[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 154 (Thursday, November 8, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H7918-H7919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1130
      APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 2944, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002

  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from 
the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2944) making appropriations for the 
government of the District of Columbia and other activities chargeable 
in whole or in part against the revenues of said District for the 
fiscal year ending September 30, 2002, and for other purposes, with a 
Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and agree 
to the conference asked by the Senate.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.


                Motion to Instruct Offered by Mr. Fattah

  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Fattah moves that the managers on the part of the House 
     at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses 
     on the bill, H.R. 2944, be instructed to insist on the House 
     position regarding assistance with Federal funds for 
     education and training programs in the District of Columbia.

  Mr. FATTAH (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that the motion be considered as read and printed in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 7 of rule XXII, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) and the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah).
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would like to, first of all, say to the chairman of the 
subcommittee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and to the 
whole House, that I want to compliment him on his service and his 
leadership, leading us to this moment on this appropriation. It has 
been the smoothest I think of any of the D.C. appropriation bills since 
my time here in the Congress, and it is because of his leadership; and 
I would also like to thank the senior staff on both sides of the aisle 
that have worked on this.

[[Page H7919]]

  I have a motion to instruct that simply would remind the conferees on 
behalf of the House of our deep concern about the young people in the 
D.C. area and to focus our energies to represent the House's position 
on a number of education matters, in particular, and by example, the 
appropriation for St. Coletta's.
  Mr. Speaker, in that regard, I yield as much time as he may consume 
to my colleague from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) to say a few words 
about this important appropriations.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Fattah), the ranking member for yielding the time.
  We are all aware of the incidents of mistreatment and abuse of 
persons with mental retardation in the District of Columbia. There are 
horrible stories. We have read these in the Washington Post, describing 
an education system for those with special needs that is dominated by 
for-profit companies just going through the motions. These companies 
are in the business of covering up mistreatment rather than working to 
correct it.
  Today, I stand before the House with a solution to this unspeakable 
problem, St. Coletta's School, a non-profit in Alexandria serving 
children and adults with cognitive and multiple disabilities from the 
D.C. metro area. St. Coletta currently serves 120 students between the 
ages of 4 and 22 years. These students are mentally retarded, autistic, 
suffer from multiple disabilities; and the majority have secondary 
disabling conditions such as blindness, deafness, social and emotional 
problems, cerebral palsy, and other physical impairments.
  Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of those students are from Washington, D.C. 
Thirty-five percent of these D.C. students are in foster care or third-
party placements due to abuse, neglect, abandonment or death of 
parents. An additional 30 percent of the D.C. students live with only 1 
parent or extended family members.
  Recognizing the desperate need in D.C. for these vocational, 
therapeutic, behavioral and family support and case management 
services, St. Coletta's of Greater Washington, Inc., is expanding its 
program to further serve the unmet needs of this D.C. community.
  St. Coletta plans to purchase and renovate a facility to bring its 
already existing day program to more D.C. residents. The new facility 
will accommodate approximately 150 D.C. students and provide vocational 
and functional life-skills training, speech therapy, occupational 
therapy, physical therapy, and behavioral management services.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Knollenberg), the chairman; and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Fattah), the ranking member; for supporting St. Coletta's expansion 
project in the House D.C. bill and hope that more can be done for this 
project in conference. This is an investment that we cannot afford not 
to make.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no disagreement with the suggestion the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) is making. I think the whole idea of the 
gentleman's motion is to, in fact, do what it is we have already done 
in the bill. The administration, the OMB, have weighed in. They are, in 
fact, supportive of this move; and so I have no disagreement at all.
  I would also like to comment briefly on the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), who does bring up I think something that we 
should all look at very, very close, that is, St. Coletta's. He makes 
remarks that I think coincide with mine because I too have met with the 
folks from St. Coletta's, and so we join in addressing that issue and 
promoting it in the fashion that we think it should be, and I believe 
that from what I can sense here we should have a good conference.
  We are close on a number of issues, but we are close enough I think 
on the money issue to redeem and bring this to resolution; and so with 
that, unless the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), the ranking 
member, wants to express an opinion.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman from Michigan yield for 
just 1 second?
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. I am glad to yield to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and thank him for his leadership and 
cooperation and, of course, the full committee chairman and ranking 
member, their guidance, as we have moved through this process. I am 
anxious to go to conference and finish our work for the year; and I 
believe that the motion to instruct and, moreover, the committee's work 
product is a great foundation from which the House could proceed in a 
conference; and I would be remiss not to also thank the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her leadership and 
urgings as we have walked down this road towards the D.C. 
appropriations.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I am willing, of course, to accept what 
was mentioned. I want to also briefly say that the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), while thanking me, should also get thanked 
from me because he has done, I think, a great amount of work to bring 
this about. We use this word bipartisanship a little loosely; but 
frankly, we are on the same page in almost every respect; and when we 
have an occasional disagreement, it is not a disagreement. It is worked 
out.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to applaud and salute the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) and thank him for working as a team to bring 
this about.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered on the motion to instruct.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah).
  The motion was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the Chair appoints the 
following conferees: Messrs. Knollenberg, Istook, Cunningham, 
Doolittle, Sweeney, Vitter, Young of Florida, Fattah, Mollohan, Olver 
and Obey.
  There was no objection.

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