Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013
Floor Speech
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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Lewis-Johnson amendment. This amendment ensures that none of the funding provided in the bill will be used to facilitate a closure of the Department of Justice antitrust division's regional offices in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Philadelphia.
Mr. Chairman, from our discussions in the full committee markup of this bill, I understand that Mr. Wolf, the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, believes that this matter can be worked out and that Justice is perhaps willing to move on this. But I am deeply concerned that this action will seriously undermine the division's ability to enforce antitrust laws by limiting the number of boots on the ground, particularly in the Southeast and the Southwest. Accepting that this is a done deal and there is no room for negotiation by Congress will severely weaken our ability to enforce the antitrust laws.
Furthermore, given the already heavy workload of the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New York and Chicago field offices, the antitrust division will not have sufficient human resources to investigate and prosecute many regional and local conspiracies in the areas of responsibility that those four offices have, the ones that are slated to be closed.
I want to ensure that the antitrust division can continue to protect taxpayers and preserve integrity of our free market system. The regional offices in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Philadelphia help facilitate these efforts, and they should remain open. Closing these offices, I believe, is penny wise and pound foolish. It puts nearly a hundred jobs at risk, and it poses only a $500,000 savings in fiscal year 2013. In fact, the proposal could end up costing money because it would transfer employees to regional offices with higher costs of living and higher salaries, like New York and San Francisco.
It's extremely important that we don't close these offices until a thorough review of the antitrust division is completed. When deciding to recommend these closures, the Department of Justice did not consider other more cost-effective options. Furthermore, if offices must be eliminated, all of the closures should be based on merit and productivity rather than on politics.
Let me speak for a moment on the Atlanta office which does better in terms of overall performance and productivity than say, for instance, some of the other offices which are slated to remain open. The Atlanta office obtained over $265 million in fines and restitution between FY 2000 and 2011. With an annual operating cost of $4 million, the criminal fines and restitution recovered by the office represent a return rate of 600 percent. Indeed, closing these offices is penny wise and pound foolish, and I urge adoption of the amendment for the good of our free market system and our capitalist economy.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Lewis-Johnson amendment. This amendment ensures that none of the funding provided in the bill will be used to facilitate a closure of the Department of Justice antitrust division's regional offices in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Philadelphia.
Mr. Chairman, from our discussions in the full committee markup of this bill, I understand that Mr. Wolf, the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, believes that this matter can be worked out and that Justice is perhaps willing to move on this. But I am deeply concerned that this action will seriously undermine the division's ability to enforce antitrust laws by limiting the number of boots on the ground, particularly in the Southeast and the Southwest. Accepting that this is a done deal and there is no room for negotiation by Congress will severely weaken our ability to enforce the antitrust laws.
Furthermore, given the already heavy workload of the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New York and Chicago field offices, the antitrust division will not have sufficient human resources to investigate and prosecute many regional and local conspiracies in the areas of responsibility that those four offices have, the ones that are slated to be closed.
I want to ensure that the antitrust division can continue to protect taxpayers and preserve integrity of our free market system. The regional offices in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Philadelphia help facilitate these efforts, and they should remain open. Closing these offices, I believe, is penny wise and pound foolish. It puts nearly a hundred jobs at risk, and it poses only a $500,000 savings in fiscal year 2013. In fact, the proposal could end up costing money because it would transfer employees to regional offices with higher costs of living and higher salaries, like New York and San Francisco.
It's extremely important that we don't close these offices until a thorough review of the antitrust division is completed. When deciding to recommend these closures, the Department of Justice did not consider other more cost-effective options. Furthermore, if offices must be eliminated, all of the closures should be based on merit and productivity rather than on politics.
Let me speak for a moment on the Atlanta office which does better in terms of overall performance and productivity than say, for instance, some of the other offices which are slated to remain open. The Atlanta office obtained over $265 million in fines and restitution between FY 2000 and 2011. With an annual operating cost of $4 million, the criminal fines and restitution recovered by the office represent a return rate of 600 percent. Indeed, closing these offices is penny wise and pound foolish, and I urge adoption of the amendment for the good of our free market system and our capitalist economy.
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