[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 22, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2842-H2844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3129, CUSTOMS BORDER SECURITY ACT 
                                OF 2001

  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 426 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 426

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 3129) to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
     years 2002 and 2003 for the United States Customs Service for 
     antiterrorism, drug interdiction, and other operations, for 
     the Office of the United States Trade Representative, for the 
     United States International Trade Commission, and for other 
     purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed 
     with. All points of

[[Page H2843]]

     order against consideration of the bill are waived. General 
     debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one 
     hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and 
     ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means. 
     After general debate the bill shall be considered for 
     amendment under the five-minute rule. It shall be in order to 
     consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment 
     under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a 
     substitute recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means now 
     printed in the bill. The committee amendment in the nature of 
     a substitute shall be considered as read. All points of order 
     against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute 
     are waived. No amendment to the committee amendment in the 
     nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed 
     in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this 
     resolution. Each such amendment may be offered only in the 
     order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member 
     designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall 
     be debatable for the time specified in the report equally 
     divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, 
     shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject 
     to a demand for division of the question in the House or in 
     the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such 
     amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of 
     the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report 
     the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been 
     adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote in the House 
     on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the 
     bill or to the committee amendment in the nature of a 
     substitute. The previous question shall be considered as 
     ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage 
     without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with 
     or without instructions.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fossella). The gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Mrs. Myrick) is recognized for 1 hour.

                              {time}  1130

  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), 
pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During 
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for purposes of 
debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Committee on Rules met and granted a 
structured rule providing for consideration of the bill, H.R. 3129, the 
Customs Border Security Act of 2001.
  The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the 
bill, and provides for 1 hour of general debate, equally divided and 
controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Ways 
and Means.
  Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with or 
without instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 426 is an appropriate and fair rule, 
and it is consistent with previous rules that our committee has 
reported and the House has adopted on bills from the Committee on Ways 
and Means.
  This rule gives the chairman of the committee 10 minutes to debate 
his manager's amendment, while it provides 60 minutes for the minority 
substitute, plus the chance to offer a motion to recommit.
  Mr. Speaker, the Customs Border Security Act of 2001 would authorize 
the budget for the U.S. Customs Service, the International Trade 
Commission, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It also 
includes a number of critical new tools for fighting terrorism, drugs, 
and child pornography.
  H.R. 3129 will help the Customs Service close the gaps in our border 
that allow illegal money to be taken out of the country. This 
legislation will also significantly help the Customs Service's ability 
to stop the flow of illegal drugs from crossing our borders and getting 
into our children's hands.
  This legislation also addresses an issue that is very important to 
North Carolina, and near and dear to my heart. In the last year, 60,000 
textile workers have lost their jobs, 20,000 of them in North Carolina, 
and a large percentage of those in my district. The industry has done 
its best through technology modernization to compete, but they have not 
had a level and fair playing field in our international markets.
  This bill will help fight that problem, and it will fight illegal 
textile transshipments. Transshipments are illegal because some 
countries ship their goods through another country illegally to avoid 
the quotas, and they also give a false declaration, which allows them 
to circumvent the law. Ninety percent of all illegal transshipments 
originate out of China, so without extra agents to enforce these laws, 
they get away with it.
  H.R. 3129 provides the Customs Service with $9.5 million for 
transshipment enforcement operations. These funds must be used to hire 
72 new employees who will be stationed both here, at home, and abroad 
to enforce our textile trade laws. Our textile workers are hurting, and 
they are hurting bad, so I am pleased that the government is beginning 
to take action.
  H.R. 3129 also directs the Comptroller General to conduct an audit of 
the system established and carried out by the Customs Service to 
monitor textile transshipment. I look forward to their report, and will 
be interested in their recommendation for improvements to the 
transshipment monitoring system.
  So to that end, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and to 
support the commonsense underlying legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as my good friend, the gentlewoman from North Carolina 
(Mrs. Myrick) noted, H.R. 3129, the Customs Border Security Act of 
2001, authorizes the budget for the U.S. Customs Service, the United 
States Trade Representative, and the International Trade Commission. 
These three agencies are vital parts of our government, as they police 
our borders and promote the export of U.S. manufacturers.
  The rule we are considering today allows for a Democratic substitute, 
as well as a motion to recommit. I commend the majority for the 
construction of today's fair rule, and I urge the majority to give 
consideration for similarly fair rules in the future.
  The underlying bill was originally considered by this Chamber in 
December of 2001 under suspension of the rules, and it failed to gain 
the two-thirds majority needed for passage. H.R. 3129 failed because 
many of us on both sides of the aisle had grave concerns about the 
damage this legislation does to our civil liberties, our right to 
privacy, and bonus pay for Customs Service agents.
  For example, under section 141 of this legislation, customs officers 
are granted immunity from lawsuits stemming from personal searches of 
people entering the country, so long as the officers conduct the search 
in good faith. Additionally, under section 583 of this legislation, 
customs officers are granted the right to stop and search at the border 
without a search warrant any outbound mail being transported by the 
United States Postal Service.
  Last night in the Committee on Rules, the chairman of the Committee 
on Ways and Means, my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Thomas), made the claim that the major sticking point in the bill last 
December was the section concerning bonus pay.
  Frankly, I am a bit troubled by the chairman's remarks. True, many of 
us were concerned about the bonus pay provision in the initial bill. 
However, it was not the gravest concern that some of us had, nor was it 
the only concern that we expressed. Instead, as I said in this Chamber 
last December, H.R. 3129 as written imperils some of our civil 
liberties and some of our right to privacy.
  The Rangel substitute offers a more balanced and fair compromise, and 
I urge our colleagues to carefully consider it. It addresses all of the 
concerns of our fellow legislators. The Rangel amendment, like the 
Thomas amendment, includes a provision providing bonus pay to customs 
agents. It includes a provision stating that the United States 
government consents to be sued and be held liable for civil damages for 
suits brought in connection with a wrongful personal search by a 
customs agent.
  The Rangel substitute also contains a provision that raises the 
standard for searches of outbound mail to one of ``reasonable cause,'' 
as opposed to the lesser standard of ``probable cause.''
  Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, my concerns for civil liberties and our 
right to privacy do not blind me to the dangers of terrorism. My 
district in south Florida is surrounded by 3 major ports and 3 
international airports. Just this past week, it was reported by the 
Coast Guard that 25 Islamic extremists

[[Page H2844]]

had snuck into this country by way of ports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, 
Savannah, and elsewhere. These individuals allegedly hid themselves in 
cargo containers, and then walked away from the ports dressed as 
stevedores.
  This body must provide our customs agents with the tools they need to 
defend our borders and wage a protracted war on terrorism. We should 
not, however, give these same agents an incentive to violate our 
privacy and our civil liberties, particularly when doing so will 
provide us absolutely no extra security. If we allow our fears to goad 
us into abandoning the Constitution, then the enemies of freedom and 
democracy will have won.
  Ostensibly, security measures such as the provisions of this bill I 
have just discussed should be crafted in a manner to protect our 
democracy. If those security measures actually end up imperiling the 
democratic rights and freedoms their sponsors claim they protect, then 
they should be abandoned.
  I urge my colleagues to support the rule. I further urge them to 
please support the Rangel substitute, and oppose the underlying bill if 
the substitute is not adopted.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for bringing up the 
fact that there were those 25 extremists who came in through the ports 
in shipping containers. It just drives home again the need for this 
bill and additional enforcement. I thank him for that.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield back the 
balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fossella). The question is on the 
resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 386, 
nays 32, not voting 16, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 188]

                               YEAS--386

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Akin
     Allen
     Andrews
     Armey
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baker
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Bono
     Boozman
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown (SC)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Capps
     Cardin
     Carson (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal
     DeLauro
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Farr
     Fattah
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (TX)
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Grucci
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Harman
     Hart
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hilliard
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Israel
     Issa
     Istook
     Jackson (IL)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kerns
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kleczka
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Luther
     Lynch
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McNulty
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller, Dan
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, Jeff
     Mink
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oberstar
     Ortiz
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Owens
     Oxley
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Paul
     Pelosi
     Pence
     Peterson (MN)
     Petri
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Schiff
     Schrock
     Scott
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Souder
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Sullivan
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Towns
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watkins (OK)
     Watson (CA)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                                NAYS--32

     Becerra
     Bilirakis
     Capuano
     Clay
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank
     Hinchey
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jones (OH)
     Kucinich
     Lee
     Lewis (GA)
     Markey
     McDermott
     Meehan
     Miller, George
     Neal
     Obey
     Olver
     Pastor
     Payne
     Rangel
     Sabo
     Schakowsky
     Stupak
     Tierney
     Waters
     Watt (NC)

                             NOT VOTING--16

     Berman
     Burton
     Deutsch
     Emerson
     Hall (OH)
     Linder
     Mascara
     McKinney
     Meek (FL)
     Peterson (PA)
     Riley
     Schaffer
     Snyder
     Solis
     Traficant
     Watts (OK)

                              {time}  1203

  Ms. LEE, and Messrs. FORD, WATT of North Carolina and MEEHAN, Mrs. 
JONES of Ohio and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas changed their vote from 
``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. GILLMOR and Mr. TOWNS changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the resolution was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated against:
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 188 on H. Res. 426, 
rule providing consideration of H.R. 3129, I was unavoidably detained. 
Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

                          ____________________