the hundred ninety four million dollars in the f y o six bill has been obligated so there is no possibility that we are going to need these additional funds in other words this is not an emergency at this point if additional funds are needed we could easily add i ride to strike the last word of the gentle lady from new york is recognized the five minutes mr chairman the victory of rene preval in the first round of elections in haiti does open a window of opportunity to rescue this country from its failed state status now is the time to the united states to tangibly demonstrate that it stands with the haitian people in the quest for democracy and stability mr chairman i was disappointed that the administration supplemental request did not contain funding for haiti because i do think we have limited time to make a difference by providing assistance to ensure that the second round of elections which are just weeks away are free fair and transparent this money will help fund quick impact programs to promote reconciliation and stabilization and to expand our protest patient in the un civilian police training and vetting programme i appreciate the comments of my chairman and his willingness to make sure that we have adequate funding for haiti but i think this amendment does send an important signal to the haitian people that the u s is committed to help them as they pull their country out of chaos the united states much show that we care about more than just elections we pay we care about what comes afterwards as well so i'm very pleased that the chairman addressed this issue i am pleased that mr angle is withdrawing the a man and i look forward to working with the chairman and working with mr angle to ensure that we are supportive and that haiti gets the money that it deserves to try to get it on the right track and move that country ahead it is an embarrassment to the region the gentleman from new york for his commitment to the people of haiti and i think today illustrates the type of commitment that he has in terms of his truly understanding the critical needs of the haitian people and so i want to commend you mr engel for your leadership and thank you for putting this out here at least so we can have a debate and discuss why haiti deserves this victory million dollars let me just say first of all the good we all know that on february seventh the haitian people demonstrated their faith in the democratic process and today the united states needs to send a signal we need to show our support for their commitment and for their press and perseverance and i chaired co chair the haiti task force with a great leader congressman conyers many members of this haiti task force to work for many many years to help the haitian people not only with their democracy which of course they have engaged in in terms of the democratic process over the years but also most importantly with their economic development and their humanitarian assistance and the infrastructure assistance that they so desperately need haiti is the poorest country in the caribbean and we need to begin to provide resources in a very real way and i mean in a real way to the people of haiti under the leadership of the newly democratically elected government this amendment rectifies and it's just the beginning i mean if only fifty million dollars begins to rectify some of the in adequacy of this but supplemental which of course we've heard there is really no money in it for haiti and so we need to i think support the engle amendment we need to send a message to the world to the caribbean to caricature and that we support democracy in haiti that we support the development assistance for haiti that we support economic assistance we support and increase to we doing today in terms of this fifty million i think we need to understand that we need more than one hundred ninety four million dollars to address the basic needs of the haitian people and some the strangle this is an excellent first started i hope that people throughout our country recognize that there are those of us here in the house who want to support the aspirations and the needs and the desires and the dreams of the haitian people and we should do so by passing this amendment this fifty million dollars thank balance of my time the gentleman from new york yes mr chairman i want to thank congresswoman lee and congresswoman lowey for their support and congressman and colby for his explanation and in the hope that the amendment is withdrawn the clerk will read page twenty six line fourteen development assistance ten million five hundred thousand dollars remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven international disaster famine assistance of one hundred thirty six million two hundred ninety thousand dollars operating expenses of the united states agency for international development sixty one million six hundred thousand dollars remain available until september mr chairman the clerk has an amendment before the desk the clerk will designate the amendment and then offered by mr shays of connecticut page twenty seven line seventeen after the dollar amount insert the following reduced by ten million dollars increased by ten million dollars the gentleman from connecticut is recognized for five minutes thank you mr chairman this and then that would designate ten million of economic support funds for the community action program also known as cap in irak that's what this amendment does i would like to say mr chairman that a real hero in this house is mr b who has made sure that these programs have flourished and in my eleven trips to wreck i am absolutely convinced the best thing we have done in all of our expenditures on the economic side of the table has been to support these characters agencies there are were five n g o s non government organizations there are still four left they stand potentially lose money in june or july and not have the carry over into the next fiscal year and what this and then that ensures with mr covies help is that that money will be extended so that we can keep them in place and when we talk about keeping them in place for instance one of these non government organizations and it's typical has about one hundred thirty employees who are all racquets threw out a rack and only seven who are not iraqis one or two europeans one or two eastern europeans and one or two americans and when you add up the others we're talking about over six hundred plus or raqi and what are they doing there rebuilding schools they're repairing water sewer lines building health clinics helping what takes place in the schools is just a host of other infrastructure and development projects in the report that was done by the appropriations committee and i would like to read from it expresses my sentiments better than i could this is what the report says the cap program has generated a network of more than one hundred thirty one thousand three hundred community associations across seven thousand governance interact and its train seventeen thousand two hundred eighty one community association members as of january two thousand and five auto by the office of inspector general  us a id found that the cat quote achieved ninety eight percent of its intended output including citizen participation in or government cooperation local government cooperation local employment generation and consideration of environmental concerns the bottom line is these programs are working extraordinarily well and i thank mr colby the chairman of the appropriations committee as well to ensure that these organizations don't have to close up shop fire a whole host of iraqis and i would like to just say in addition i am a strong supporter of making sure that we do everything we can to have the iraqis succeed it is  in last year they had three elections there stablished a government that government a stablished a cause to show convention they created a constitutional convention then we had a section second election ratified by seventy nine percent of the iraqis who voted and then once the constitution was established december of this last year seventy six percent of all iraqi adults voted that seventy six of those who register seventy six percent and thirty percent of their new assembly has women in it extraordinary progress on the political side were trait train their police their border patrol and their army i wish we hadn't allowed it to disintegrate but now they're getting to critical mass we're seeing the military side we see in the political side this is the economic side that mr colby is focused on at absolutely i strongly support the shays amendment because this continues the cap program led by groups like mercy corps in iraq who are able to operate with very low levels of security because they are so heavily supported by the local community this is a phenomenally successful program the gentleman is exactly right evidently not one of these projects done by the organizations have had to do was assault by iraqis i've had seen a building of something which then was destroyed by insurgents they have hot survived thank  g five minutes and i rise in support of the gentlemens amendment and i understand and i'm pleased that the chairman is going to accept it because i kept is one of the few overwhelming success stories with respect to iraq reconstruction since two thousand and three i kept as worked with communities in all of iraq's eighteen govern it's to empower ordinary iraqis to determine implementing modern monitor reconstruction and development in their communities and we all talk about how iraqis need to run their own country choose their own government fight their own battles make their own priorities i kept is aimed at accomplishing just this goal it's implementing partners have trained more than six hundred twenty iraqi staff members in turn they have trained over seventeen thousand community action group members and i kept partners do not contract with multinational corporations to get their work done only iraqi contractors carry out i kept projects so as we move forward i captain be an excellent complement to the new provincial reconstruction teams being established throughout iraq to gentlemens of men that will ensure that i get this not run out of funding this summer as if it certainly will if no further resources are provided so it would be a shame to end this program prematurely and i urge my colleagues to support this and then for what purpose is the gentleman from arizona rod as  directed has been a proven ineffective way to build community based democracy in iraq and linkages between community and provincial governance and i think it's worked very well the experiences that we've had in iraq has really been been very much in favor of what we've been trying to do there these funds ensure the continuation of that community action program through the fiscal year two thousand and six and i commit to the gentleman that we're going to consider further appropriations for this proven program in the regular appropriation bill for two thousand and seven and for that reason i am happy to accept this amendment and hope that we can move forward gentle an ideal of the gentleman there is a see a concern obviously with continuing resolutions is there a way to deal with that well yes if there is a scenario in which funding for activities in the foreign operations appropriations bill are funny for a period of time under a continuing resolution page twenty seven line twenty three department of state democracy times ten million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven international narcotics control and law and for the the clerk will designate the amendment and then offered by mr garrett of new jersey page twenty seven strike lines twenty four and all that policy or a line five on page twenty eight page thirty five line twenty after the dollar amount insert the following reduced by five million dollars page thirty six strike line fourteen and all that follows through line twenty one as chairman of the gentleman from california this is the chairman regrettably i reserve a point of order against journalism and the gentleman reserves a point appropriation supplemental meaning that we're adding to something to complete it were to bring it to probation and emergency this rand out and grab the dictionary meaning an unexpected serious occurrence or a situation urgently requiring prompt action well unfortunately a language in the bill and this area of additional foreign aid is not an unexpected situation or emergency and that's just not my opinion that's actually the opinion of the committee itself the language that we speak the strike is approximately fifteen million dollars in additional foreign aid five million dollars to expand public diplomacy information programs relating to iran and ten million dollars in democracy fund for the promotion of democracy governments human rights independent media and the rule of law i iran certainly not an ally of this nation that we hear tonight intend to stick to seek assistance of fifteen million dollars again not my opinion that is not an ally of this country this administration itself called iran part of the axis of evil iran who wants to wipe israel off the map of the world iran who wants to assist them us in any way they possibly can iran  detail to listen to the world feed and continues to expand its nuclear program and yet tonight we have a supplemental program of approximately fifteen million dollars to assist that nation and again i say this is not my opinion that this is not an emergency situation the committee and its report says that is this disappointed in the department of state failure to provide adequate and timely justification of the emergency nature of these funds if the state department cannot supply us and cannot supply the committee with the very information that it needs to say that this truly is an emergency situation why then is this house considering providing an additional fift fifteen million dollars to support iraq the rest a supplemental obviously has worthwhile programs and we're trying to assist our men and women overseas reclined themselves in harm's way as we speak here tonight with military assistance we're trying to assist those people down in the gulf coast to rebuild their lives with katrina aid but at the same time we have articles such as this added to this christmas tree list if you will of programs to the supplemental bill that did not meet the criteria of emergency it's a situation so mr chairman i would ask at this time that or rather i would say that we should strike a language in the bill that would delete five million dollars for public diplomacy and ten million dollars for economic support fund or iran i reserve the balance for what purpose the gentleman from california rod as chairman regretfully i must make a point of order against the amendment because it reposed to amend portions of the bill not yet to read section seventeen of chapter two of the house practice book  the clerk will read page twenty eight line six international narcotics control and law enforcement one hundred seven million seven hundred thousand dollars to remain available until september so september thirtieth two thousand and seven the gentleman from indiana arrives the court will report them them and then an offer by mr burton of indiana page twenty eight line nine after the dollar amount insert the following reduced by twenty six million three hundred thousand dollars encrease fight twenty six million three hundred thousand dollars the gentleman from indiana is recognized for five minutes thank you very much i've discussed at length with  chairman of the subcommittee from arizona and the chairman of the full committee the problems that we faced with plan colombia in the last five or six years there have been twenty three aircraft lost that are vitally important to the drug interdiction problem that we're facing this chart shows you where the drugs are coming from and where they are going according to our intelligence agencies and once drugs heroin and cocaine get beyond the colombia sixty five percent of them over to almost two thirds of them work their way and into the united states into the streets into the schools into the playgrounds of this country and present your e bay just came up here recently and told us without the additional assets that are asked for in this event that he will not be able to do the job in dealing with the drug that we face here in america and so we have to decide as a congress are we going to continue to fight the war against drugs are we going to start acquiescing are going to start caving in now according to president uribe they need  twenty three aircraft we have talked to the appropriators and i really appreciate them mr colby for working with us on this and and mr lewis the chairman we have decided on a compromise right now i hope you will that will help present rebate it's not going to solve the problem but at least it's a step in the right direction what it does it provides three d c three s which will be able to surveil the area and help us interdict these drugs are getting beyond colombia up into the united states they've been doing a good job with without all the assets they need and with these additional d c three which have all the technology that's necessary to police this area it should should help a great deal but make no mistake about it we still need to huey's we still need the black hawks something like seventy percent of the aircraft that they've used in this area has been destroyed in the last six years five or six years and they need help down there and present you're a very himself came all the way to the united states to make a plea for this this help i've talked to the speaker about it as well as the leaders on the appropriations committee and i hope my colleagues the democrat side as well will see fit to support this we have a war against drugs have some of my colleagues serve with me on the government reform committee that told me in baltimore there is an eighty percent increase in the amount of heroin usage in the minority community if we're going to deal with that problem we have to provide the resources for president uribe in the the national police and the colombian military to deal with this problem in addition to that we have other problems in south america and central america that need to be dealt with which this equipment will also help us with and we also have the problem of possible terrorists coming in the surveillance or will help in that regard as well i have a lot more things i'd like to say but i understand like times of obvious fired i hope you'll accept this and i really appreciate you working with us for what purpose a gentle lady from new york  is recognized by great respect to my colleague i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment though i think he raises a valid concern i just returned from colombia and i think there's a real need to boost the colombian governments into diction efforts in fact i think that great a focus on interdiction may well be more effective than our current emphasis on eradication however i think the responsibility for funding this program lies first and foremost  colombian government the president of colombia was in washington just a few weeks ago and met with chairman called the in me he did not indicate to us any pressing need to this is sissons in fact i believe the state department is seeking to reprogram funds away from colombian aviation programs and the colombian national police to finance the demobilization programs that said i do agree that the gentleman raises an important point i think it's time that we look at a different mix of funding for colombia one that boosts spending on alternate development and into diction programs and reduces funding for the eradication programs which i think are in effect however i think this amendment is better considered in the context of f y two thousand and seven appropriations process where a more comprehensive discussion of the colombia program can take place and i think that's what's really needed here there  the recognize for five minutes chairman of the gentleman from indiana has indicated this amendment that he's offered here does represent a compromise that we have worked out and so i do rise to say that i support of this  let me just say that i do agree with my colleague the ranking member of the subcommittee that generally from new york in many of the comments that she made is correct that when president reviewed for whom i have the greatest respect and believe that he has been one of the truly great leaders of colombia in recent decades i think when president reagan came to visit with us he did not make any did not give us any indication that this was the money that he was seeking that he needed  additional funds for however having said that i believe this is an important aspect of our effort to interdict drugs coming to a central america and mexico and then on into the united states for us it is the front line of our war against drugs and for that reason i do think that this amount which represents i think a reasonable compromise and does not damage our other programs from which the funds are taken and in iraq  for that reason i think it's one that can be supported and so mr chairman i would just support this amendment and i would yield back the balance of my time to the question is on the amendment from the gentleman from  the gentleman from wisconsin rise gentleman is recognized for five minutes chairman i would like to ask the gentleman from california question as the gentleman you know was there is a be in session beyond say five or six o'clock we have made an exception this evening despite the fact that  there was a dispute in the republican caucus earlier in the day which ate up an extra hour and a half and despite the fact that we've been told that  because we were trying to facilitate the members of both parties leaving here tomorrow afternoon it now appears to me that  despite our willingness to do that we are getting a continual stream of new amendments being surfaced on the majority side which are preventing us from reaching a time agreement that would enable us to get out of here at a reasonable hour tomorrow afternoon i would like to know what the status of the situation is because at this point i frankly see no purpose in continuing tonight if paul were going to do is to give people more time to draft more amendment we have we have imposed a deadline on our side of the aisle and told members that amendments will not be considered if they come in after a certain hour but my just ending is on the republican side there are still amendments coming in and and there and the majority is being pressured to put them on the list and i don't mind working cooperatively but i do mind what i'm being taken advantage of and i want to suggest that if we cannot reach an agreement on time within the next ten minutes i for one intend to move to adjourn that responded the gentleman the gentleman has been more than cooperative and i appreciate what he has to say we from this gentleman's perspective it's not our intention to take any additional amendments we're very very close to an agreement and i would hope that that you and i can see our way through this long enough a few minutes and make sure that we can page twenty eight line fifteen gratian and refugee assistance fifty one million two hundred thousand dollars remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven department of the treasury international affairs technical assistance thirteen million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven military assistance fund appropriated to the president peacekeeping operations or my partner will suspend for what purpose the gentleman from wisconsin for our last word  clerk will read one more paragraph page twenty nine line six military assistance ons appropriated to the president peacekeeping operations one hundred twenty three million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth one thousand seven clarke w july of two thousand for this house to clean atrocities in darfur to be a genocide since that time actually since two thousand and three four hundred thousand people at least have died two hundred thousand people are in refugee camps in chad two and a half million people are displaced within the for over half the population has been affected the president has used the word genocide the secretary of state has used the word genocide a whole world know what's going on in darfur many me house including many many members on both sides of this aisle been very active in this issue in this bill that was already a lot of money appropriated to continue funding the african union mission that is currently providing seventy seven hundred troops darfur to protect the people that are there however everyone knows that that is insufficient here you was doing a good job with a number of troops it has been with the resources it has but we all know that it needs more the president himself has asked to double the number of troops in the darfur region i agree with him everybody who watches issues you agrees with him we have to do something the money that's in this bill will maintain the  good thing however maintaining it is insufficient it will eventually become a un mission and that is a good thing i hope most of us if not all of us will support it that will take six to nine months at least in the meantime maintaining the current situation is an acceptable deal for i've asked for an additional fifty million dollars to be put forward to enhance that mission and i understand there's some concerns about adding more troops with this much this money can be used for several different items it's not just boots on the ground first of all money is fungible for other people that use it second of all these troops also have major problems with communication on the ground with technical planning on the ground with equipment on the ground that this money can be used for this money will be zero effort to build a bridge between the current situation in the situation that we're all trying to get to which hopefully will take less than nine months that's why i offer this amendment that's why i hope it passes and average of the balance of my time the gentleman may not reserve his time  to the for what purpose of the gentleman from arizona rise shona rise in opposition to him in the gentleman is recognized for five minutes as chairman i do rise in opposition to this amendment i know some of my colleagues and i question why that would be the case but i think there's a very good and sound reason for that and i hope the gentleman from massachusetts will listen to this as as members will know our committee has supported two hundred ninety million dollars for the african union for the amos fund that is the african military and sudan support fund one hundred twenty three million dollars that is in this bill i have been to the darfur region twice in the last eighteen months and i've seen the very difficult conditions which this force this african union force is working and i've been pushing the united state department to come up with a strategy as to how what would be the future for the a so with all of the support that the subcommittee shown so far for this effort why are we opposing this additional funding funding well the numbers may come from both sides of the aisle to the floor and claim that this funding is critical so saving lives in darfur but the simple fact is that this will not do that it does nothing of the kind in fact it could actually be counterproductive let me explain why i say that there is now an agreement is not agreement between all the parties the african union the administration and the united nations that the african union force we call amos a m i us should transition to united nations force just this last friday the african union announced its support for such a transition and extended the mandate of the amos force until the end of this year this fiscal year i have there communique in my hand here suggesting that it will be extended and then there would be a transition to a united nations force the administration's request which is fully funded in the bill before us will fulfill the u s contribution to maintain the amos horris until that time if we were to adopt these additional funds we are basically saying that we do not agree with the idea that the should this fund this force should be transitioned to united nations fuck force we are saying we want to add additional funds to keep it an african union fund and not transition it to united nations on a force that mr chairman ladies and gentlemen of this body that would be a mistake because there's no question the african union has made it clear they cannot expand the force that willing to extend it for the time being until it could be transitioned to the united nations force but they have no capability and no intention of expanding the force and sort of put these additional monies in here to expand the force simply says that we are opposed to transitioning it to a united nations force where we could have this proper size and the proper forces attached to this so that's why this amendment actually would be counterproductive to what the gentleman from massachusetts seeks to do and it's for that reason that i cannot support the message that we would send with this amendment if the situation in darfur is not resolved by the end of the year this force should be transition to united nations force where we have seen over and over again it has the capability of dealing with this kind of peacekeeping operation from bosnia to other places around the world so i urge my colleagues to reject this amendment they will not be voting against the annus the african military and sit down the a you for us that is the they will see instead be voting by rejecting this event they will be voting for a coordinated effort to truly bring stability to the troubled region of darfur and for that reason i would urge my colleagues to vote against th and yet every day more people die in the slow genocide persists unabated it is beyond imagination that the collective mind and concerted will of the nations of the world cannot find a way to end this daily toll of human misery mr chairman i hope and pray that sudan will allow the un peacekeeping mission to move forward so we can end this devastation while we wait however we must find ways to make the african union mission more effective i would note to my colleagues that the problem in sudan has not generally been a lack of resources with bipartisan support often under democratic initiatives the congress has did over one point three billion dollars in assistance to darfur in southern sudan this is just since has been and continues to be needed and we are committed to providing it the primary problem in my opinion has been a lack of political will from the government of sudan from the international community and to some extent from the united states until we address these issues of political will i'm afraid will we we will be forced to rely on solutions that treat the symptoms without curing the disease i support this amendment because it seeks to make a bad situation better i thank the gentleman for offering it i also want to acknowledge the leadership of members of the foreign operations subcommittee specifically representative jackson and kilpatrick and especially chairman colby who have worked diligently to bring attention and focus to the situation and are for those reasons i will support the in them and i y thirteen zero two of funds under the heading correct relief and reconstruction on one hundred eighty five million five hundred thousand dollars is here by merged with the appropriation for economic support fund section thirteen  of funds section thirteen zero four amounts under the heading arac relief and reconstruction plan shall remain available for one additional year chapter four department of homeland security united states coast guard operating expenses twenty six million six hundred ninety two thousand dollars chapter five department of defense military construction military construction army two hundred eighty seven million one hundred thousand dollars  remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven military construction air force thirty five million six hundred thousand dollars to remain available on until september thirtieth two thousand and seven general provision  gentlemen california woman i reserve a point of order the gentleman point of order is reserved the gentleman from colorado has recognized the five minutes thank you mr chairman i believe that this congress needs to recognize the caring for our veterans that is it is a continued call cost of the war on terrorism my women add six hundred thirty million an emergency funding so that the v a can better meet the needs of veterans returning home from iraq and afghanistan end of january the first third of the for fiscal year the v a has already treated seventy four thousand veterans at this rate the v a will treat twice the number of veterans and projected our veterans the are support now there is no better place to include funding for veterans and military families in the bill addressing the cost of the war first i've added two hundred fifty million for mental health according to a recent army study as many as one in three veterans returning from combat operations in iraq and afghanistan will experience symptoms related to mental health problems this amendment would make available nine million to expand veterans access to family therapy one hundred sixty eight million to implement the v a s own comprehensive mental health plan twenty four million for additional substance abuse treatment one in five post traumatic stress disorder patients have had substance abuse problems thirty five million to increase capacity to treat returning iraq and afghanistan veterans who need outpatient mental health services fifteen million to increase in patient p t s d treatments about a twelve percent increase three million to increase asking for v a efforts to seamlessly transition veterans with the post deployment health assessment the v a is seeing more and more veterans from previous conflicts with post traumatic stress disorder this is a growing concern it is smart to provide quality mental health to our returning veterans now and help first of all greater problems and more and more expense in the future the amendment also a hundred ten million for prosthetics a ten percent increase we all marveled at what we have done today to help returning veterans to full life but it is not cheap and above knee replacement cost about fifty thousand dollars and then it needs periodic adjustment and maintenance in the past years the v a prosthetic budget has grown by seventeen percent a year but in two thousand and seven the administration would cut back the growth to twelve percent now is certainly not the time to cut these important programs in another area i added two hundred million for direct medical services just like last year we are already here antidotes about shortage of v a medical facilities supply problems budget problems we don't need a crystal ball to make these predictions with all the extra new veterans in need of medical care there will be another budget shortfall this is by no means of fault of the men and woman and the women and the v a the v a has made a real innovative innovation by establishing state of the art poly trauma centers but they cost real money these centers treat the worst injury sharing information with one another and military hospitals by videophone the amendment also adds fifty million for medical vocational rehabilitation services service disabled veterans apply for vocational rehabilitation employment services increased dramatically over the last decade roughly a seventy five percent increase demand for the service will grow even faster due to the ongoing conflicts in iraq and afghanistan finally the amendment includes fifty five million for increased staffing to process the growing number of disability claims currently the backlog is more than three hundred seventy thousand cases and it is getting worse in two thousand and five the v a has averaged one hundred sixty five days the processing one of these claims in two thousand and six has grown to one hundred eighty five days in a time of war we need to treat our heroes well and slowing down the process of disability claims a slap in the face before closing i'd like to knowledge chairman was recognizing that there is a need for v a funding in fact he's done he was good enough to work grant the v a and grant the v a authority to use two hundred seventy five million from the construction of a v a hospital in new orleans on a needed basis the facilities are already feeling the crunch when it comes to their budgets why are we not preparing for the future why are we willing to let the v a funding run out this year why is the ministration not willing to fully fund the true cost of the war i'm here to tell you that we can do better and we must do better our troops bravely put their lives on the line and it is our moral duty to provide them the care that promised mr chairman it is high time that we stop paying lip service to our veterans and recognize the caring for veterans is an ongoing cost the war is high time that we start working toward providing legislation on appropriations bill and therefore violates cause to a rule twenty one the amendment includes emergency designation and as such constitutes legislation in violation of the clause to a twenty one and i asked  chair will rule the chair finds that this amendment includes an emergency designation the amendment therefore constitutes legislation in violation of clause two a rule twenty one the point of order is sustain and the amendment is not in order page thirty three line for general provisions this chapter section fifteen zero one the matter under the heading veterans health administration medical services is amended chapter six department of justice league legal activities is an expensive united states attorney's three million dollars federal bureau of investigation their salaries and expenses ninety nine million dollars to remain available until september thirtieth two thousand and seven drug enforcement page thirty four line twenty two after the dollar amount insert the following entries by nine million two hundred thousand dollars the gentleman from illinois recognized for five minutes i think the chair and i want to particularly think  mr o'bee of wisconsin and our chairman mr lewis of california for their work on this and this amendment addresses a critical need in the drug war in afghanistan since the u s coalition forces arrived in afghanistan and afghanistan has become the source of three quarters of the