[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1382-H1384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING SECURITY PRINTING ACT OF 2004

  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3786) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to produce 
currency, postage stamps, and other security documents at the request 
of foreign governments on a reimbursable basis.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 3786

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Bureau of Engraving and 
     Printing Security Printing Act of 2004''.

     SEC. 2. PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS.

       Section 5114(a) of title 31, United States Code (relating 
     to engraving and printing currency and security documents), 
     is amended--
       (1) by striking ``(a) The Secretary of the Treasury'' and 
     inserting:
       ``(a) Authority to Engrave and Print.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of the Treasury''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(2) Engraving and printing for other governments.--The 
     Secretary of the Treasury may produce currency, postage 
     stamps, and other security documents for foreign governments 
     if--
       ``(A) the Secretary of the Treasury determines that such 
     production will not interfere with engraving and printing 
     needs of the United States; and
       ``(B) the Secretary of State determines that such 
     production would be consistent with the foreign policy of the 
     United States.
       ``(3) Procurement guidelines.--Articles, material, and 
     supplies procured for use in the production of currency, 
     postage stamps, and other security documents for foreign 
     governments pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be treated in the 
     same manner as articles, material, and supplies procured for 
     public use within the United States for purposes of title III 
     of the Act of March 3, 1933 (41 U.S.C. 10a et seq.; commonly 
     referred to as the Buy American Act).''.

     SEC. 3. REIMBURSEMENT.

       Section 5143 of title 31, United States Code (relating to 
     payment for services of the Bureau of Engraving and 
     Printing), is amended--
       (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ``or to a foreign 
     government under section 5114'' after ``agency'';
       (2) in the second sentence, by inserting ``and other'' 
     after ``including administrative''; and
       (3) in the last sentence, by inserting ``, and the 
     Secretary shall take such action, in coordination with the 
     Secretary of State, as may be appropriate to ensure prompt 
     payment by a foreign government of any invoice or statement 
     of account submitted by the Secretary with respect to 
     services rendered under section 5114'' before the period at 
     the end.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Delaware (Mr. Castle) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle).

                              {time}  1100


                             General Leave

  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on this legislation, and to insert extraneous material thereon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Delaware?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my strong support for H.R. 3786, the 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing Security Printing Act of 2004, 
introduced by the gentleman from New York (Mr. King). The bill 
authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to print, under certain 
conditions, currency and security documents for foreign governments if 
it is consistent with our foreign policy objectives.
  Mr. Speaker, while the United States Mint is allowed in law to 
produce coins for other countries, the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing, or BEP, as we know it, is not. This prohibition has prevented 
the BEP from responding to a number of requests or opportunities to 
help smaller countries strengthen their economies by producing currency 
or security documents such as stamps or deeds or passports that are 
difficult

[[Page H1383]]

to counterfeit. Simply put, Mr. Speaker, if the opportunity is there to 
impede counterfeiting of this sort and the BEP is prevented by law from 
taking it, we are all the losers.
  The bill is essentially in the same language as that which has passed 
the House by both voice and recorded vote in the past several 
Congresses after being introduced at the request of both this and the 
prior administration, Mr. Speaker.
  Because of the current prohibition in law, we have turned away 
currency-printing requests from friends such as Kuwait after the first 
Gulf War and Mexico a couple of years ago when they were redesigning 
their currency, and we were unable to bid on reprinting the currency of 
Iraq to remove the image of Saddam after last year's war.
  Mr. Speaker, many countries lack the resources to produce secure 
currency or secure passports. Nothing in this legislation prevents a 
country from choosing a U.S.-based private sector printer; but the 
history of this sort of printing is that while a private sector printer 
is bound to be less expensive, the business is not price-sensitive. 
Typically, when countries turn to a printer outside their own borders, 
it is to another government printer: the bank of Australia, the Bank of 
England, or the European Central Bank printers. In my view, the United 
States Treasury should be on that list as well.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation specifies that the BEP could not bid on 
any printing contract for another government unless it could do the 
work without interrupting the printing and delivery of U.S. currency 
and security documents, and unless the Secretary of State certified 
that the work would be consistent with U.S. foreign policy.
  Additionally, the BEP must be reimbursed by the client country, so 
that the work does not cost the U.S. taxpayer and it is not just 
another form of foreign aid. All costs, including administrative costs, 
will be passed to the foreign governments and no rogue state or 
unfriendly nation will receive the benefit of our knowledge and 
expertise.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this long overdue 
legislation and permit BEP to print currency, postage, and other 
security documents for foreign governments.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 2993, the ``District of 
Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar 
Program Act,'' introduced February 10 by the gentleman from New York, 
Mr. King.
  This legislation will enhance the popular 50-State Quarter program I 
am proud to have authored, with the addition of a one-year program that 
will include designs reminiscent of the District of Columbia, American 
Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands on the reverse of our circulating 
quarters in the year following the end of the State quarter program in 
2008. With passage of this legislation, the District of Columbia and 
the U.S. territories will rightly be included in the historical 
depictions on the quarter. I support these inclusions for both the 
historical importance and financial benefit for the United States 
Treasury.
  Mr. Speaker, the State quarter program--which reached the halfway 
mark at the end of December--has dramatically increased general 
knowledge of the historical contributions of our fifty States. I 
believe the legislation under consideration today would do the same for 
the District and the territories. These areas have some of the highest 
enlistment rates in our armed forces--their commitment continues 
through today's conflicts and includes the tragic sacrifice of the 
lives of among others Lance Cpl. Gregory E. MacDonald of the District 
of Columbia, and Army Pvt. Jonathan I. Falaniko, of Pago Pago, American 
Samoa.
  As well, Mr. Speaker, the District and the territories have made many 
historical, cultural and athletic contributions to our Nation, and this 
bill we consider today is a great opportunity to recognize them, in 
artwork on the reverse of the quarters.
  The one-year program provides more than intangible benefits to the 
United States. It provides an economic boon to our Nation's Treasury. 
The success of the State quarter program has been overwhelming. The 
quarters have become one of the most popular collector's items in the 
United States and abroad. As of December, the halfway point of the 
program, Federal revenues had grown by over four billion dollars, 
representing coins that have been taken out of circulation by 
collectors. As a result, it is estimated that if the popularity of 
quarters produced under this legislation follow similar trends, as much 
as one billion dollars worth of the quarters may be taken out of 
circulation.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud the gentleman from New York, Mr. King, for 
introducing this bill, and the gentlewomen from the District of 
Columbia, Ms. Norton, for her tireless campaign towards its passage. I 
also commend many others who have urged passage over the past, 
including the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Bachus, who sponsored a 
previous version of the legislation, and the gentlewomen from 
California, Ms. Waters. Of course, I would also like to thank the 
ranking member of the Subcommittee, the gentlewomen from New York, Mrs. 
Maloney and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the full committee, Mr. 
Oxley and Mr. Frank, for their assistance in making this legislation 
possible.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of H.R. 2993 to recognize the 
invaluable contributions of the District and the territories.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  This is a perfectly reasonable bill, and I support it. However, I do 
want to comment on what seems to me the poignancy that this great House 
of Representatives, this Chamber that represents the American people, 
in the middle of the week, in the middle of what will be a short 
session because it is an election year, cannot find anything more 
important to do with its time.
  Actually, there is one interesting thing about this law. We will get 
to see some foreign money. We will get to see it only when we print it 
for them, and then we will send it right back. Unfortunately, our 
economic policies and our approach to trade and globalization mean that 
we do not see much other foreign money. We have not been very diligent 
about trying to promote other ways in which we could get something from 
globalization for the people here, but at least we will get to wave at 
the money as we send it overseas.
  I did want to, though, particularly join in one sentiment expressed 
by the gentleman from Delaware. I very much agree with him: This is an 
example of where the public sector can do the job better than the 
private sector. Now, that is not usually the case. We have a private 
sector economy and we depend, for the creation of wealth, of goods, and 
services, primarily on the private sector. But it ought to be 
underlined that there are some things important to our society that can 
only be done by the public sector. This is an example.
  When another country is asking us to print their money for them, the 
question of security becomes very important; and this is something, 
security, which is particularly appropriate for the public sector to 
do. This will mean some work for the public sector, but not enough, 
because we are in an unusual situation now with our economy.
  Because of a set of technological factors, public policy choices, the 
nature of globalization, we have the odd situation in which something 
which is a very good thing in the abstract, increased productivity, has 
sadly some negative consequences in reality. We are in a situation in 
which we are able, through productivity, significantly to increase 
wealth. An example here today is America's superiority in the printing 
of money over many others. We do that in a very productive way. But 
because of retrograde public policies, as well as the inherent nature 
of much of what happens, that wealth is not nearly as well-shared as it 
should be. We are in an odd situation in which, as wealth is created, 
too little goes to the people who work for others and are compensated 
for that work through a living. We have unemployment not dropping; we 
have real wages dropping. We have health care being eroded because 
employers no longer want to pay for it. And while public policy has not 
been the major cause of these trends, we have had public policies 
recently, the weakening of labor unions, unfair tax policies, one-sided 
trade policy, which asks nothing of those with whom we trade so that 
this redounds the disadvantage of workers here when we try to maintain 
standards. We have exacerbated that situation, and that we ought to 
change.
  So I am pleased to join in reaffirming the importance of the American 
Government as the superior way for foreign countries to get their 
currency printed. I am glad to affirm that. I regret only, Mr. Speaker, 
the narrowness with which that principle is now being affirmed and the 
fact that on a prime

[[Page H1384]]

day in the middle of the legislative week, in the middle of the 
legislative session, this is all the leadership of this House can find 
to ask us to do. There are issues involving the extension of 
unemployment benefits, and there are other important questions that we 
should be dealing with. Unfortunately, we do not.
  So I do not mean to blame this nice little bill for not being what it 
is not. This bill deserves to be passed. But this country deserves a 
chance for this House of Representatives to deal with much more 
substantive legislation addressing the economic distress that so many 
of our fellow citizens now encounter.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I am very pleased that this bill at least addresses in some very 
small part some of the concerns which the gentleman from Massachusetts 
holds, and I understand all that. But I think he is correct about this 
bill. I do not think there is any argument that what we are doing is 
essentially positive for the environment and for a government agency 
which can provide these services.
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3786, the ``Bureau 
of Engraving and Printing Security Printing Act of 2004.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is rare when the Members of this body can do 
something that is good for the country, good for the world, bad for 
nobody except crooks and terrorists and cost U.S. taxpayers nothing. 
This is one of those occasions.
  Mr. Speaker, by approving this legislation, which would allow the 
Treasury Department to print currency and security documents such as 
passports or stock certificates for foreign governments, Members of the 
House will be voting to help strengthen the economies of friendly 
smaller nations and cutting the opportunities fraud and identity theft 
worldwide. Further, should the Treasury Department print any such 
documents, the work would be done on a fully reimbursable basis while 
allowing our expert engravers and printers at Treasury to refine their 
craft by working on anti-counterfeiting techniques that are not yet 
ready for the high-volume production necessary for U.S. documents but 
which with refinement someday may find their way to U.S. security 
documents or currency.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is similar to bills introduced at the 
request of both this and the previous Administration, which was broadly 
and bipartisanly approved in this chamber in several recent Congresses. 
That it never has been considered in the other body is a shame--the 
Treasury was unable to participate in producing new currency for Iraq 
that removed the face of the dictator, Saddam Hussein.
  No work authorized under this legislation could be performed if doing 
so would interfere with the Treasury's job of providing currency and 
other security documents for the U.S. or if such work would not be in 
full harmony with U.S. foreign-policy objectives. Further, the bill 
does not prevent foreign nations from sending such printing to a U.S.-
based private-sector printer, although such printing is usually done by 
government printers in larger nations.
  Mr. Speaker, this is good legislation. It deserves our full support, 
and I recommend its immediate passage.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3786.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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