[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 144 (Thursday, September 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5058-S5060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Harris,
and Ms. Warren):
S. 1772. A bill to remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily
served the Confederate States of America from display in the Capitol of
the United States; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Mr. BOOKER. Mr.President, today I rise to speak about the
introduction of the Confederate Monument Removal Act. This legislation
would properly remove certain statues on display in the Capitol as part
of the National Statuary Hall Collection so they can be exhibited
elsewhere in the proper historical context. I am proud to introduce
this legislation today and I want to thank Representative Barbara Lee
for her leadership in the House on this bill.
On July 2, 1864, a law was enacted that created the National Statuary
Hall Collection, which allows states to select two statues of deceased
individuals to be displayed in the Capitol. States are supposed to
choose people ``who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for
their historic renown or for distinguished civil or military
services.'' Figures like George Washington, Samuel Adams, and Dwight D.
Eisenhower grace the collection and are prominently on display in the
Capitol. The collection is meant to honor patriots who served,
sacrificed, or made tremendous contributions to our Nation.
People who served the Confederate States of America do not deserve
that honor. These are individuals who took up arms against the Union
and inflicted catastrophic death and suffering among United States
citizens. Simply put, they fall well short of that high bar.
Moreover, the presence of these statues in the National Statuary Hall
Collection ignores the context in which
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these monuments were first erected. Statues of Robert E. Lee and
Jefferson Davis were erected across the United States in the post-
Reconstruction era and during the civil rights movement as symbols of
white suppression and defiance of Federal authority. They do not
represent Southern heritage and those who advocate thus are engaging in
revisionist history and are whitewashing our past.
That is why I am introducing the Confederate Monument Removal Act, a
bill that would mandate the removal of all eleven statues of people who
voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from the National
Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol within 120 days. The list of
statues that would be removed includes Joseph Wheeler of Alabama, Uriah
Milton Rose of Arkansas, Edmund Kirby Smith of Florida, Zebulon Vance
of North Carolina, Alexander Hamilton Stephens of Georgia, Edward
Douglas White of Louisiana, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, James
Zachariah George of Mississippi, Wade Hampton of South Carolina, Robert
E. Lee of Virginia, and John Kenna of West Virginia.
The legislation would allow a State who selected the statue to be
displayed in the collection to reclaim the statue if they pay for its
transportation back to the State. If a State declines to reclaim it
back, it would turn possession of the statue over to the Smithsonian,
an institution that is more than capable of displaying the statues in
the proper historical context and where a constructive dialogue can
take place about our Nation's history.
I am grateful that this legislation is endorsed by organizations such
as the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund.
Some have argued that this will lead to the removal of other statues
and monuments of prominent figures who played an important role in our
Nation's history. That is plainly false. This bill only touches on
those who were traitors against their Country and whose statues were
erected as a symbol of white supremacy.
It is true that the Confederate Monument Removal Act does not remove
certain statues in the Capitol that some people find offensive and who
arguably should not be honored in such a way. For instance, the bill
would not remove the statue of John C. Calhoun, a white supremacist and
a vigorous defender of slavery. This is a conversation we as a Nation
must have regarding how to best tell the truth of our past.
But surely we can all agree that people who took up arms against
their Country should not be venerated in the Capitol, a place all
Americans should feel welcomed, encouraged, and inspired. These statues
must be moved not just because of who they were in the past, but
because of who we are now as a Nation and who we must be to ensure an
even better and brighter future for generations to come.
I am proud to introduce the Confederate Monument Removal Act and I
urge its speedy passage.
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By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. Coons, Mr. Hatch, Ms. Klobuchar,
Mr. Tillis, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Warner, and Mr.
Grassley):
S. 1781. A bill to reauthorize grant programs to improve the
prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic, high
technology, Internet, and other white collar crimes; to the Committee
on the Judiciary.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1781
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 ``National White Collar Crime
Control Act of 2017''
SEC. 2. PREVENTION, INVESTIGATION, AND PROSECUTION OF
ECONOMIC, HIGH TECHNOLOGY, INTERNET, AND OTHER
WHITE COLLAR CRIME.
Section 401 of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization
for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 3713a) is
amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the
following:
``(b) Grants.--
``(1) Authorization.--The Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance is authorized to enter into a cooperative
agreement with or make a grant to an eligible entity for the
purpose of improving the identification, investigation, and
prosecution of white collar crime (including each category of
such crimes set forth in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of
paragraph (2)) by providing comprehensive, direct, and
practical training and technical assistance to law
enforcement officers, investigators, auditors and prosecutors
in States and units of local government.
``(2) White collar crime defined.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term `white collar crime' includes--
``(A) high-tech crime, including cyber and electronic crime
and related threats;
``(B) economic crime, including financial fraud and
mortgage fraud; and
``(C) Internet-based crime against children and child
pornography.
``(3) Purposes.--The purposes of this subsection include
the following:
``(A) To ensure that training is available for State,
local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies and
officers nationwide to support local efforts to identify,
prevent, investigate, and prosecute cyber and financial
crimes, including those crimes facilitated via computer
networks and other electronic means, and crimes involving
financial and economic impacts such as intellectual property
crimes.
``(B) To deliver training to State, local, tribal, and
territorial law enforcement officers, and other criminal
justice professionals concerning the use of proven
methodologies to--
``(i) prevent, detect, and respond to white collar crimes;
``(ii) recognize emerging issues;
``(iii) manage electronic and financial crime evidence; and
``(iv) improve local criminal justice agency responses to
such threats.
``(C) To provide operational and technical assistance and
training concerning tools, products, resources, guidelines,
and procedures to--
``(i) aid and enhance criminal intelligence analysis; and
``(ii) conduct white collar crime investigations and
related justice information sharing at the local and State
levels.
``(D) To provide appropriate training on protections for
privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties in the conduct of
criminal intelligence analysis and cyber and electronic crime
and financial crime investigations, including in the
development of policies, guidelines, and procedures by State,
local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies to
protect and enhance privacy, civil rights, and civil
liberties protections and identify weaknesses and gaps in the
protection of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
``(4) Authorized programs.--A grant or cooperative
agreement awarded under this subsection may be made only for
the following programs, with respect to the prevention,
investigation, and prosecution of certain criminal
activities:
``(A) Programs to provide a nationwide support system for
State and local criminal justice agencies.
``(B) Programs to assist State and local criminal justice
agencies to develop, establish, and maintain intelligence-
focused policing strategies and related information sharing.
``(C) Programs to provide training and investigative
support services to State and local criminal justice agencies
to provide such agencies with skills and resources needed to
investigate and prosecute white collar criminal activities
and related criminal activities.
``(D) Programs to provide research support, to establish
partnerships, and to provide other resources to aid State and
local criminal justice agencies to prevent, investigate, and
prosecute white collar criminal activities and related
problems.
``(E) Programs to provide information and research to the
general public to facilitate the prevention of white collar
criminal activities.
``(F) Programs to establish or support national training
and research centers regionally to provide training and
research services for State and local criminal justice
agencies.
``(G) Programs to provide training and oversight to State
and local criminal justice agencies to develop and comply
with applicable privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties
related policies, procedures, rules, laws, and guidelines.
``(H) Any other programs specified by the Attorney General
as furthering the purposes of this subsection.
``(5) Application.--To be eligible for an award of a grant
or cooperative agreement under this subsection, an entity
shall submit to the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance an application in such form and manner, and
containing such information, as required by the Director of
the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
``(6) Eligibility.--States, units of local government, not-
for-profit entities, and institutions of higher-education
with demonstrated capacity and experience in delivering
training, technical assistance and other resources including
direct, practical laboratory training to law enforcement
officers, investigators, auditors and prosecutors in States
and units of local government and over the Internet shall be
eligible to receive an award under this subsection.
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``(7) Rules and regulations.--The Director of the Bureau of
Justice Assistance shall promulgate such rules and
regulations as are necessary to carry out this subsection,
including rules and regulations for submitting and reviewing
applications under paragraph (5).
``(8) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated $13,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2018 through 2022 to carry out this subsection.
``(c) Accountability.--All grants awarded by the Director
of the Bureau of Justice Assistance under this section shall
be subject to the following accountability provisions:
``(1) Audit requirement.--
``(A) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term `unresolved
audit finding' means a finding in the final audit report of
the Inspector General of the Department of Justice that the
audited grantee has utilized grant funds for an unauthorized
expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed
or resolved within 12 months from the date when the final
audit report is issued.
``(B) Audits.--Beginning in the first fiscal year beginning
after the date of enactment of this subsection, and in each
fiscal year thereafter, the Inspector General of the
Department of Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of
grants under this section to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse
of funds by grantees. The Inspector General shall determine
the appropriate number of grantees to be audited each year.
``(C) Mandatory exclusion.--A recipient of grant funds
under this section that is found to have an unresolved audit
finding shall not be eligible to receive grant funds under
this section during the first 2 fiscal years beginning after
the end of the 12-month period described in subparagraph (A).
``(D) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall give
priority to eligible applicants that did not have an
unresolved audit finding during the 3 fiscal years before
submitting an application for a grant under this section.
``(E) Reimbursement.--If an entity is awarded grant funds
under this section during the 2-fiscal-year period during
which the entity is barred from receiving grants under
subparagraph (C), the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance shall--
``(i) deposit an amount equal to the amount of the grant
funds that were improperly awarded to the grantee into the
General Fund of the Treasury; and
``(ii) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the
fund from the grant recipient that was erroneously awarded
grant funds.
``(2) Nonprofit organization requirements.--
``(A) Definition.--For purposes of this paragraph and the
grant programs under this part, the term `nonprofit
organization' means an organization that is described in
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is
exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.
``(B) Prohibition.--The Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance may not award a grant under this section to a
nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts
for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in
section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
``(C) Disclosure.--Each nonprofit organization that is
awarded a grant under this section and uses the procedures
prescribed in regulations to create a rebuttable presumption
of reasonableness for the compensation of its officers,
directors, trustees, and key employees, shall disclose to the
Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in the
application for the grant, the process for determining such
compensation, including the independent persons involved in
reviewing and approving such compensation, the comparability
data used, and contemporaneous substantiation of the
deliberation and decision. Upon request, the Director of the
Bureau of Justice Assistance shall make the information
disclosed under this subparagraph available for public
inspection.
``(3) Conference expenditures.--
``(A) Limitation.--No amounts made available to the
Department of Justice under this section may be used by the
Attorney General, or by any individual or entity awarded
discretionary funds through a cooperative agreement under
this section, to host or support any expenditure for
conferences that uses more than $20,000 in funds made
available by the Department of Justice, unless the head of
the relevant agency or department provides prior written
authorization that the funds may be expended to host the
conference.
``(B) Written approval.--Written approval under
subparagraph (A) shall include a written estimate of all
costs associated with the conference, including the cost of
all food, beverages, audio-visual equipment, honoraria for
speakers, and entertainment.
``(C) Report.--The Deputy Attorney General shall submit an
annual report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate
and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives on all conference expenditures approved under
this paragraph.
``(4) Annual certification.--Beginning in the first fiscal
year beginning after the date of enactment of this
subsection, the Attorney General shall submit, to the
Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the
Judiciary and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives, an annual certification--
``(A) indicating whether--
``(i) all audits issued by the Office of the Inspector
General under paragraph (1) have been completed and reviewed
by the appropriate Assistant Attorney General or Director;
``(ii) all mandatory exclusions required under paragraph
(1)(C) have been issued; and
``(iii) all reimbursements required under paragraph (1)(E)
have been made; and
``(B) that includes a list of any grant recipients excluded
under paragraph (1) from the previous year.
``(d) Preventing Duplicative Grants.--
``(1) In general.--Before the Director of the Bureau of
Justice Assistance awards a grant to an applicant under this
section, the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance
shall compare potential grant awards with other grants
awarded under this section to determine if duplicate grant
awards are awarded for the same purpose.
``(2) Report.--If the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance awards duplicate grants to the same applicant for
the same purpose the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of
the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives a report that includes--
``(A) a list of all duplicate grants awarded, including the
total dollar amount of any duplicate grants awarded; and
``(B) the reason the Director of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance awarded the duplicate grants.''.
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