[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 15, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H992-H995]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR 
                ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 725 and rule 
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 4939.

                              {time}  1212


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 4939) making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes, with Mr. 
Gillmor in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the 
first time.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) and the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Chairman, today we turn our attention to 
the fiscal year 2006 emergency supplemental, addressing the global war 
on terror and the gulf coast disaster assistance.
  The committee-recommended funding levels is $91.833 billion, which is 
$400 million below the President's request.
  The bill provides for $67.6 billion in support of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The supplemental fully funds 
the administration's request of $4.85 billion to train and equip 
security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  The bill earmarks, I repeat, Mr. Chairman, the bill earmarks $850 
billion over the President's request to upgrade Abrams tanks and 
Bradley fighting vehicles. The committee is also earmaking, I repeat, 
Mr. Chairman, earmarking an additional $480 million over the request 
for newer, self-up-armored Humvees, for a total of $890 million of 
earmarks.
  The committee has fully funded the President's request to procure and 
develop countermeasures to prevent IED attacks on our troops. The bill 
also includes the enhanced $400,000 life insurance benefit for 
servicemembers and $100,000 death gratuity for combat-related 
fatalities.
  The committee did not fund $1 billion of the request for various 
construction projects related to security training activities in the 
region because they were poorly defined and not well justified.
  The committee did provide a five-fold increase for the Department of 
Defense Inspector General to monitor war expenditures.
  Under title II, the supplemental provides $19.1 billion for 
hurricane-related disaster assistance, including $9.55 billion for 
FEMA's disaster relief fund. The bill also provides $4.2 billion for 
HUD community development block grants to address long-term recovery 
and restoration of devastated areas.

                              {time}  1215

  The bill also provides the requested amount of $1.46 billion for 
various flood control projects and levee repairs by the U.S. Corps of 
Engineers.
  This legislation also requires FEMA to provide better reporting on 
the expenditure of disaster funds and provides funding for the 
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security and the 
Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute fraud cases.
  Like most Members of the House, I have heard from many of my 
constituents expressing strong concerns about the possibility of 
foreign-owned companies managing U.S. ports. As a result of those 
concerns, the House Appropriations Committee overwhelmingly, and in a 
bipartisan fashion, adopted an amendment that prohibits the company, 
Dubai Ports World, owned by one of the governing bodies of the United 
Arab Emirates, from taking over the operation of any port facility in 
the United States.
  It was not my intention, Mr. Chairman, to have the committee rewrite 
the Defense Production Act or change the Committee on Foreign 
Investment in the United States, the CFIUS process. Those are very 
complex policy decisions which rest primarily with the Financial 
Services Committee. Additionally, the Homeland Security Committee, the 
Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the 
Committee on International Relations have a great deal of interest in 
this matter.
  The straightforward amendment adopted in our committee was crafted to 
block only the Dubai Ports World deal. This is a national security 
issue. This is a national security bill. Our goal is to ensure that 
security of our ports is in America's hands.
  During our debate, Mr. Chairman, on the supplemental, I fully expect 
an amendment to strike this language from the bill. This striking 
amendment, which will likely fail on a broad bipartisan basis, gives 
our Members the opportunity to voice their strong opposition to the 
port deal. It will also send a strong and unmistakable message that the 
Congress and the American people stand united on the critical national 
security issue that involves the ports.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge an aye vote on the passage of this legislation.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), the ranking member of the 
Foreign Operations Subcommittee.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill, and I am 
pleased to have worked with Chairman Kolbe to develop the foreign 
assistance portion of this measure. The bill cuts the amount requested 
for international assistance by about $140 million from the 
administration's request, and rescinds an additional $17 million in 
previously appropriated funds that are no longer needed.
  However, I do have concerns about what we have included and what we 
have not included. I am particularly concerned about the lack of 
funding in this bill for Afghanistan. During the chairman's recent 
visit to Afghanistan, the ambassador and USAID staff outlined a need 
for $600 million in FY 2006 supplemental funding to help address the 
power and infrastructure needs in Afghanistan.
  Our ambassador, the Afghan government, and provincial leaders all 
agreed that progress on reconstruction and development was critical to 
help consolidate the rule of law, curtail the influence of the Taliban 
and al Qaeda operatives and combat opium poppy cultivation.
  Yet, the President's request does not contain the $600 million that 
Ambassador Neumann requested. It does not even contain the $407 million 
that Secretary Rice requested in her submission to OMB. The President 
requested just $62 million for assistance to Afghanistan in the 
supplemental, one-tenth of what is needed. The committee further cut 
this amount providing only $8 million for Afghanistan.
  Now, I do understand that Chairman Kolbe and Chairman Lewis are 
frustrated with the lack of response from the State Department on the 
counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, and I share that frustration. 
However, in this instance, I fear that we are cutting off our nose to 
spite the State Department's face. I do not think this is a responsible 
strategy. And before this bill is enacted, I hope we can find the means 
to restore or even increase the

[[Page H993]]

administration's request for Afghanistan.
  While I applaud the funding in this bill for Sudan and other 
humanitarian needs in Africa, I was disappointed that the 
administration did not seek robust funding for the fledgling democracy 
in Liberia and the critical transition in Haiti. I am pleased that the 
committee accepted an amendment by Representative Jackson to add $50 
million in assistance to Liberia. It is important that the United 
States send a strong message of support to Liberia, particularly as we 
prepare to receive President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to 
be elected head of state in Africa.
  This money will provide critical short-term support to meet refugee 
and humanitarian needs, as well as to help stabilize Liberia in the 
initial months of her administration. First Lady Laura Bush and 
Secretary Rice pledged that the U.S. would stand by Liberia during this 
period of transition, and I think our bill with the addition of $50 
million in economic support funds does just that.
  Finally, let me speak to the bulk of funding in the foreign 
operations bill which is for Iraq. I am not convinced that providing 
more money for Iraq will cure the problems for that country. But I will 
support the additional funding because I think we owe our men and women 
in uniform in Iraq every tool to achieve success.
  I am dismayed that the committee defeated on a party-line vote, 
however, my amendment to ensure proper oversight of these additional 
resources. My amendment would have simply placed the additional funds 
in the foreign operations title of the bill under the oversight of the 
Special Inspector General for Iraq, as is the case for prior funds 
appropriated for assistance to Iraq.
  By voting against this commonsense amendment, the Republicans in our 
committee sent the message to American taxpayers that while Congress 
expects them to bear the burden of reconstructing Iraq, the Republicans 
in Congress are not interested in ensuring that the money is accounted 
for and effectively spent. I hope the issue is corrected when the bill 
is taken up by the Senate. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), my mentor, the former chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee, who now chairs the Subcommittee on 
National Security.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from 
California for yielding me the time. I want to compliment him for 
having produced this very important supplemental appropriations bill in 
record time, and a very good bill.
  I want to expand a little on what the chairman has said about this 
bill. For example, we have increased the President's budget by $850 
million to ensure that Army tracked combat vehicles such as Abrams 
tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles will be upgraded, especially for 
the units that will be rotating into Iraq in the coming months. An 
increase of $360 million in equipment for the Marine Corps is provided 
based on an assessment of their most pressing shortfalls. And $273.7 
million additional is provided for Air Force procurement, including 
additional predators, electronic countermeasures to protect our 
aircraft, and funding to ensure the continuation of the C-17 production 
line.
  Very importantly, Mr. Chairman, the committee recommendation supports 
and enhances the President's request for the National Guard and Reserve 
forces. We have included in the war supplemental portion of this bill a 
total of $3.57 billion for the Guard and Reserve, an increase of $320 
million over the amounts requested by the President.
  We have been able to add to the request the following items: $230 
million for the Abrams Tank Integrated Management or AIM program, to 
support fielding of National Guard combat brigades; $50 million for 42 
Bradley fighting vehicles to complete two Army National Guard combat 
brigades; and $40 million to cover shortfalls in the Army Reserve 
personnel accounts.
  All and all, Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill. It does speak to the 
needs of those who are fighting the war. I highly recommend its 
passage.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 10 minutes.
  Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier, this bill is here because of a 
massive failure of American leadership, which goes right to the very 
top in the White House.
  We are going to be spending $90 billion in this bill, most of which 
goes for Iraq, a war which was engaged in by our country, initiated by 
our country on the basis of bad information and manipulated 
intelligence. After we were in the war, we were told by the 
administration that Iraqi reconstruction would cost between $1 and $2 
billion and could be financed by Iraqi oil revenues.
  After the administration submitted its reconstruction request for 
over $18 billion, Secretary Rumsfeld told us, ``We just had no idea of 
how bad the Iraqi economy was.''
  That certainly is an understatement.
  The administration then claimed that we would be greeted as 
liberators and that 6 months after the invasion, we could begin 
withdrawing troops. Since then, the insurgency has exploded. We have 
lost over 2,300 U.S. troops who have been killed. Thousands have been 
injured. Many more Iraqis have been killed and a continuing U.S. troop 
deployment in Iraq of around 130,000, down only slightly from the 
150,000 in the year before.
  We have had a failure to plan for adequately equipping our troops 
with armor. And as a result, our troops have been rummaging for scrap 
metal from garbage dumps and they have had to deal with a myriad of 
other equipment shortages.
  Then we have seen the disgraceful stories about Abu Ghraib. We have 
seen stories about torture all being done in the name of the United 
States, in the name of every citizen of this country. We have reports 
that more than 100 people have died in custody, and then we have 
reports that the administration is spying on Americans and 
eavesdropping on Americans. I want to make it clear, I want our 
government to eavesdrop on every person that it needs to eavesdrop on 
in order to protect this country, but I want it done in a way which is 
constitutional, and in a way which is in conformance with the law, not 
outside the law, and right now that is not the case.
  So this bill comes before us with the United States divided and with 
the American people confused about what our mission is, what our 
purpose is, and what our plans are. And now we are asked to provide 
this additional money.
  I will vote for this bill because, while I have grave misgivings 
about the war, and while I believe that Mr. Rumsfeld should have 
resigned a long time ago, I intend to support whatever money is 
necessary in order to support our troops. But having said that, let me 
just make another observation. We are going to be spending $91 billion. 
$19 billion is for Katrina. Over almost $70 billion is for Iraq. And I 
am told that those funds will be expended at a rate of about $6.8 
billion a month. And yet we are going to be squabbling over the next 2 
days over a fraction of that amount that some of us believe should be 
used to provide heating for our elderly, education for our kids, and 
medical care for our veterans.
  Three years after this war began, does anybody here really believe 
the President of the United States when he tells us that this is all 
about bringing democracy and freedom to Iraq? $400 billion and then 
some later, does anybody believe that Congress did the right thing when 
this Congress handed a blank check to the administration? After more 
than 17,000 Americans wounded in Iraq, does anyone think Congress was 
right to sit on its hands when it was clear that this White House and 
the civilian leadership at the Pentagon did not have the first clue 
about what they were doing?

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. Chairman, in addition to the divisions which we face on Iraq, we 
face some other problems with this bill.
  This bill, for instance, contains Mr. Lewis' amendment shutting off 
and shutting down the ports transaction involving Dubai. At the same 
time, however, the committee blocked the Sabo amendment which would 
have created a process which would have guaranteed that our government 
would know each and every time such a transaction was being 
contemplated. Without the Sabo

[[Page H994]]

amendment, we are still in a position where notice to the American 
government of any such transaction is optional. We do not believe on 
this side of the aisle it ought to be optional.
  Secondly, the committee blocked efforts, again by Mr. Sabo, to add 
$3.4 billion for crucially needed funding to strengthen port security 
and border security.
  The committee cut back my amendment to provide $1 billion to help 
low-income Americans pay for higher energy prices which are in large 
measure arising today because of our misadventures in Iraq. The 
committee cut back that effort to $750 million with no guarantee that a 
single dollar of that will be provided to people who need it this year.
  Then the committee declined to support a provision by Mr. Berry which 
would have repaired the prescription drug plan that has now gone into 
effect and which would have at least given seniors more time to sort 
out their confusion before they have to commit themselves to signing up 
for one plan or another.
  The committee also refused to adopt, well, to save time, I will skip 
the other three points that I think were important to discuss, but let 
me simply say this, Mr. Chairman. There will be a lot of debate on this 
bill over the next 2 days, and a lot of it will be focused on Iraq. But 
I think it is important for each and every American to understand and 
it is important for each and every man and woman representing this 
country in uniform to understand that our divisions about the 
advisability of the war and about what ought to happen next in that war 
have nothing whatsoever to do with our feelings for those who wear the 
uniform of the United States and are presently engaged in this contest. 
They have done every possible thing that could be asked of them. We owe 
them our gratitude for their sense of sacrifice, their willingness to 
answer the call of their country, and I do not think that turmoil over 
the advisability of the war ought to be mistaken for disagreement that 
we owe a debt of obligation to each and every person who is fighting in 
that war.
  I wish we had a similar sense of self-sacrifice on the part of 
persons who are not participating in that war. It sometimes seems that 
the only people who are being asked to sacrifice are military families. 
We are telling the rest of the country, while some folks are off to 
war, ``Do not worry, folks, we are going to give you a nice fat tax 
cut, and people who make $1 million a year are going to get $110,000 
tax cut.'' No sense of self-sacrifice there.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I intend to vote for this bill in the end, but we 
could have adopted a number of amendments which would have made this a 
much more balanced product, and I would hope that as we go through the 
debate that we will find a way to at least address some of the issues 
which we failed to address when the committee dealt with the bill last 
week.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield 4 minutes 
to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the 
Homeland Security Subcommittee.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from 
California for yielding the time and, more importantly, for ushering 
out this important bill in short time and in good order, and I urge my 
colleagues to support this supplemental appropriations for the global 
war on terror and hurricane recovery.
  Mr. Chairman, without a doubt, Hurricane Katrina was the worst 
natural disaster the Nation has ever seen, covering more than 93,000 
square miles, claiming over 1,300 lives. Nearly 7 months after 
landfall, Hurricane Katrina continues to consume us as a Nation, both 
with recovery and rebuilding, as well as questioning what went wrong 
and why.
  The bill before us today fully funds the ongoing work of FEMA. Since 
Katrina made landfall, and including the $9.5 billion in this bill, the 
Congress has provided more than $44.5 billion in supplemental funds for 
Gulf coast recovery just through the Disaster Relief Fund. That is a 
staggering sum of money, Mr. Chairman, and one that reflects our 
commitment to help our Nation recover from the devastation of the 2005 
hurricane season.
  Mr. Chairman, we are a little more than 2 months away from the 2006 
hurricane season. I do not think that is a particularly welcome 
observation for those still recovering from the 2005 season.
  I am pleased that this bill includes several important programs that 
will help us prepare. One of the lessons learned, Mr. Chairman, in 
Katrina was the importance of early warning and communications. The 
bill before us today includes $70 million to allow FEMA to improve 
public alert, warning and communications systems.
  The Bipartisan Committee on Hurricane Katrina and the White House's 
``Lessons Learned'' identified critical failures in FEMA's ability to 
manage its workload. To address some of those concerns, this bill 
includes $5 million to hire additional personnel for logistics 
management, inventory management, and contract management. With these 
additional staff on board before the 2006 hurricane season begins, FEMA 
will be better prepared to position critical assets, as well as plan 
for short-term recovery operations such as debris removal and housing.
  Katrina also showed us that much work remains on both the national 
response plan and the national incident management system. This bill 
includes $5 million to immediately begin a review of those two 
important documents.
  Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased this bill includes funds for ongoing 
work of the Coast Guard as it relates to the war on terror and 
addresses an unexpected shortfall within the Secret Service based on 
increased protective operations driven by the latest terrorist tactics 
and the current threat environment.
  As reported by the full committee, this bill is free of extraneous 
matters, and I believe it is important that we maintain that clean bill 
of health. I suspect there will be attempts to add additional funds to 
areas deemed critical such as port security, border and immigration 
security, nuclear non-proliferation, first responders and aviation 
security. I would remind my colleagues that the 2007 appropriations 
cycle is already upon us. I believe debate on these very important 
issues should be reserved and considered within the context of the 
regular appropriations cycle in which we are engaged even now.
  I also understand there may be attempts to take funds from the 
Disaster Relief Fund and use them for other purposes. I would urge my 
colleagues to oppose those attempts.
  I urge, Mr. Chairman, all of us to support this bill.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend the 
distinguished minority leader of the House Appropriations Committee.
  Mr. Chairman, a lot of us on this side and virtually everyone on the 
other side are going to vote for this bill, but we should do so with 
considerable reservations.
  First of all, two-thirds of it goes to fund the Iraq War; even 
though, after 4 years, there is still no end in sight. You wonder if 
this is not more good money going after bad or at least after a mission 
that has yet to be defined.
  We will now have spent $490 billion from fiscal year 2001 through 
fiscal year 2007. Mr. Chairman, the cost of the entire Vietnam War, 
adjusted for inflation, was exactly the same cost that we have now 
appropriated.
  Mr. Chairman, the most credible poll that was just taken showed that 
three-quarters of the American troops believe that we should withdraw 
within the year, and over half said it should be within 6 months.
  Even more telling, a poll that was conducted on January 28 of this 
year among Iraqi citizens showed that 82 percent of Sunnis and 69 
percent of Shi'a want U.S. troops withdrawn immediately. These are the 
people that we are trying to save for democracy, and in fact, the 
majority of both Shi'a and Sunnis believe that the U.S. will hurt, that 
is their word ``hurt,'' Iraq over the next 5 years unless it withdraws 
immediately. Mr. Chairman, we need an exit strategy that is going to 
work and that has the support of the people we're trying to help.
  Now the other reservation we have is over the way in which this money 
is being spent. We are told that about $8.8

[[Page H995]]

billion has been used inappropriately of Iraqi reconstruction funds 
that we appropriated. It is unaccounted for, according to the Inspector 
General in Iraq. There are 50 investigations going on. A Halliburton 
subsidiary just acknowledged, admitted, that they overcharged the 
government by $63 million for a contract.
  We need a Truman Committee-type investigation. It saved the American 
taxpayer tens of billions of dollars in the 1940's. It was rejected in 
the full committee, but it should be made part of this bill.
  Now another major part of this bill deals with Hurricane Katrina. I 
was just down there in Louisiana, Mr. Chairman, on my own tab, for what 
it is worth what I learned about the contracting process down there is 
just stunning. It makes you wonder whether we should be providing any 
money unless we can get a handle over the way the money is spent.
  Let me give you a thinly-veiled hypothetical example. One contract, 
for example, we give it to a prime contractor to fix roofs for $25,000 
a roof. Eighty percent of it goes to a subcontractor, then 60 percent 
to another subcontractor, to another subcontractor, and, finally, it 
gets down to a company that actually puts the roof on for $1,200 a 
roof. You do the math, Mr. Chairman. Virtually all of the money goes to 
these contractors who never banged a hammer on a nail, and you know how 
we found out about it? Because the actual undocumented aliens who did 
the work contacted a FEMA person on the field, wondering how they were 
going to get paid. You go figure, Mr. Chairman.
  Another contract went for debris removal, prime contractor, 
subcontractor, down again through reiterations, finally goes to the 
company that is already doing the very work for the City of New Orleans 
for a fraction of the cost but they never saw 90 percent of the money. 
These are things a Truman Committee could look into and fix.
  Beyond the need for more oversight on the contracting process of the 
Federal Government, Mr. Chairman, we have some other issues that should 
have been part of this bill. The members of the full committee in the 
last omnibus appropriations conference had put the bill to bed, 
finished it up, when the majority leader of the Senate came over and 
added 45 pages providing liability exemption for drug companies.

                              {time}  1245

  We wanted to rectify that by striking the language we never approved. 
That was not done.
  The third issue that we debated in full committee, and unfortunately 
it lost, was to give Medicare recipients an extra 7 months within which 
to make a decision as to whether to participate in Medicare part D. If 
Medicare senior citizens don't sign up by May 15, they have to then 
wait for another 7 months and they will pay an extra 1 percent a month. 
That means there will be a tax, if you will, a penalty of 7 percent for 
the rest of their lives applied to their insurance premiums.
  It is too confusing a program. They need more time to decide. We 
ought to give them another 7-month extension so that they can make that 
decision by the end of this calendar year. If we don't ten million 
seniors will pay this penalty for the rest of their lives.
  Mr. Chairman, there are so many other issues in this bill that we 
could discuss. Some of them will be discussed. But the bottom line is 
that it is an awful lot of money. It is the largest supplemental we 
have ever passed in this body. The largest appropriation as a 
supplemental ever considered. We have to provide it, but we ought to 
show more scrutiny towards the way the money is being spent.
  And finally, Mr. Chairman, there is a provision here with regard to 
Dubai Ports World attempted purchase of American ports. I know I am in 
the distinct minority. It was a 62-2 vote, and I was one of the two 
that opposed this language. We have to identify our friends, and Dubai 
is our friend. The fact is that the Homeland Security Secretary said if 
this deal goes through it will strengthen port security, yet we ignore 
that information as well as the reality of the fact that Dubai is doing 
everything to be a bridge to the moderate Arab world. We blew up that 
bridge in committee, as far as I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, and I 
would hope we will try to rectify some of that damage.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do 
now rise.
  The motion was agreed to.
  Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. 
Simpson) having assumed the chair, Mr. Gillmor, Chairman of the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that 
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4939) 
making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2006, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution 
thereon.

                          ____________________