Insular Areas and Freely Associated States Energy Development

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution
776, I call up the bill (H.R. 83) to require the Secretary of the
Interior to assemble a team of technical, policy, and financial experts
to address the energy needs of the insular areas of the United States
and the Freely Associated States through the development of energy
action plans aimed at promoting access to affordable, reliable energy,
including increasing use of indigenous clean-energy resources, and for
other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its
immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.

I rise today, as we face the expiration of the current continuing
resolution, to present the House amendment to the Senate amendment on
H.R. 83, legislation to fund the Federal Government for the rest of the
current fiscal year.

This amendment prevents a costly and damaging government shutdown
while making good government funding and policy decisions and reining
in regulatory overreach. It is good for the continuity of vital Federal
programs and services; it is good for our economy; and it is good for
the American people. In total, this legislation provides $1.013
trillion for the operations of the Federal Government. This total is in
line with the terms of the Ryan-Murray budget agreement.

It includes full-year appropriations legislation for 11 of the 12
annual appropriations bills, reflecting the most up-to-date budgetary
needs of each agency and department. The Appropriations Committees in
both the House and Senate went line by line through all of these bills,
prioritizing funding for effective and vital programs, making the tough
decisions to cut funding for lower priority programs.

In addition, the measure includes short-term funding for the
Department of Homeland Security, holding the funding levels for those
programs at current levels. This will ensure that efforts to secure our
home front are maintained until February 27 of next year.

This legislation is a compromise--the product of hard-fought
negotiations between the House and Senate, with give-and-take from both
sides; but at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, it reflects conservative
priorities, keeps our spending in line, and reins in the regulatory
overreach that has been hampering our economy.

As such, national security is a top priority in this bill. We provide
a total of $554 billion for the Department of Defense, including $64
billion in overseas contingency operations funding to support our
troops in the field, to combat ISIL, to train and equip our Iraqi
allies, and to counter Russian aggression.

To further assist our economy, we include provisions that put the
brakes on regulatory programs that are too intrusive and too burdensome
on American businesses. For instance, the legislation prohibits funds
for the Army Corps of Engineers to act on two potentially harmful
regulations: changing the definition of ``fill material'' and
regulating water in certain agricultural areas under the Clean Water
Act.

The bill measure prevents the listing of the Sage Grouse on the
endangered species list--a premature action that would have severe
economic consequences on Western States, especially; and the bill
protects job creators from onerous regulatory burdens by amending Dodd-
Frank swaps push-out rules.

This bill also demonstrates, Mr. Speaker, fiscal restraint. It cuts
$60 million from the EPA. It provides no funding for high-speed rail,
the President's Race to the Top initiative, or UNESCO or IMF. No new
funding is included for ObamaCare, and the bill holds the line on
funding for the agency most responsible for implementing that law at
Health and Human Services.

For the IRS, the bill cuts the agency $345 million below last year,
and it includes language to put a stop to improper behavior by
prohibiting the targeting of groups based on their political beliefs,
prohibiting the White House from ordering the IRS to determine the tax-
exempt status of an organization, and from funding inappropriate videos
or conferences.

This legislation is the product of the bipartisan and bicameral
cooperation that the American people called for at the voting booths
last month. Passage of this bill will show our people that we can and
will govern responsibly, rise above inaction, and work together on
their behalf.

I would have preferred, as I am sure all of us would have, that we
would be considering each of the 12 appropriations bills under regular
order--the old-fashioned way. This is the way it should operate. In the
House, as you know, our committee passed out 11 of the 12 bills. The
floor passed seven of the bills, and it would have passed more, but we
realized the Senate was not going to act on any of them and did not; so
five of the bills were left in the lurch because the Senate would not
consider any of the bills.

We face a very tight deadline now, and we have no choice but to try
to put together an omnibus spending bill aggregating all 12 bills into
one. I would have preferred separately, but the Senate blocked the way.
If we do nothing, we will be turning our backs on our constitutional
duty and on the American people.

Mr. Speaker, before I close, I want to take a moment to recognize
some people who made today possible.

First of all, the staff. We have had about a month to put together
this enormous bill--with thousands of items--in all 12 subcommittees.
We had great negotiations then with the Senate, but it was the work of
the staff, of course, that enables us to be here today. I want to thank
the staff on both sides of the aisle, who worked so hard to make this
happen. I would like to call names, but I am afraid I would leave out
somebody important, so I want to thank the staff for all of their
wonderful, laborious work.

I will single out Will Smith, the chief clerk of the committee, who
has guided the staff through this enormous process, who, I think, did a
wonderful, marvelous job. I want to thank Will Smith, especially, and
all of the staff for their great work in leading up to today.

Now I want to thank the members of the committee. They have all had a
part in making this bill up--each subcommittee, each chairman of the
subcommittee, each of the members of the subcommittees, who fought long
and hard to ensure that we had the best bill before us today that we
could have.

Notably, the ranking member of the committee, Mrs. Nita Lowey, with
whom we share this responsibility, has been a tremendous asset to us in
the procedure leading up to today. I want to thank her personally for
the great work that she did.

I also want to acknowledge, Mr. Speaker, six members of the committee
who are moving on to greener pastures, making new chapters in their
lives. They have been enormous helpers on the committee. They have
chaired subcommittees, and they have worked long and hard on every bill
that we have produced. We certainly hate to see them go, but they are
writing a new chapter. I want to recognize Jack Kingston for his
service, Frank Wolf, Tom Latham, Jim Moran, Ed Pastor, and Bill Owens.
All of those six are moving on. I want to thank them for their service.

It is appropriate that their final vote on the House floor will be on
an appropriate Appropriations Committee bill--funding the entire
government. This Nation is a better place because of their service, and
I want to thank all of them for their contributions to the committee
and to the House and to the people of this country over their combined
120 years of service.

I now call on the Members of the House--Republicans and Democrats
alike--to support this legislation. Keep the government open. It is a
good bill. It is bipartisan; it is bicameral; it was negotiated in good
faith on both sides of the Capitol and on both sides of the aisle. Most
importantly, Mr. Speaker, this bill is necessary, so I urge the Members
to vote ``yes.''

I reserve the balance of my time.

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