[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16851-16852]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          AUTHORIZING FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL ADVOCACY CENTER

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 6083) to authorize funding for the National Advocacy Center, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6083

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

     SECTION 1. TRAINING FOR STATE AND LOCAL PROSECUTORS.

       The Attorney General is authorized to award a grant to a 
     national nonprofit organization (such as the National 
     District Attorneys Association) to conduct a national 
     training program for State and local prosecutors for the 
     purpose of improving the professional skills of State and 
     local prosecutors and enhancing the ability of Federal, 
     State, and local prosecutors to work together.

     SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION.

       The Attorney General may provide assistance to the grantee 
     under section 1 to carry out the training program described 
     in such section, including comprehensive continuing legal 
     education in the areas of trial practice, substantive legal 
     updates, support staff training, and any other assistance the 
     Attorney General determines to be appropriate.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney 
     General to carry out this Act $4,750,000 for each of the 
     fiscal years 2009 through 2012, to remain available until 
     expended.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.

                              {time}  1600


                             General Leave

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6083, a measure that 
will fund a National Training Program for State and local prosecutors.
  Since 1998, the Attorney General has provided funds to the National 
District Attorneys Association to offer specialized training for 
approximately 3,000 State and local prosecutors each year.
  This valuable training improves the ability of prosecutors to 
investigate and try difficult crimes, such as child and elder abuse, 
identity theft, and gang-related activities. It also provides the 
latest guidance on complex evidentiary issues, such as the use of DNA 
in criminal investigations.
  While this is a crucial initiative that our communities can ill 
afford to lose, funding shortages in recent years unfortunately place 
its future in doubt. Traditional funding sources, such as the Edward 
Byrne Memorial Grants, have been severely cut over the past several 
years.
  The National District Attorneys Association recently submitted a 
grant application for the program, but it appears that it will again, 
at best, receive diminished funding. As a result, there have been 
significant staff reductions, jeopardizing the program's future.
  H.R. 6083 addresses this problem by authorizing $4.75 million for 
each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012 for the Attorney General to fund 
a national non-profit organization such as NDAA to train State and 
local prosecutors.
  I commend John Spratt of South Carolina for his leadership on this 
very important measure. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished gentleman 
from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) be given the ability to manage the 
bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues' support for 
H.R. 6083. This bill authorizes funding for a national training 
program, which is focused on State and local prosecutors. The funding 
this bill authorizes will be an important step toward ensuring that 
State and local prosecutors from across the country can have the 
training they need to be skilled, effective, and more professional 
prosecutors.
  Originally, H.R. 6083 would have authorized $6.5 million per year for 
5 years to fund the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center, the 
NAC. The NAC is a joint venture of the Department of Justice and the 
National District Attorneys Association, which is located on the campus 
of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
  The NAC is a unique facility created specifically to train Federal, 
State, and local prosecutors in advocacy skills and management. Since 
1997, 22,000 prosecutors from across the country have benefited from 
this program, which makes it a vital resource for the professional 
education of our State and local prosecutors. The classes and other 
programs at the NAC strengthen a prosecutor's advocacy skills by 
offering a wide range of specialized subjects, ranging from child abuse 
to gang crime to cyber crime and identity theft.
  Over the years, operations at the NAC have relied mostly on 
congressionally directed appropriations. Recognizing the value of a 
national advocacy center, Congress has consistently seen to it that 
this support is available to NDAA for services at the NAC. But this 
year-by-year funding has led to uncertainty in the budgeting and 
operations of the center, and a cut in funding in recent years, or at 
least the threat of it, has put this program in doubt. Classes have 
been canceled, educators have been laid off, all of which is evidence 
of the impact that unstable funding has had on the programs and, 
indeed, the NAC's ability to continue fulfilling its mission.
  I intended H.R. 6083, as originally written, to be a step away from 
this perennial end-of-year funding crisis. I wanted to ensure also that 
State and local prosecutors nationwide could receive the training they 
need through a broad curriculum. However, with my concurrence, during 
the markup of H.R. 6083, the bill was amended. In its current form, the 
bill creates a grant program for comprehensive training, for which 
national nonprofit organizations, like the National District Attorneys 
Association, can compete.
  In addition, the authorization has been lowered from $6.5 million to 
$4.75 million per year over a period of 5 years. This was done in 
response to suggestions from Members of the Senate that it would 
increase the bill's likelihood of being accepted unanimously there.
  This bill enjoys broad bipartisan support in both the House and the 
Senate. Cosponsors on the bill come from all parts of the country: 
California, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and of course, South 
Carolina. It also has the emphatic support of the National District 
Attorneys Association.
  I want to express my great appreciation to the committee chairman, 
Mr. Conyers; to the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Scott; and to the 
Judiciary Committee staff, particularly Mario Dispenza, for working 
with dispatch and great diligence so that H.R. 6083 could be reported 
out of committee and placed on the suspension calendar.
  Once again, I urge all my colleagues' support for training our State 
and local prosecutors, making them more professional. Vote ``yes'' on 
H.R. 6083.

[[Page 16852]]

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of our time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself so much time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, our State and local prosecutors are the heart of our 
criminal justice system. These dedicated men and women prosecute the 
majority of criminal cases in the country.
  Every State has its criminal problems, and in my home State, we have 
350 deputy county attorneys and assistant attorneys general who 
prosecute thousands of crimes each year. In 2007, for example, State 
and county prosecutors handled over 68,000 criminal cases in my State 
alone.
  The National District Attorneys Association, working in conjunction 
with the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Education, provides 
training to State and local prosecutors at the Ernest F. Hollings 
National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. This 
comprehensive training improves trial practice and advocacy skills 
needed to successfully prosecute crimes against children, gang crimes, 
and other violent criminal activity.
  The National Advocacy Center contains over 200,000 square feet of 
classrooms, conference rooms, and full-size courtrooms equipped with 
state-of-the-art audio technology for training. The National District 
Attorneys Association offers a variety of courses at the center, often 
including visiting lecturers and experts in specific areas of criminal 
prosecution.
  Since 1998, the NDAA's, National District Attorneys Association, 
program at the National Advocacy Center has provided specialized 
training and education to approximately 3,000 local prosecutors each 
year. And over that time, the center has trained a total of over 20,000 
State and local prosecutors.
  Unfortunately, Federal funding for this training has significantly 
decreased in recent years. In fiscal year 2007, the program received no 
Federal funding. This lack of funding has required the NDAA to lay off 
employees and require students to pay for their expenses in order to 
keep the training program up and running.
  H.R. 6083 authorizes $6.5 million a year for fiscal years 2009 
through 2012 to the Attorney General to carry out this important 
training program.
  It's critical that our prosecutors are properly trained to hone their 
courtroom skills and adapt to changing trial practices. These 
prosecutors come from all across the country and converge on South 
Carolina, where this center of education is there for them, and that 
means there's also a standard that goes back across the country, and I 
think that's an important piece of this as well, Mr. Speaker.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 6083.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, my prosecutors at home wrote me on several 
occasions asking me to support this particular bill. This school helps 
all of the prosecutors throughout this country in their efforts to 
fight crime, and if we don't have this school and the instruction it 
gives our district attorney generals, I think we all lose.
  So I just wanted to add my voice to Mr. Spratt's and others in this 
House and hope that we can continue the Byrne Center and help in our 
fight against crime, which ravages people all over this country but 
greatly in my district and in many inner cities. And unless we have 
strong prosecutors and others in the criminal justice system, we won't 
be successful in that fight.
  Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6083, 
a bill to authorize the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in 
Columbia, South Carolina.
  The Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South 
Carolina is the largest and most productive national training facility 
for prosecutors.
  The National District Attorneys Association has provided training at 
the National Advocacy Center for over 23,000 State and local 
prosecutors since the center's inception in 1998.
  The National Advocacy Center is a state-of-the-art facility for 
prosecutors to learn the art and science of trial advocacy from a 
faculty of experienced prosecutors.
  At the National Advocacy Center, district attorneys learn about new 
trends in law enforcement and trial advocacy and are taught by experts 
in specific subject areas.
  Authorizing the National Advocacy Center will help ensure that these 
important programs continue and that our district attorneys have the 
resources they need to get the job done.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the 
opportunity to join my colleagues today in voicing my support for H.R. 
6083, a bill to authorize funding for the National Advocacy Center.
  Mr. Speaker, solicitors and district attorneys are the unsung heroes 
in the fight to keep our streets, and our homeland safe. They go to 
work every day fighting for justice and in doing so, protect each and 
every one of us. These brave men and women are on the ground every day 
working with law enforcement on how best to enforce our laws, and 
implement justice, and for that, we owe them a debt of gratitude.
  It is vital for the operation of our justice system, and the 
protection of citizens across this Nation, that our district attorneys 
be well trained and highly educated. That is why, in 1950, the National 
District Attorneys Association, the NDAA, was formed. Today, this group 
is the oldest and largest professional organization representing 
criminal prosecutors in the world.
  In pursuit of its mission to equip State and local prosecutors to 
best do their jobs, the NDAA operates the National Advocacy Center on 
the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia. In this one 
of a kind center, the training of State and local prosecutors has been 
centralized in a single location. Offering classes such as ``Boot camp: 
An Introduction to Prosecution'' and ``Childproof: Advanced Trial 
Advocacy for Child Abuse Prosecutors,'' this center delivers unmatched 
education and training to prosecutors from all across our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, because it is in everyone's best interest to have the 
best trained legal minds prosecuting criminals, and by doing so, 
keeping us safe, the National Advocacy Center deserves our full 
support. And the solicitors, prosecutors, and district attorneys across 
our Nation deserve our thanks. I urge my colleagues to support this 
bill.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I wish to take this 
opportunity to express my strong support for the Ernest F. Hollings 
National Advocacy Center (NAC) located on the campus of the University 
of South Carolina and for H.R. 6083, legislation which authorizes 
funding for NAC to help that organization train State and local 
prosecutors.
  Started by the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) in 
1998, for more than a decade the NAC has educated over 20,000 
prosecutors--expanding their knowledge of difficult legal matters and 
skills to better serve their communities. I am grateful that my son 
Alan is a graduate of the NAC program. I know firsthand that his 
experience has been an important part of his legal training.
  State and local prosecutors are an invaluable component of our 
nation's justice system. Their service helps protect American families 
by keeping criminals off our streets and making our neighborhoods safer 
for our children. I commend the staff of the National Advocacy Center 
for their hard work, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this important program.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jackson of Illinois). The question is on 
the motion offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that 
the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6083, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. 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. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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