[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 177 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2103-E2104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2112, CONSOLIDATED AND FURTHER CONTINUING 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 17, 2011

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Fiscal Year 
2012 Conference report for the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, 
and Transportation-HUD appropriations bill.
  However, I regret the process that brought this bill to the floor. A 
full one third of this bill, the Transportation-HUD appropriations, has 
never been considered by the House before. This bill was not written in 
an open process and members were not allowed to offer amendments to 
improve the bill.
  I am pleased that this bill included the funding I fought for to help 
our local residents recover and rebuild from the flooding which caused 
so much destruction in New Jersey. This bill provides $2.3 billion in 
needed disaster assistance to ensure Central New Jersey's businesses 
and home owners have the resources they need to mitigate the damage and 
put in place preventive measures in advance of future disasters.
  Further, this bill rejects the dangerous attempt by House Republicans 
to end the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and provides the 
program with almost $200 million to help local police departments keep 
our communities safe despite the local budget constraints. While this 
represents a steep cut in funding from last year, these funds will help 
some local departments who are having to make tough decisions about 
firing police officers for a lack of resources. Going forward, we must 
do far more to get more cops back on the beat.
  In these difficult times, this bill also denies an attempt to reduce 
funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and 
the Women, Infants and Children (WIC). SNAP and WIC help our fellow 
Americans during their most difficult times with some food assistance 
to help make ends meet. As millions of our fellow Americans are 
struggling in this difficult economy, this bill provides $105 billion 
for domestic food assistance programs, an 18 percent increase from last 
year, to make sure they are at least able to keep some food on the 
table.
  As a research scientist, I have long supported the important role of 
federal investment in basic research. I am glad this bill increases 
funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to $7 billion, an 
increase of $173 million. It also provides the necessary funding to 
continue the development of the James Webb Space Telescope that will 
allow researchers to find the first galaxies and help create jobs now. 
Further, this bill provides the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a 29 
percent increase in funding to ensure that our Nation's inventors are 
able to get their ideas to market and help grow our economy.
  I am also pleased that this bill makes needed changes to ensure that 
the maximum loan limits for the Federal Housing Administration are 
maintained at a level necessary for areas with high cost housing like 
we have in New Jersey. With the housing market still weak, this will 
help provide some necessary stability and support for prospective home 
owners.
  It is unfortunate that this bill freezes funding for the Commodity 
Futures Trading Commission which is tasked with implementing many of 
the commonsense Wall Street reforms we approved last year. Without 
additional funding the CFTC will struggle to prevent future financial 
crises, and not have the resources needed to fight oil speculation 
which is increasing the cost of gas at the pump.
  Finally, I regret that this bill contains a number of funding 
restrictions that will limit our Nation's law enforcement officers from 
combating gun trafficking and prevent sensible regulations from being 
established to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals. 
Yet again the NRA has been given an early Christmas present with the 
inclusion of these special giveaways tucked into this bill without a 
vote or any debate on them.
  This is not a perfect bill but it prevents a looming government 
shutdown. Further, it provides funding increases for a number of 
critical programs and rejects many of the dangerous cuts contained in 
the funding bills that the House previously approved. I support passage 
of this bill despite its pessimistic view of what America can achieve 
through ambitious funding of the programs covered under the bill.

[[Page E2104]]



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