Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriatoins Act, 2006
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE JUDICIARY, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 29, 2005)
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank chairman KNOLLENBERG and ranking member Olver for doing the best they could with the limited resources that were made available to the subcommittee.
The allocation that we were given highlights this inescapable fact: the budget resolution passed by the republican majority has real consequences.
It is clear, for example, that the funding for Amtrak is simply not adequate.
It seems to be an effort to shut down national passenger rail in this country.
Make no mistake: if we fail to provide Amtrak the funds it needs to operate, we won't just be shutting down the few routes identified by the committee to be closed.
The resulting layoffs, inability to fund capital upgrades, and lack of funds to operate remaining routes will eventually lead to the shut down of national passenger rail permanently.
However, despite this and other problems with the bill, I believe that it contains many good provisions that deserve our support.
For example, I am pleased that the committee adopted the Hoyer-Wolf-Moran amendment, providing a 3.1 percent pay adjustment for Federal civilian employees--which is consistent with the pay adjustment proposed for our military personnel.
We must recognize the contributions made by both Federal civilian employees and military personnel to the safety and security of this Nation.
I am also pleased that the $126.7 million that the president requested for the FDA consolidation was included in the bill. These funds will help relocate FDA employees from their current substandard facilities into modern, state-of-the-art facilities, and end the practice of extending costly leases for various FDA offices throughout the region.
Furthermore, I am pleased that the chairman recognized that the Federal Government has a responsibility to the general aviation airports in the metropolitan region that were shut down after 9/11--through no fault of their own.
In this bill, we reimburse those airports for their losses and the chairman has committed to working with me to increase that amount during conference to ensure full restitution.
That is fair. And, that is right.
Finally, I am pleased that this bill recognizes the important Federal role in helping States reform their election systems.
The bill sensibly provides $15.8 million to the new Election Assistance Commission so it can fulfill the high expectations Congress intended when it passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
I also am personally gratified that the bill's accompanying report urges the EAC to set aside $250,000 for the HAVA College Program, an innovative program that encourages college students all over the Nation to enlist as non-partisan poll workers.
To be sure, Congress has not carried out all its election reform obligations to the states. And, I am disappointed the bill does not provide the remaining $800 million we owe the States to upgrade their voting machines, provide voter and pollworker training, and improve voting machine security.
I appreciate the committee's hard work on this bill. This legislation is not perfect. But it contains many important, needed provisions that deserve our support.
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I am not going to offer an amendment, but I do want to speak on this bill. First of all, I want to congratulate the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) for their hard work on this bill.
The last amendment demonstrates the folly of the Republican fiscal policies and the Republican budget. There are simply insufficient resources to cover the responsibilities, not the wants, but the responsibilities that we have. I want to speak about one of those.
I am pleased that the bill before us recognizes the importance of continuing our investment in helping States reform their election systems. This bill sensibly provides $15.8 million to the new Election Assistance Commission so it can fulfill the high expectations Congress intended when it passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
I am personally gratified that the bill's accompanying report urges the EAC to set aside $250,000 for the HAVA college program, an innovative program that encourages college students all over the Nation to enlist as nonpartisan poll workers.
But, Mr. Chairman, this bill falls short of what HAVA requires. Almost 3 years after HAVA was enacted, Congress has yet to carry out all its election reform obligations and promises to the States. I am especially disappointed the bill does not provide the remaining $800 million we owe the States to upgrade their voting machines, provide voter and pollworker training, and improve voting machinery technology.
I have not offered an amendment because there is not $800 million to take from one of the objects in this bill to an obligation that we have, so I am not offering an amendment. Moreover, starting on January 1, HAVA requires, and I want my friends, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle, who have been properly very concerned about unfunded mandates. They have talked a lot about unfunded mandates. I agree with you on unfunded mandates.
This bill, HAVA, required States to spend money and it requires them to have every voter online with the local precinct in statewide registration offices. That is expensive. It will help elections, but it is expensive. These systems, which will cost States tens of millions of dollars to install and maintain, will go a long way toward improving the accuracy and reliability of registration rolls and reduce fraud, something we all can agree on.
Today, Congress has appropriated $3 billion of the $3.8 billion promised in HAVA, roughly 78 percent of what was promised. That sum represents an important down payment to the States, and I thank the Speaker, the former chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) for their strong support in securing this money. I might say that the administration was supportive of this as well. This was a bipartisan effort.
However, we clearly have not carried out our promise. I happen to believe that a promise only partially fulfilled is a promise unfulfilled. For those who would say appropriating 78 percent is enough, I would suggest to them that they ought to talk to their State administrators who are not able to get the money that we are requiring them, hear me, requiring them to spend.
The principal cosponsors spent considerable time estimating how much it would cost the States to fulfill all of the mandates prescribed in the bill. We consulted State and local election officials, the Congressional Research Service and the then-Government Accounting Office, among other authorities, before deciding $3.8 billion would provide the States with the resources necessary for comprehensive reform.
Indeed, there is reason to believe we underestimated what it would cost. Some credible reports estimated the cost will actually be over $6 billion. At a time when we are spending $1 billion a week building a viable democracy in Iraq, money which I have supported, an objective that I think is important, we can and must find it in ourselves to fund our own democratic infrastructure so that no eligible voter is ever refused the right to vote through administrative or mechanical error.
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, from 1789 to 2002, the Federal Government got a free ride from the States in the administration of elections. We did not pay a nickel to elect any Member of Congress, any United States Senator, any President, or on running elections.
If we care about the quality and credibility of our election system, we must strive in the months ahead to provide the remaining $800 million.
Mr. Chairman, I hope you work with me. I intend to work with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) in accomplishing this objective. It is an important objective to meet our promises and not have unfunded mandates, and to make sure that America's elections are run in a fashion that will continue to be an example for the rest of the world and the pride of our own country.
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