Date: 2005-06-28
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. the rule provides 1 hour of general debate. evenly divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. It provides for one motion to recommit. with or without instructions. I would like to take a moment to reiterate that we bring this rule forward under an open rule. Obviously. historically. appropriations bills have come to the House floor with open rules. and we continue to do so in order to allow every Member in this House the opportunity to submit amendments for consideration. obviously as long as they are germane. This is the last rule bringing forth an appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2006. Mr. Speaker. and I think that it speaks very highly of the Committee on Appropriations. Obviously. the chairman and the ranking member have had much to do with that. as well as all of the members of the Committee on Appropriations who have worked very hard in bringing forth all of these appropriations bills in such a timely fashion. The biDl that we are bringing forward today appropriates over $66 billion for the Departments of Transportation. Treasury. Housing and Urban Development. the Judiciary. the District of Columbia. and independent agencies. an increase of 6 percent over last year. The bill is fiscally sound. It represents our commitment to provide necessaryresources for programs and projects throughout the Nation. ranging from transportation. to housing. the Judiciary. the Executive Office of the President. the District of Columbia. As all Members of this House know. the transportation infrastructure of the country is really the backbone of the economy. and its continued strength is essential to foster economic growth. The underlying legislation brought forth today goes far in ensuring that we have a reliable and stable transportation infrastructure to continue to help the economy grow. The bill includes $37 billion in funds for the highway system. representing an increase of almost $2 billion. H.R. 3058 includes $14.5 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration. an increase of $887 million. Included in that amount is $25 million to hire and train 595 new air traffic controllers. I think it is vitally important as air traffic controllers retire and air traffic continues to grow. This is really essential to so many of our districts. In my district. home to Miami International Airport. the third largest international airport in the country. without an increase in the number of air traffic controllers. MIA would not be able to continue its projected growth and continue to serve really as the hub of the Americas. � The Depattment of Housing and Urban Development is funded at $37.5 billion. an increase of $1.5 billion. These funds will permit the Department to administer programs that assist the public with housing needs. economic and community development. and fair housing opportunities. These funds will also empower low- and moderateincome residents towards selfsufficiency. Under HUD. the bill includes funding for such important programs as Tenant Based Rental Assistance. also known as section 8. and Project Based Rental Assistance. These two programs serve almost 3.5 million households with vouchers and projectbased housing. The bill includes $20.63 billion in funds for the program. an increase of almost $1 billion. In MiamiDade County alone. which I am honored to represent. the housing authority uses the funds provided through these programs to house over 30.000 residents and for payment vouchers for 16.000 units. H.R. 3058 provides $5.8 billion for the judiciary. an increase of 6 percent over the current fiscal year. This will fully fund the courts revised requests for security improvements at Federal judicial facilities and enable the courts to effectively process the priority criminal. civil. and bankruptcy cases. This legislation was introduced by the chairman of the subcommittee. who has done a tremendous job. the gentleman from Michigan (Chairman KNOLLENBERG). and reported out of the Committee on Appropriations on June Q1 by voice vote. It is good legislation. It is essential to our continued commitment to the security and safety of all in the United States. and we bring it forth under a fair and open rule. Again. I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Chairman KNOLLENBERG) and the ranking member. the gentleman from Massachusetts . for their leadership on this important piece of legislation. I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.