[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2014
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES
FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia, Chairman
JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON, Texas CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
JO BONNER, Alabama MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
TOM GRAVES, Georgia JOSE E. SERRANO, New York
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
ANDY HARRIS, Maryland
NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Rogers, as Chairman of the Full
Committee, and Mrs. Lowey, as Ranking Minority Member of the Full
Committee, are authorized to sit as Members of all Subcommittees.
Mike Ringler, Jeff Ashford, Leslie Albright,
Diana Simpson, and Colin Samples,
Subcommittee Staff
________
PART 8
STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER
INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
S
________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
PART 8--COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS
FOR 2014
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COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2014
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES
FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia, Chairman
JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON, Texas CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
JO BONNER, Alabama MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
TOM GRAVES, Georgia JOSE E. SERRANO, New York
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
ANDY HARRIS, Maryland
NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Rogers, as Chairman of the Full
Committee, and Mrs. Lowey, as Ranking Minority Member of the Full
Committee, are authorized to sit as Members of all Subcommittees.
Mike Ringler, Jeff Ashford, Leslie Albright,
Diana Simpson, and Colin Samples,
Subcommittee Staff
________
PART 8
STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER
INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
S
________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
81-720 WASHINGTON : 2013
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky, Chairman
C. W. BILL YOUNG, Florida \1\ NITA M. LOWEY, New York
FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
JACK KINGSTON, Georgia PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana
RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN, New JerseyJOSE E. SERRANO, New York
TOM LATHAM, Iowa ROSA L. DeLAURO, Connecticut
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama JAMES P. MORAN, Virginia
KAY GRANGER, Texas ED PASTOR, Arizona
MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina
JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON, Texas LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD, California
ANDER CRENSHAW, Florida SAM FARR, California
JOHN R. CARTER, Texas CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania
RODNEY ALEXANDER, Louisiana SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia
KEN CALVERT, California BARBARA LEE, California
JO BONNER, Alabama ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
TOM COLE, Oklahoma MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania TIM RYAN, Ohio
TOM GRAVES, Georgia DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida
KEVIN YODER, Kansas HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
STEVE WOMACK, Arkansas CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine
ALAN NUNNELEE, Mississippi MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska WILLIAM L. OWENS, New York
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
CHARLES J. FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee
JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
DAVID P. JOYCE, Ohio
DAVID G. VALADAO, California
ANDY HARRIS, Maryland
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1}}Chairman Emeritus
William E. Smith, Clerk and Staff Director
(ii)
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2014
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MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OUTSIDE WITNESSES HEARING
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
VETERANS' DRUG COURTS
WITNESS
HON. PATRICK MEEHAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Wolf. The hearing will come to order.
I would like to welcome my colleague, Mr. Meehan, and
Jennifer Lopez.
Unfortunately, there is a four-minute time limit and I
apologize for it. That is just the way this place runs.
But, anyway, your full statement will appear in the record.
We will go to Mr. Meehan first.
You are not covered by the light, and then go ahead.
Mr. Meehan. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Fattah, I am
very grateful for giving us the opportunity to be with you
today and for your continuing support for this important issue
of courts that serve our veterans.
I could tell the story through the numbers, and you will
see in the written testimony the effect it has had, the
reduction of $186,000 of costs to the Chester County court
system by diversion and the fact that the statistics are
demonstrating that they have nearly a complete record of those
who enter these systems staying free of problems further with
the system, recidivism being eliminated in many of the
circumstances.
So it is a remarkable story of accomplishment, but I do not
believe that you can really appreciate it through the numbers.
It is really in the stories of the veterans themselves. Many
who have served overseas return with injuries and are
rehabilitated through this process.
I am delighted today to be joined by Ms. Lopez who has
dedicated herself to the operation of one of the first two drug
courts in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is a story of
redemption, success, and most important outreach to these
important veterans.
So let me turn it over to Ms. Lopez.
Mr. Wolf. I am going to recognize Mr. Fattah. I apologize.
Go ahead. You might have wanted to say something here.
Mr. Fattah. I agree with what the chairman has said.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
ADULT PROBATION AND PAROLE DEPARTMENT, CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
WITNESS
JENNIFER LOPEZ, DEPUTY CHIEF
Ms. Lopez. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
Fattah.
It is my great honor to appear before you today to advocate
for funding for veterans' treatment courts.
In 2010, Chester County was awarded grant funds through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop a veterans'
treatment court.
One of our first encounters was with Robert D. You see him
here before me. Robert was an Army veteran who had been
deployed to Iraq for two tours of duty. While in combat, he was
exposed to multiple IED explosions and sustained injuries which
included extensive heart damage making him a hundred percent
disabled at his honorable discharge at the age of 31.
In May of 2010, he entered the Chester County criminal
justice system. Police responded to a report of a domestic
disturbance. Robert was highly intoxicated and had to be tased
to be taken into custody. He was charged with numerous violent
offenses.
Our veterans' court team immediately mobilized. The
veterans' justice outreach coordinator who is part of our team
informed us that Robert had a history of failed treatment
attempts, had overdosed on alcohol at least twice, and was
experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, and was becoming
aggressive and paranoid.
The district attorney who also sits on our team ran a
background check and noted that all of his prior crimes
occurred either during or immediately following his combat
experience.
Robert was diverted from jail within hours of his
commitment. He was placed in treatment at the VA and given a
diversionary sentence.
We received the following letter from Robert:
I have been battling PTSD and alcoholism for several years
now since returning home from Operation Iraqi Freedom. When I
came home, I was haunted and embarrassed by the things I had
done in Iraq. Trying to be a man and suck it up, I turned to
alcohol and it worked.
``In May of 2010, I finally hit my bottom. I was out of my
mind drunk again, combative with the police who were only
trying to help me, and then made the mistake of trying to
drive.
``I was sent to Chester County Prison with the assumption
that my life was over. I had finally done it big time. With
eight charges total pending against me and a seven-year prison
term, I believed there was no hope left.
``Without the opportunity that veterans' court has given me
and my family, I truly believe I would be dead. When I speak to
veterans at the VA in Coatesville, I often tell the story about
how I was rescued by the Chester County judicial system. You
can imagine that gets a laugh from a group of people in need of
the same help I received and maybe are too proud to admit it.
Robert D., U.S. Army, retired.''
In an already overtaxed criminal justice system, combat-
related symptoms combined with substance abuse and violence can
be overwhelming and misunderstood. Without the Chester County
veterans' treatment court, it is doubtful that Robert would
have been diverted from jail and it is highly unlikely that he
would have remained out of jail.
That initial ARRA grant funding gave us the ability to hire
staff whose sole focus was identifying and screening veterans
that entered the system, many of whom feel shame and have
difficulty asking for help.
It afforded us the opportunity to build a team of veterans'
affairs and criminal justice professionals, many of whom are
veterans themselves, our judge, Bill Kelly, our supervisor, who
is here with me today, our probation officer. Even our drug
testing technician is a veteran.
And that team looks beyond the criminal history and failed
treatment to consider the facts and circumstances leading up to
the offense and the additional stresses faced by the members of
Armed Forces and were willing to take a chance.
We understand the veteran who drives 110 miles an hour and
brandishes a weapon to someone who cut him off in traffic, the
vet who is late for his eight a.m. appointment because he
refuses to sleep while the rest of his house sleeps.
The program is not easy. It is not a get out of jail free
card. Over the past two and a half years, we have diverted 31
vets who have entered the criminal justice system. Four have
graduated. None of them have been rearrested.
Our veterans' court is modeled after a successful drug
court. According to the National Association of Drug Court
Professionals, drug courts are the most successful, cost-
effective, scientifically validated criminal justice
intervention in the past 20 years.
Seventy-five percent of drug court graduates remain arrest
free after two years. For every dollar invested in drug court,
taxpayers save $3.36 in criminal justice costs alone. When you
add reduced victimization and healthcare utilization, that
rises to $27.00.
In order for all jurisdictions to effectively respond to
and assist veterans, there must be support for the
establishment and expansion of veterans' treatment courts.
In closing, Abraham Lincoln said, ``I have always found
that mercy bears richer fruit than strict justice.'' I believe
that is the essence of what a treatment court does.
Make no mistake. We as a society and as taxpayers are
paying for our struggling veterans one way or another and they
pay the ultimate price. We should be wise about your choice and
we should be socially and fiscally responsible.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. I want to thank you both.
Mr. Meehan brought this to us last year. There is in the
bill that we are going to pass today $3.9 million for veterans'
courts.
And, you know, I plan on supporting this next year. I think
it is very, very important. The fact is I am going to get all
the information and send it to my governor, too, because I
think it makes a lot of sense.
So I want to thank you and I want to thank Ms. Lopez.
Ms. Lopez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wolf. Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I as a younger legislator in the Pennsylvania
Senate was the only legislator that worked with the Supreme
Court on creating our drug courts in Pennsylvania and I support
the veterans' courts.
This morning, I had breakfast with General Eric Shinseki,
the secretary of the VA. And I also think that there are
opportunities for us to think about how the VA can be
supportive of these activities because I think that your
example shows that this can work in other areas throughout the
country.
So thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wolf. I think you ought to write every governor,
frankly. The report I saw, there are 21 suicides a day and we
owe these men and women so much.
You know, thank you for bringing the idea to us and, Ms.
Lopez, thank you for being here.
Ms. Lopez. Thank you for having me.
Mr. Meehan. Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for not only
your leadership but your vision.
And these are things that just do not make sense dollar
wise. As you said, they save lives for those who have put their
lives on the line for us.
Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Mr. Meehan. Thank you, Ranking Member.
Mr. Wolf. The next witness will be Gabrielle Martin,
National Council of EEOC Locals.
Welcome. And the light is going to go on. I apologize,
but----
Ms. Martin. That is okay. I thank you and I appreciate
that.
Mr. Wolf. Welcome again. Yeah, thank you.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EEOC LOCALS
WITNESS
GABRIELLE MARTIN, PRESIDENT
Ms. Martin. Good morning, everyone.
I want to thank Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and
other Members of this subcommittee for the opportunity to
provide testimony regarding the challenges faced at EEOC and
the EEOC's budget for fiscal year 2014.
I also want to thank all of you for your efforts in the
past to increase EEOC's budget.
As you know, the union is the exclusive representative of
the bargaining unit employees which include investigators,
mediators, attorneys, administrative judges, and all of our
support staff.
The work we do is important because EEOC was created by
bipartisan legislation in 1964 and the passage of that act was
all about jobs, people being able to get and keep jobs free
from illegal discrimination in the workplace. But that promise
to workers is being broken and sequestration and furloughs will
just hurt workers more.
Now, EEOC's budget largely funds salaries and rental costs.
So even though we get $360 million, 80 percent or more is
salaries and rental costs. That budget was cut in fiscal year
2011 and we have been operating with $6 million less per year.
That means hiring is frozen and we now are down to 2,245
employees.
That is important because in the last five years, every
year we have seen an incremental increase in the number of
charges coming in the door. At the same time, our staffing has
fluctuated.
And if you look at the chart on page five, you will see
there is a great correspondence between when we have sufficient
staff and our ability to manage our backlog and reduce it as
well as reduce case processing times.
Currently case processing times are at nine months. We
ended last year with 78,000 cases backlogged. And the EEOC is
predicting that these continued budget cuts and furloughs will
mean that within the next year, we will have 98,000 cases
backlogged. That means that both the victims of discrimination
suffer as well as the employers.
EEOC is now planning eight and a half days of furloughs, so
we expect that both the processing time will go up as well as
the backlog. And what that means for new people coming to us is
that they now experience about 28 minutes before they get to
talk to someone to even say, ``I think I have a case, what
should I do, where should I go?''
That is troubling, and with those increases will come
another factor because to manage some of the budget cuts, EEOC
is cutting funding to our state FEPAs which means we are going
to get somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 cases in the next year
because we cannot fund those.
So our ask is that the subcommittee recommend restoring our
budget to the $367 million mark. It is one you supported in the
past. And, again, we appreciate that.
We are also looking for some oversight for some EEOC's
questionable practices. They still refuse to implement the
union's cost-efficient and effective intake plan. OPM has
recently used such a plan where they concentrate staff to get
the front-end information so people who have to adjudicate and
investigate get a file that they can actually go out and
investigate right away, thereby reducing waiting times and
allowing those investigators to investigate instead of doing
front-end intake.
On top of that, we are seeking oversight for our federal
sector programs where we have got some pilots out which may
impede a complainant's ability to have discovery and a hearing
in those cases.
So, again, I thank you for the opportunity to address you
this morning.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, thank you for your testimony.
I have no questions, but I just think hopefully we can come
up with some grand bargain that eliminates the sequestration
certainly for the next nine years and maybe even for the rest
of this year. But I can see it is going to be very, very
difficult.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I would just take note that the bill that is on
the floor does provide a slight increase in the EEOC of $3
million. So we are making some progress.
Ms. Martin. And we thank you for that and we hope that will
be acted on accordingly. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
The next witness will be Howard Silver, Consortium of
Social Science Associations.
Welcome.
Mr. Fattah, do you have any comments?
Mr. Fattah. Welcome.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
CONSORTIUM OF SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATIONS
WITNESS
HOWARD SILVER, PH.D., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. Silver. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Fattah.
I am Howard Silver, the executive director of the
Consortium of Social Science Associations, and it is nice to be
back before you.
The consortium represents 115 professional associations,
activist societies, universities, and research institutes, and
our membership list is attached to my testimony.
Given that we do not have any budget numbers for fiscal
year 2014 out of the Administration, COSSA is simply asking you
to restore the sequestration numbers of NSF and NIJ and BJS and
to continue the set-aside that you have been supporting for the
last few years, the justice programs for the National Institute
of Justice and the Bureau of Justice statistics.
Quickly, the importance of NSF to the SBE sciences is very
high, 62 percent of basic research in these disciplines
conducted at universities in support of NSF and in some
disciplines like political science, it is 95 percent of that
support.
Let me just rattle off the importance of the sciences to
the Nation. My written testimony provides examples.
First of all, at a House science hearing recently on cyber
security, three witnesses from the private sector talked
specifically about the importance of the social behavioral
sciences to cyber security. It is not just an engineering
problem as they said.
We have contributed to transformative research from our
Nobel Prize winners, Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, and
Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist. Both have won the Nobel Prize
in economics. That has transformed our thinking about
collective and individual decision making. And it also
illustrates the importance of interdisciplinary research.
Thirdly, our scientists have done a lot of work on disaster
research both in terms of communications warning, in terms of
people's behavior during disasters, and in terms of resilience
afterwards.
And on April 25th, there will be a briefing sponsored by
the House R&D caucus and the Coalition for National Science
Funding that will have speakers talking about these issues,
geographic information systems that transform state and local
government, businesses, and how police operate.
It has generated a multi-billion dollar industry that
started with NSF support for the National Center for Graphic
Information and Analysis back in the 1980s.
Youth violence research, you had the hearing on Tuesday.
The report prepared for you by the social, behavioral, and
economic sciences directorate I think gave an indication of
what people can do and the importance of the support that NSF
gives the research in this area.
The initiative on neuroscience which Mr. Fattah and with
your support, Mr. Chairman, has become increasingly important
for NSF. And as Mr. Fattah noted on Tuesday, there is a major
solicitation out. SBE's behavioral and cognitive science
division has been doing research in this area for a long time
and will continue to do so.
Shifting gears to the National Institute of Justice and the
Bureau of Justice Statistics, James Q. Wilson, who gave us the
broken windows theory, argued that it was very important to
have a federal role in crime research and statistics.
The National Institute of Justice has done an important job
in transforming themselves over the last years to become a
major science agency with peer review, randomized control
trials, and the crimesolution.gov dissemination.
There is an emphasis on translational criminology, putting
research into practice. The Harvard executive sessions have
been very important on policing and corrections. Chief
Bueermann who you are going to hear from has participated in
those. There is a lot of cooperation with NAS, incarceration
and crime reduction roundtables.
Thank you for your support of the NCVS redesign of BJS. And
I thank you for the opportunity for letting me talk to you
again this year.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much. Thanks for appearing.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you generally for your support of the
efforts and in particular, you take note of the neuroscience
initiative.
And I take note that it was made possible because of the
chairman and our counterparts in the Senate's willingness to
undertake what I think is going to be a groundbreaking set of
recommendations in June.
So thank you.
Mr. Silver. I agree with you on that.
Mr. Wolf. The next witness will be Julie Stewart with
Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
Ms. Stewart, welcome. Your full statement will appear in
the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
FAMILIES AGAINST MANDATORY MINIMUMS
WITNESS
JULIE STEWART, PRESIDENT
Ms. Stewart. Thank you.
Good morning, Chairman Wolf and Mr. Fattah. My name is
Julie Stewart. I am the president of Families Against Mandatory
Minimums, a sentencing reform organization.
We are not here to ask for money. I am here to suggest ways
that you can save it. Because my time is short, I would ask
that you review my written statement for more information about
FAMM as well as for our recommendations for back-end reforms to
help reduce the Bureau of Prisons' budget that will not
jeopardize public safety.
We are especially interested in getting the Bureau of
Prisons to increase the number of compassionate releases it
grants and we recently co-authored a comprehensive report on
that subject that we are happy to make available to you.
While we wholeheartedly support common-sense back-end
reforms, we think the best option for Congress is to focus on
the front end, that is who is going to prison and for how long.
And that is where the real savings are found.
This subcommittee knows why reform is so desperately
needed. The Bureau of Prisons' budget and population growth are
out of control. We are spending billions locking up too many
nonviolent offenders.
The Congressional Research Service recently issued a report
that rightly put much of the blame for the BoP growth on
mandatory minimum sentencing laws. According to the CRS, they
said not only has there been an increase in the number of
federal offenses that carry a mandatory minimum penalty, but
offenders who are convicted of offenses with mandatory minimums
are being sent to prison for longer periods.
Just yesterday in the Senate, Senators Rand Paul and
Patrick Leahy introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013,
S. 619. It can help Congress address these problems.
The bill creates a brand new broad safety valve subsection
to 18 U.S.C. 3553(g) that would apply to all federal crimes
that carry mandatory minimum sentences. It would allow the
courts to sentence federal offenders below the mandatory
minimum whenever that minimum term does not fulfill the goals
of punishment established by Congress in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a).
There are many public benefits of the Justice Safety Valve
Act. First, it protects public safety. As one of the former
speakers said, this is not a get out of jail free card either.
It would not mean that people get off without prison time. It
means that they do not get any more prison time than is
necessary to keep us safe.
It would also give courts flexibility to punish enough but
not too much. It allows the courts to sentence a person below
the mandatory minimum if that sentence is too lengthy, unjust,
or unreasonable, or does not fit the offender or the crime.
And if you remember in 1986, Congress passed mandatory
minimum sentences to target drug kingpins, not the low level
offenders that now fill our prisons.
It would also save taxpayer money and focus that money on
violent offenders. If a person receives the benefit of the
Justice Safety Valve Act and is sentenced to five years in
prison, for instance, instead of ten, it would save taxpayers
and the Justice Department about $140,000 in corrections costs.
These savings could be spent on more police or capturing
violent criminals or on veterans' courts or terrorists. A
broader safety valve is really necessary because the current
safety valve only benefits drug offenders and minor priors and
gun involvement even for a legally registered firearm that is
never used can disqualify a person from it.
A broader safety valve, the likes of which was introduced
by Senators Paul and Leahy, would save prison space and money
for the truly dangerous while preventing the absurd sentencing
results that currently occur under our existing safety valve.
Finally, without a safety valve like the one we are
proposing and Senators Paul and Leahy have introduced, our
current system has just one safety valve left and that is
executive clemency. For whatever reasons, it is not being used
either out of bureaucratic misconduct or presidential neglect,
but we cannot talk about prison overcrowding and reserving
prison space for the most dangerous people when we keep people
like Clarence Aaron behind bars. He is serving his natural life
in prison for a first-time nonviolent drug offense.
FAMM asks the Members of this subcommittee to support smart
sentencing reforms like the Justice Safety Valve Act which, I
might add, in concept is supported by Senator Greenleaf from
Pennsylvania who you may be familiar with, Mr. Fattah.
We ask you to exercise oversight of DoJ and BoP's budgets,
to press the agencies for reforms such as compassion release,
increased use of home confinement, and the other
recommendations in our written testimony.
And, lastly, we urge you to investigate the Office of the
Pardon Attorney.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Mr. Fattah and I are going to be putting in a bill sometime
later in the middle of the year to set up a national commission
to look at all of these things.
But, Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. And we did have the IG do an investigation of
the Pardon Office and he testified just last week or the week
before. It is hard to keep track of all of our hearings. The
chairman works us so hard.
But we are on this, and thank you very much for your
testimony.
Ms. Stewart. I hope you will keep their feet to the fire.
Mr. Fattah. We will.
Ms. Stewart. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
The next witness, Mr. Donald Kennedy, Regional Information
Sharing Systems National Policy Group.
I have no questions.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. No.
Mr. Kennedy. Good morning.
Mr. Wolf. Go ahead. Good morning.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
REGIONAL INFORMATION SHARING SYSTEMS NATIONAL POLICY GROUP
WITNESS
DONALD F. KENNEDY, JR., CHAIR
Mr. Kennedy. Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, thank
you. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to
discuss the Regional Information Sharing System or the RISS
program.
RISS, as you know, is a proven, trusted, innovative,
evidence-based program that helps thousands of criminal justice
agencies save lives, solve crimes, and prosecute offenders.
RISS has served our Nation for over 40 years providing
secure information, intelligence capabilities, investigative
and analysis and officer safety deconfliction.
Demands for RISS services has grown throughout the years.
However, in fiscal year 2012, RISS funding was reduced by 40
percent. RISS lost hundreds of years of expertise due to staff
layoffs. This resulted in decreases in information sharing
efforts, analytical services, investigative case support,
training, and support for national programs.
A Philadelphia police captain recently said RISS is our
single most important intelligence partner. RISS is one of our
best and greatest allies in our ongoing initiative to disrupt
and dismember organized criminal enterprises.
It is critical that RISS receive appropriate funding. It is
respectfully requested that RISS in 2014 funding be restored to
its fiscal year 2011 level of $45 million.
If you recall last year on May 8th, Congressman Grimm along
with Representative King and Barletta successfully amended the
House CJS Appropriations Act with language that fully funded
RISS back at $45 million. This action illustrates the House's
continued commitment in support of the RISS program.
RISS services over 9,000 criminal justice agencies which
represents more than 892,000 officers. RISS operates RISSNET,
the only nationwide secure but unclassified law enforcement
information sharing provider that is governed by its users.
Agencies can easily connect to RISSNET, share information
and intelligence in a secure environment, and query multiple
systems simultaneously by a federated search.
By connecting to RISSNET, rather than funding the build-out
of a new stand-alone system, hundreds of millions of dollars
are saved and millions of data records are easily and quickly
accessible by law enforcement.
RISS also partners with a number of federal agencies and
programs such as the Office of the Program Manager Information
Sharing Environment, PM-ISE office, United States Attorneys'
offices, the United States Department of State and diplomatic
security officers, as well as Secret Service, Medicaid fraud
control units, and the National Motor Vehicle Title Information
System.
RISSNET is one of four SBU networks currently providing
assistance with the assured SBU interoperability initiative
under the auspices of the White House and the PMIC's office.
RISS supports the national suspicious activity reporting
initiative as well as National Fusion Center efforts by
connecting their systems to RISSNET.
In December 2012, RISS was mentioned by the White House and
the national strategy for information sharing and safeguarding.
In 2008, RISS deployed RISSafe, the only comprehensive,
nationwide office of safety and deconfliction system that is
accessible 24/7, 365 days of the year and is available to all
law enforcement. Since its inception, RISSafe has had more than
615,000 operations and over 208 conflicts have been identified.
Twenty-three RISSafe offices are currently operational, 17
of which are other organizations other than RISS such as the
Pennsylvania State Police, West Texas HIDTA, and San Diego.
In 2012, RISS introduced RISS Mobile which allows officers
to access RISSafe using smartphone technology.
Over the last ten years, officers leveraging RISS have
resulted in more than 48,000 offenders being arrested and more
than $662 million in narcotics, property, and currency being
seized.
RISS is an excellent return on investment for our Nation. I
understand the tough fiscal issues that we are facing in our
country today, but for return on investment, we would challenge
anyone to match the value RISS provides to public safety
nationwide.
On behalf of RISS, I appreciate the opportunity to speak
with you before the committee and thank you for your support.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy.
I know it is a good program and I support it.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I agree with the chairman. Thank you for your
service.
Mr. Kennedy. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Mr. Wolf. Next is Scott Came with SEARCH, executive
director.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
SEARCH
WITNESS
SCOTT CAME, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. Came. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Fattah, and Members of the committee.
I am Scott Came, the executive director of SEARCH. I am
pleased to be with you here today to address Department of
Justice funding for the fiscal year 2014 appropriations bill,
specifically for two critical programs that can help make the
Nation safer, the NICS Act Record Improvement program or NARIP
and the National Criminal History Improvement program, NCHIP.
SEARCH's government appointed members have the
responsibility among other things to oversee the implementation
of NARIP and NCHIP within their states.
Over the years, states have made great strides in meeting
their criminal history record improvement goals under both
programs despite severely limited funding levels for each.
However, there is a great deal of work that remains to be done.
In light of recent tragic events due to gun violence and
the simultaneous demand for accurate, complete, and timely
criminal history records for key decisions, there should be a
priority placed on NARIP and NCHIP funding.
Both NARIP and NCHIP focus on improvements to the accuracy
of the criminal history record which in turn improves officer
safety, allows judges to make more informed decisions, and
helps authorized non-criminal justice users to make better
decisions about volunteers who work with our vulnerable
populations and, of course, those who wish to purchase
firearms.
And while complementary, each of these programs has
specific and distinct goals. NARIP primarily focuses on
enhancing decision making for firearms purchases such as
increasing the number of disqualifying mental health records
available to the system. NCHIP is focused on a broader range of
criminal history improvements such as improving arrest and
disposition matching.
It is important to note that under current law, only 20
states qualify for NARIP funding. Thus, the majority of the
states rely on NCHIP for criminal history record and repository
improvements.
As such, SEARCH makes two key recommendations to the
subcommittee. First, invest in background screening for
firearms purchases. As you know, the vast majority of records
used to make firearms transfer determinations are records
maintained and made available by the states.
Many states have made their records available to NICS
despite a lack of sufficient funding to help build this
infrastructure, but there is still a vast number of records
missing from NICS and that situation needs to be remedied.
The need for additional NARIP funding is not dependent on
an expansion of the background checking system. It is to
improve the system's effectiveness for existing requirements
related to background screening for firearms purchases.
For example, in New York, NARIP funding has enabled the
State to form a multi-agency task force that focuses on the
strategic oversight and governance of NICS data collection and
submission improvements. To date, New York has submitted in
excess of 165,000 records to the NICS index due to this
program.
In Florida, the Department of Law Enforcement is working
with the clerks of court to retrieve historical mental health
records to better ensure those adjudicated mentally defective
are denied firearms purchases.
With a meaningful investment of $50 million for NARIP in
fiscal year 2014, we hope other states will follow these
examples and help contribute to an effective national
background screening system for firearms purchases.
Our second recommendation to the subcommittee is to enhance
criminal history records with funding for NCHIP. Unlike NARIP,
all states qualify for NCHIP funding. As such, $25 million in
NCHIP funding will ensure all states can access funds to
enhance and contribute their criminal history records to the
national systems.
Georgia, for example, does not qualify for funding under
NARIP. However, the State has actively used NCHIP to improve
the quality of the State's criminal history information.
Mr. Chairman, in your home State of Virginia with the NCHIP
funding, the state police established electronic access to
criminal history records on-site at gun shows preventing the
transfer of firearms to prohibited persons.
Mr. Chairman, we recognize the great financial challenges
facing our Nation and the Congress. And we thank the
subcommittee for its support over the years despite these
challenges. However, the need for meaningful investment in our
public safety decision-making infrastructure has never been
more critical.
On behalf of SEARCH and its governors' appointees, I thank
you for your time.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you, Mr. Came. I appreciate it.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Kennedy. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Next is Henry Cagey, Lummi Indian Business
Council.
Mr. Cagey, your full statement will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
LUMMI INDIAN BUSINESS COUNCIL
WITNESS
HENRY CAGEY, COUNCIL MEMBER
Mr. Cagey. Thank you.
Again, Mr. Chairman, my name is Henry Cagey. I am the
former chairman of the Lummi Nation and also the council member
for the Lummi Indian Business Council.
You know, the Lummi Nation is located in the northwest
corner of Washington State. You know, we have over 5,000
members. We are signatories to the Point Elliott Treaty and we
come here today to talk about some of the things that we have
seen the committee do for us.
The last time I was here, we were asking for support for
our fishermen with the Department of Commerce on the salmon
disaster. We did get help, so thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman, for all the help you have done for our people.
You know, we want to bring to your attention some of our
directives for the committee and some of the things that we are
facing with the Lummi Nation is incarceration. Incarceration,
as you know, is still challenging for Indian people across the
board.
One of the things that we are doing for the tribe is that
we are looking at alternative ways for restorative justice and
working with our juveniles and, you know, creating different
ways using our traditional values and our heritage.
So some of the things we are seeing is we are going to, you
know, come up with some shortfalls in our funding. One of the
things in our testimony I want to bring to your attention is
giving us more flexibility on the funding that we have. And
flexibility is very important to the tribes as far as, you
know, what we can do with the dollars.
These reports that we deal with and the criteria that we
use for the funding is very stringent at times. So one of the
things we want the committee to begin to consider is different
funding strategies and methods to work with the Indian people.
We have 567 tribes across the country, all unique and all
different in different ways. We cannot have a one size fits all
for Indian people or governments.
So, again, is that we want you to consider looking at
creating some alternative methods. Perhaps maybe your committee
that you are setting up in the next piece of legislation to
include Indian people. So, again, is that we want you to
consider these directives.
The other part we want to bring to your attention in our
testimony is the training Department of Justice. One of the
things that we are seeing with the department is the
understanding of Indian governments and Indian people.
As you know, the Department of Justice has three people
working for Indian Country and the bureau has probably about
six or seven hundred just here in D.C.
The report was given to you folks in 1997 to look at
alternative ways to combine justice services with the
Department of Bureau and the Department of Justice and that
report was never acted upon for one reason or another. There is
a recommendation to combine enforcement services and court
services that you may want to reconsider.
So, again, Mr. Chairman, is that the flexibility is
important to us. We do have 24 years of experience with self-
government and so we are very open to recommendations to you
and the committee to look at ways to work with the tribal
government across the country.
Again, thank you very much.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Well, we will look at that too. And when we put the panel
together, maybe we should look at the incarceration with regard
to that issue too.
But thank you for bringing that to our attention.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I agree, and thank you for your testimony, sir.
Mr. Cagey. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Our next witness will be George Thurman at Sac
and Fox Nation.
Mr. Thurman, welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
SAC AND FOX NATION
WITNESS
GEORGE THURMAN, PRINCIPAL CHIEF
Mr. Thurman. Good morning. I want to thank you for giving
the Sac and Fox Nation the opportunity to present testimony
before this committee today.
And we want to thank you for the dedication, your
dedication to the Indian programs. And I am here to
specifically submit a tribal specific budget request in the
amount of $4.8 million to fully fund the Sac and Fox Nation
Juvenile Detention Center.
We are located in central Oklahoma. We are a tribe of about
4,000 of which 2,600 live within the State. We are proud to say
that we are the tribe that Jim Thorpe came from and we are
right----
Mr. Wolf. Jim Thorpe from Pennsylvania.
Mr. Thurman. I am sorry, sir.
Mr. Wolf. Jim Thorpe who lived in Pennsylvania and went on
to the Olympics.
Mr. Thurman. He never lived in Pennsylvania, but that is a
different story. We are right in----
Mr. Wolf. From the movie I saw, he lived in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Thurman. Don't believe everything you see on TV because
they on that point were trying to repatriate in court and bring
his body back to Oklahoma for proper burial.
Mr. Wolf. There is the man to talk to right there.
Mr. Thurman. Okay. But this----
Mr. Wolf. Was he ever returned the medals? I thought they
were returned; were they not?
Mr. Thurman. They were returned, finally returned. The
family fought forever and finally got them.
Mr. Wolf. Burt Lancaster played the role. It was a movie.
Actually, it made me angry that they took them. And now I see
these Olympic stars are just making--and they took it away. But
I did think that they did return them.
Mr. Thurman. Yeah. Okay. And the passage of Tribal Law and
Order Act was applauded by the Sac and Fox Nation because we
saw this as an opportunity for the Federal Government to
finally fulfill the commitment to the nation and fully fund our
juvenile detention center.
In 1994, we opened the doors to our juvenile detention
center. After years of planning and construction, that was made
possible by funding from the Department of Interior Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
This juvenile detention center is the first juvenile
facility designed for American Indians, Alaskan Natives, as
well as the first juvenile facility developed under Public Law
104-72, the Self-Governments Demonstration project.
The center is a full service, 24-hour juvenile detention
center that provides basic detention services to all residents
to ensure their health, safety, and welfare, provides programs
tailored to meet the specific needs of our clients.
These programs include behavioral management, substance
abuse, spiritual, cultural, self-esteem, arts and crafts,
health and fitness, horticulture, nutrition, life skills,
counseling and educational programs.
The 39 tribes including the southern plains region which
covers Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas will support the juvenile
detention center, but due to under-funding and staffing
shortages, the center cannot accommodate the detention needs of
the regional tribes.
In fiscal year 2013, then-Assistant Secretary Larry Echo
Hawk requested $6.5 million for detention correction. We take
great exception to this request inasmuch as the Department of
Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs has never provided the full
funding that was committed for the appropriation planning and
construction process of the juvenile detention center.
This is the year 2013. Opened the doors in 1994. Nineteen
years we have been waiting and have never had that full
commitment of full funding yet.
The Sac and Fox Nation, due to the failure of full funding
commitment by federal officials not being honored, has had to
utilize funds that could have been used for other social
service needs. We are committed to working with the Federal
Government in an effort to help them fulfill their financial
commitment.
With the promise of full funding realized, the juvenile
detention center will be ready, willing, and able to meet the
needs of tribes who need our help in guiding their children
towards a successful future while providing a culturally and
spiritually sensitive environment.
However, the needs of these tribes and children we serve
will continue to be unmet as long as new facilities continue to
be funded and constructed without funding for operations.
So there is an opportunity for you as the executive branch
of the United States of America to work through the Sac and Fox
Nation to improve the lives of those children that have made
poor choices. These choices are usually based on the absence of
guidance, culture, and discipline.
Sac and Fox Nation center is committed to the
rehabilitation of our native children insomuch despite the lack
of funding.
The juvenile detention center offers each juvenile located
there an opportunity to receive continuing education through
our local high school. The students are afforded everything
accompanying a public school including a graduation ceremony if
they reach state requirements.
About two years ago, we had one young lady that did
graduate there and I was a part of that ceremony that helped
provide a diploma to her.
The possibilities are endless but unrealized because
despite the use of tribal funds and various grants, the funding
is inadequate to operate the facility. Therefore, the Sac & Fox
Nation is requesting that the Federal Government recommit the
funding for the juvenile detention center.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your testimony. I
appreciate it.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you very much for your testimony, and I
am sure we will get a chance to talk about it.
Mr. Wolf. Katie Monroe, Innocence Project.
There are going to be a series of votes, but what we are
going to do is keep this going, so one of us will stay here.
So welcome.
Ms. Monroe. Okay.
Mr. Wolf. Your full statement will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS, INNOCENCE PROJECT
WITNESS
KATIE MONROE, SENIOR ADVOCATE
Ms. Monroe. Wonderful. Thank you so much for allowing me to
testify this morning.
On behalf of the Innocence Project, I would like to
respectfully request the following funding for DOJ programs in
fiscal year 2014, $3 million for Wrongful Conviction Review and
Capital Litigation Improvement program, $4 million for Kirk
Bloodsworth Post Conviction DNA Testing program, $12 million
for the Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Grant
program, sufficient funding to support the newly formed Joint
DOJ-National Institute of Standards and Technology National
Commission on Forensic Science.
Freeing innocent people from prison and preventing wrongful
convictions greatly benefits public safety. Every time that we
identify a wrongful conviction, it gives us the opportunity to
identify the true perpetrator of that crime. And, in fact, in
almost half of the 300 DNA exonerations to date, we have been
able to identify that actual perpetrator and bring justice to
the crime victim.
Unfortunately, during the time that those perpetrators were
not apprehended, they went on to commit additional crimes while
the innocent person was in prison.
Federal innocence programs are deeply important to this
work because they provide the critical resources to identify
and free the wrongly convicted and they provide resources that
allow for reforms that prevent wrongful convictions meaning
that we improve the accuracy of criminal investigations,
strengthen criminal prosecutions, and create a stronger,
fairer, more accurate system that provides true justice to
crime victims.
To date, 303 individuals have been exonerated by DNA
evidence in the United States including 18 of whom spent time
on death row. These individuals spent on average more than 13
years each in prison and a combined number of more than 3,000
years wrongly imprisoned.
I have been working on innocence cases now for almost 20
years in a variety of capacities both with the Mid-Atlantic
Innocence Project and the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. It
started actually with the case of my mother who was wrongly
convicted in 1992. And because at the time there were no
Innocence organizations available to help us, my family and I
had to take on the long legal battle to free her which took 12
years.
That experience exposed me to the deeply profoundly acute
need for expert attention and resources of post conviction
claims of innocence. Funding for the Wrongful Conviction Review
program has provided these resources in cases all across the
country, especially at the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project where
I am a former board member.
That funding actually served to exonerate three individuals
from Virginia in just the last two years, Gary Diamond who was
exonerated just the week before last after five years wrongly
imprisoned, Michael Hash who spent more than 12 years
imprisoned in Virginia, and Thomas Haynesworth who spent 27
years wrongly imprisoned in Virginia.
In addition to these cases, the Bloodsworth Post Conviction
DNA Testing program paid for the DNA testing that took place in
both Mr. Haynesworth and Mr. Diamond's cases as well as for
testing in Calvin Cunningham's case who is another exoneree
from Virginia.
And even better, in the Haynesworth case, that same testing
identified the actual perpetrator so we could close that case
and bring justice to the crime victim.
It is important to note that the Bloodsworth program in
particular, those funds go to state agencies which allow them
to collaborate then with other organizations including
Innocence network organizations in resolving these claims of
innocence and allowing for that resolution to happen more
quickly.
That was the case in Mr. Haynesworth's case where his
attorneys worked together with Attorney General Cuccinelli to
petition for his exoneration and writ of actual innocence.
In my current role as senior advocate for national
partnerships at the Innocence Project, I focus on policies and
programs to achieve reforms, for example, the Coverdell
Forensic Sciences Improvement Grant which provides processing
of vital forensic evidence and also oversight for independent
government investigation, both of which improve the accuracy of
forensic evidence and investigations and prosecutions.
And above and beyond these existing programs, the Innocence
Project just wants to say that it is very happy and supportive
of the recent establishment of Joint DoJ and NIST National
Commission on Forensic Science and we would ask for sufficient
funding to support that work.
Thank you very much for allowing me to testify this
morning, and I am happy to answer questions.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you, and I appreciate the good work you do.
Most of them will be funded in the bill that we are offering.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I am quite aware of your work and I think it is
a tribute to our country that people like yourselves would take
the time and effort beyond your own family circumstance to help
others similarly situation.
Thank you.
Ms. Monroe. Thank you. We appreciate your support.
Mr. Wolf. Olivia Eudaly with Big Brothers Big--excuse me.
Ann Harkins, National Crime Prevention Council. Excuse me. I--
--
Ms. Eudaly. No problem.
Mr. Wolf. Your full testimony will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL
WITNESS
ANN HARKINS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Ms. Harkins. Thank you, Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member
Fattah--Congressman Harris, thank you for being here--and the
opportunity to testify before the subcommittee regarding fiscal
year 2014 funding for the Department of Justice's grant
programs.
I am Ann Harkins, president of the National Crime
Prevention Council, and in CPC is the home of McGruff, the
crime dog.
In this coming fiscal year, we respectfully urge the
subcommittee to appropriate $25 million for the Byrne Memorial
Competitive Grants program and $15 million for the Economic
High Technology and Cyber Crime Prevention program.
NCPC works closely with state and local law enforcement and
their national organizations to anticipate and respond to
persistent crime challenges, emerging crime trends, and the
changing crime prevention needs of communities nationwide.
We have four core competencies, public education, training,
convening stakeholders to build crime prevention into
communities and programs.
Through a Byrne competitive grant, the National Crime
Prevention Council is working with the Department of Justice
and a number of other partners to conduct a public education
campaign to address the dangerous and costly problem of
intellectual property crime. Our goal is to reduce demand for
counterfeit and pirated products that pose a threat to public
health and safety as well as to our economy.
We are working on several other projects to help people
protect themselves, particularly from fraud.
On April 10th, NCPC will host a virtual conference for
consumers and organizations that support them in avoiding and
recovering from mortgage fraud.
We have solid school safety programs from kindergarten
through university. We are tailoring crime prevention
information to the overlooked population of people ages 18-24.
On the other end of the spectrum, we are providing
practical, ready to use resources on crimes against senior
citizens. An alarming number of seniors are physically,
emotionally, sexually, or financial abused frequently by people
they trust. These are crimes we can and should prevent.
Why the National Crime Prevention Council? Because crime
extracts a significant financial cost, approximately $3.2
trillion per year borne by victims, their families, employers,
communities, and taxpayers.
In 2011, governments at all levels spent more than $236
billion for police protection, correctional facilities, and
legal and judicial costs. Corrections alone cost $81 billion
annually.
In 2010, violent crimes, murder, rape, assault, and robbery
cost Americans $42 billion. In 2011, consumers lost an
estimated $1.5 billion to fraud. There is also an unknowable
opportunity cost both financial and social.
All of these costs have been trending upward and in the
present economy, we can ill afford them. That is why your
investment in crime prevention is so important. It is cost
effective. It reduces the need for government spending on
intervention, treatment, enforcement, and incarceration.
That is why we are asking you to continue your investment
with $25 million in fiscal year 2014 for the Byrne Competitive
Grant program and to continue your commitment with a $15
million investment in high technology and cyber crime.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. And
on a personal note, I want to thank Mr. Wolf and Mr. Fattah.
Both of your staffs, committee and personnel, are just
terrific. So thank you for the high quality you bring to this
work.
The National Crime Prevention Council is proud to have
worked with Congress, the Department of Justice, state and
local law enforcement, and other agencies. As you continue your
work to prevent crime, please consider NCPC and McGruff as your
active partners in empowering citizens and working with local
law enforcement to build safer communities.
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Mr. Fattah [presiding]. Thank you, and thank McGruff, the
crime dog.
We have a lot going on here, votes on the floor, but we are
going to continue the hearing and me and the chairman will
alternate and Dr. Harris, I am sure, too, between going down to
the floor and so on. But it is no disrespect to any testimony
that is taking place. And we do have the written testimony and
excellent staff.
Thank you.
Ms. Harkins. And we appreciate you very much.
Mr. Wolf [presiding]. Welcome.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF AMERICA
WITNESS
OLIVIA EUDALY, VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Ms. Eudaly. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking
Member Fattah and Mr. Culberson from my home state and Dr.
Harris.
It is a privilege to be here with you today. We are
indebted and grateful to you for your wisdom and sensitivity
toward youth issues that you have shown over the many years.
And we are extremely grateful at Big Brothers Big Sisters.
We know that you have confidence and intentionality and
that you are willing to put prevention money into helping kids
stay out of trouble, high risk kids, and that is happening
through your funding through OJJDP.
I come today as an advocate for the OJJDP Youth Mentoring
Grants program, but also as a teacher, a community activist,
and a firm believer in the transformative power of mentoring.
If I had the time this morning, I would share with you my
own personal story as a high school teacher and a young senior
who was only a few months from graduation, a promising young
man, an intelligent young man, who got in with the wrong crowd
and robbed a local fast food store, killed two employees, and
is now serving a life sentence.
It is for that reason I am in this work and I know
firsthand the absolute crucial necessity of putting a caring
adult in the life of at risk kids. And I know full well and I
understand that it, in fact, is a national security issue, as
Mr. Fattah is beautifully presenting it.
And that is where the young mentoring grants through OJJDP
come into play. They have allowed Big Brothers Big Sisters to
expand mentoring programs to America's under-served youth to
break the chain of events in the lives of kids who are at risk.
Youth mentoring grants are competitively awarded to a
variety of nonprofits that serve to reduce youth interaction
with the juvenile justice system.
As you are aware, grantees of the YMG provide youth
mentoring services to at risk and high risk youth under 18
years of age with the goal of reducing juvenile delinquency,
drug abuse, truancy, and other problem behaviors and high risk
behaviors.
As one of those grantees, Big Brothers Big Sisters, it is
important for you to know that we are the only national
evidence-based, one-to-one mentoring program with measurable
outcomes in the country.
Since 2009, CJS funds through OJJDP have provided Big
Brothers Big Sisters with the opportunity to support over
35,000 youth in one-to-one mentoring relationships.
Having exceeded our goal, our original goal of 30,500, we
respectfully request that CJS continue to fund the youth
mentoring grants and to do so at a rate of $90 million during
fiscal year 2014.
Across our 355 local agencies, Big Brothers Big Sisters'
mentors meet with their matches at least three times a month
for three to five hours for a maximum of one hour. The
program's hallmark is the supervision of the match relationship
which includes regular scheduled visits and phone conversations
among the mentor, the parent, and the child supervised by the
caseworker.
The Big Brothers Big Sisters model incorporates all leading
best practices and is effective at producing youth outcomes.
Research has shown that kids who are matched with a big
brother or big sister are less likely to use drugs, less likely
to use alcohol, less likely to skip school, less likely to
bully. They have better feelings of self-worth and they have
higher performance in school.
It is a given that youth who have less drug use, less
alcohol use, less truancy, and better academic performance are
less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. And
so we have what we call in our world prevention.
Big Brothers Big Sisters exceeded its goal and we ask you
to fund us, fund the youth mentoring grant at $90 million in
the coming fiscal year 2014.
And we thank you, we thank you for your wisdom and your
sensitivity to these issues.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your testimony.
I have no questions.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your work.
And the chairman is being modest in the bill that we are
getting ready to pass on the floor. The only area of increase
is in youth mentoring.
Ms. Eudaly. Yes, sir.
Mr. Fattah. We have $88 million and the Senate had a much
lower number. But because of the process that the chairman
engaged in, we were very successful.
And so thank you and we appreciate your work.
Ms. Eudaly. We thank you so much.
Mr. Wolf. And Mr. Fattah just so you know.
Ms. Eudaly. We thank you so much. We thank you so much.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you----
Ms. Eudaly. Thank you.
Mr. Fattah [continuing]. For all the sacrifice and hard
work.
Ms. Eudaly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Our next witness will be David Bean, Puyallup
Tribe of Washington.
Your full statement will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
PUYALLUP TRIBE OF WASHINGTON
WITNESS
DAVID Z. BEAN, TRIBAL COUNCILMAN
Mr. Bean. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Fattah, members of the
committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony
on fiscal year 2014 Appropriations for tribal programs within
the Department of Justice.
My name is David Bean, I am a council member for the
Puyallup Tribe of Indians located in the State of Washington. I
send the regards of my chairman, Herman Dillon, Sr. who was not
able to be here with us today.
Although the President's fiscal year 2014 budget has not
yet been released, we remain optimistic that Congress and the
Administration will come to terms on broader budgetary issues
and that the fiscal year 2014 budget will find essential
justice of department programs important to Indian tribes and
that is commensurate with our well-documented needs. We remain
committed to working with Congress to this end.
The Puyallup Tribe's first priority is insuring the safety
and security of our community. We appreciate the efforts of the
subcommittee, we raise our hands to you and thank you for all
that you have done in your continued funding of trial programs
within the following offices of the Department of Justice.
The Office of Justice Programs, the Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services, and the Office on Violence Against
Women.
Last year the Department of Justice proposed to provide for
a seven percent tribal set aside for all discretionary OJP
programs to address Indian country public safety and criminal
justice needs.
The Puyallup Tribe again joins with the National Congress
of American Indians and other tribes in urging Congress to
include the seven percent trial set aside in fiscal year 2014
bill language.
In a recent report the Department of Interior estimated
that an $8.4 billion need over the next ten years exists in
order to bring tribal and Bureau of Indian Affair detention
centers up to current standards.
To address this legal request at a minimum $30 million
would be appropriated for the detention facilities and
construction in the country programs.
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services fiscal
year 2013 budget request also includes $286 million for COPS
programs. The tribe generally supports this request, but we
noted that the demonstrated need for additional law enforcement
personnel in Indian country alone is $42 million which is three
times more--nearly three times more than the $15 million
specifically included for hiring tribal law enforcement
officers.
The tribe again requests the fiscal year 2014 bill language
including $42 million for additional law officers in Indian
country to address this serious shortfall of law enforcement
personnel.
The fiscal year 2014 budget also provided $20 million for
the COPS tribal resource grant program. While the tribe
supports this increase of funds to the necessary law
enforcement resources, we noted that in fact $40 million is
needed to sufficiently fund the tribal resources grant program.
If our tribe in Indian country in general is to live in
safety and focus on health, education, and economic
development, then our law enforcement officers must have the
necessary equipment to adequately fulfill their
responsibilities.
In the Office on Violence Against Women, the fiscal year
2014 budget requested $412 million for the Office on Violence
Against Women, including $500,000 for the Indian country sexual
assault clearinghouse.
The tribe has supported these requests in the past and we
continue to do so today. The tribe also joins with other tribes
and native women across the nation in commending Congress and
the administration on the recent reauthorization of the
Violence Against Women Act.
We request that the fiscal year 2014 bill language include
requisite funding for additional resources to tribal justice
departments to help them exercise this inherent authority. This
additional funding will be absolutely critical to a successful
implementation of the law.
And finally the tribe's sincere hope is that the fiscal
year 2014 bill language would render the drastic cuts in fiscal
year 2013 appropriations implemented under the sequestrum.
The across-the-board five percent cuts to already under-
funded programs will have devastating impacts on Indian country
and reverse or delay tribal efforts to improve our economies
and the health and well being of our members.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
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Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony. I am going to
turn the proceedings over to my distinguished colleague.
Mr. Culberson. [Presiding] Thank you. Thank you, sir, for
your testimony.
We have this vote going on so we are going to be rotating
sort of back and forth. Appreciate it.
I just wanted to ask real quickly. Your police force, it
looks like within the jurisdiction of Tacoma----
Mr. Bean. Yes, sir.
Mr. Culberson [continuing]. Washington?
Mr. Bean. Yes.
Mr. Culberson. In the--anyone that commits a crime within
the reservation is--are they prosecuted under state and local
law in Washington?
Mr. Bean. Actually, yeah, we have agreements whereby our
officers are deputized, cross-deputized with the county and
city and any call--service call that is made whether it be
native or non-native we are able to fully service the call. In
the case of a non-native we will take them to the county jail
and prosecute.
Mr. Culberson. The reservation itself is essentially a part
of the municipality of Tacoma? Are you like----
Mr. Bean. The city of Tacoma--our reservation encompasses
the City of Tacoma as well as the City of Fife and Pierce
County and----
Mr. Culberson. Okay.
Mr. Bean [continuing]. Several other small cities.
Mr. Culberson. I am trying to get a handle on jurisdiction
over criminal cases.
Mr. Bean. With our natives? The jurisdiction lies within
the tribe. Non-natives we take them to the county.
Mr. Culberson. Oh, okay.
Mr. Bean. The county court for prosecution.
Mr. Culberson. Okay. And then the police department you say
there is only two that are paid for with federal funds, two of
the 29 are funded with federal money the other 27 are funded
how?
Mr. Bean. Out of our own tribal resources from our own tax
revenues.
Mr. Culberson. Yeah. Collect a property tax I guess?
Mr. Bean. Fuel tax, liquor tax, tobacco tax.
Mr. Culberson. Okay. Okay. And you have your own I guess
court system too, kind of like basically you are your own
independent local government; is that correct?
Mr. Bean. We do have our own justice system, we have a
correctional facility.
Mr. Culberson. Okay. And the federal government then only
provides a thin slice of your funding. You are mostly supported
with local revenue.
Mr. Bean. Ten percent of your departmental cost for public
safety is provided by the federal government, the other----
Mr. Culberson. Okay. Ten percent.
Mr. Bean. Yes, sir.
Mr. Culberson. Okay. The only reason I ask is you know we
are living on borrowed money. All the money we are spending
today you would literally shut down the entire federal
government, and----
Mr. Bean. Yes, sir.
Mr. Culberson [continuing]. Basically all but $185 billion
of all the revenue coming into the federal government goes to
pay Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on the debt,
and veterans' benefits. So we are living on money borrowed from
our kids.
So anyway, thank you very, very much.
Mr. Bean. Thank you.
Mr. Culberson. And we will do all we can obviously to
protect funding for all these important programs, but we are
facing hard times financially.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Bean. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Culberson. And thank you very much.
And next Jim Bueermann of the Police Foundation. Thank you
very much.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
POLICE FOUNDATION
WITNESS
JIM BUEERMANN, PRESIDENT
Mr. Bueermann. Good morning, Mr. Culberson. Thank you for
this opportunity to testify before your subcommittee today
about the Police Foundation and the discipline of evidence-
based policing.
As you mentioned my name is Jim Bueermann, and I am the
president of the Police Foundation, America's oldest, non-
partisan and non-profit police research organization.
We are based in Washington, and our mission is to advance
policing through innovation and science.
I spent 33 years as a police officer in Redlands,
California, the last 13 as the chief of police and director of
housing, recreation, and senior services.
I was fortunate to lead a department deeply rooted in the
use of the best available science to drive its policing
strategies and thereby giving local taxpayers the highest
possible return on their investment and public safety.
We experience great community support for this approach as
well as national recognition for our use of evidence-based
approaches to controlling crime and disorder.
In 1970 the leadership of the Ford Foundation, believing
that the police needed to use rigorous science to become more
effective in controlling crime and disorder, created the Police
Foundation, and for more than 40 years we have produced some of
the country's most important research to help police officers
better protect their communities.
We have established and we refined the capacity to define,
design, conduct, and evaluate controlled experiments in
evaluation research to improve the quality of policing.
Our goals are twofold.
First we conduct rigorous scientific research that produces
relevant results that can be directly applied to policing
policy or practice.
Our research is designed to address the questions,
challenges, and problems faced by contemporary policing
agencies.
And second, we act as a translational agent to move
existing research from theory into practice. We strive to
translate the larger world of scientific research into
actionable information for law enforcement leaders and policy
makers as your subcommittee provides funding for law
enforcement support and research programs in the Department of
Justice.
My purpose today is to share with you some of our thinking
on emerging national issues.
I am not here seeking funding for the Police Foundation,
but I would like to extend an invitation to the members and
staff of the subcommittee to use us as a resource as you
develop and fund policing research programs in the future.
Decreases in local funding for public safety mean that
local governments cannot support an ever increasing number of
police officers or in many cases even maintain the status quo.
Therefore police chiefs and sheriffs must shift their attention
to more efficient and effective strategies generated from well-
designed scientific examination of what works to control crime
and disorder. That model is called evidence-based policing, and
it represents the field's most powerful force for change.
Evidence-based policing offers a practical solution to the
challenge of balancing public safety, available funds, and
taxpayer expectations. It blends the science of controlling
crime and disorder with the principles of community policing
and problem solving. It helps communities focus on meaningful,
achievable, and measurable public safety outcomes. And it can
be implemented without straining budgets, disrupting police
organizations, or offending community members, and it can help
police departments strengthen their legitimacy with the
communities they serve.
The following are just a few examples of the areas in which
we believe greater police-related research is justified.
The role of the police in helping prevent mental health-
related gun violence, policing on school campuses, police
legitimacy, policing in prisoner reentry and drug courts, the
role of the police in wrongful convictions, officer safety and
wellness, preventable error in policing, the police use of
unmanned aerial vehicles, mobile device technologies, and
additive manufacturing in the use of so-called 3D printers.
As the subcommittee develops future legislation I urge you
to investigate, promote, and enhance the use of evidence-based
policing, research, and strategies.
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to testify today
about the foundation and how its work can leverage taxpayer
investments to improve public safety outcomes.
And more importantly I thank you for your service to our
great Nation.
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Mr. Wolf [presiding]. Thank you very much for your
testimony.
Mr. Bueermann. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Gary----
Mr. Culberson. Can I ask----
Mr. Wolf. Sure. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Mr. Culberson. You are funded entirely with foundation
grants.
Mr. Bueermann. And we have an endowment, the Ford
Foundation's endowment so it keeps us running today.
Mr. Culberson. That is terrific. It is always marvelous to
have someone come up, Mr. Chairman, that is not asking for
federal money.
Thank you.
Mr. Bueermann. It is a pleasure. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. It is unusual.
Gary Mills, American Federation of Government Employees.
Your statements will appear in the record. Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
WITNESS
GARY MILLS, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COORDINATOR, COUNCIL OF PRISON LOCALS
C-33
Mr. Mills. Good morning, Chairman Wolf, Congressman
Culberson, my name Gary Mills, I am the national legislative
coordinator for the council of prisons locals, we are
affiliated with the American Federation of Government Employees
and we represent the correctional workers for the Federal
Bureau of Prisons.
In February of this year the Bureau of Prisons realized our
worst nightmare. We had a correctional officer who was killed
in the line of duty at USP Canaan in Pennsylvania. It was
Officer Eric Williams, 34 years old, and he was brutally
stabbed to death by an inmate with a homemade weapon.
The Bureau of Prisons, the entire Bureau of Prisons family
basically is heartbroken. It is literally like we lost a member
of the family and it is hard to explain that. It is someone
most of us never met, never would have met, but it hurts that
bad. Along with that we have gained a newfound resolve to do
whatever possible we can to try and prevent this from occurring
again.
So on behalf of over the 36,000 federal correctional
workers at the Bureau of Prisons we would ask the subcommittee
to provide us $7,007,272,000 in fiscal year 2014 funding for
BOP salaries and expenses. That allows us to hire enough
additional correctional workers to achieve a 95 percent
staffing level at existing BOP-operated institutions.
This $7 billion plus figure assumes a 2013 fiscal year
funding level of $6,820,217,000 and a $187,055,000 increase in
2014.
We would also ask that the Bureau of Prisons salaries and
expenses account be exempt from sequestration provisions of the
2011 Budget Control Act.
Our BOP expenses are effectively mandatory, not
discretionary, and we would ask that the Bureau of Prisons be
directed to expand its pilot program for pepper spray to be
issued to all staff working in all our 117 correctional
facilities for routine carry, no more than any dare I say a
mall cop. I have pepper spray when I jog, letter carriers carry
it. We are asking it just solely for the protection of our
officers inside the institutions.
Nearly 218,000 prison inmates are in the Bureau of Prisons
today. That is up from 25,000 in 1980 and it rises. And 81
percent of all these inmates are confined in BOP operated
institutions, 19 percent are in managed residential reentry
centers and private prisons.
The number of federal correction workers that work in BOP-
operated prisons however is failing to keep pace with the
tremendous growth of prison inmate populations.
As of December 13, 2013, the BOP-operated institutions were
staffed at an 88 percent level as contrasted with the 95
percent staffing levels in the mid 90s. This 88 percent
staffing level is below the 90 percent staffing level that the
BOP believes to be the minimum level for maintaining the safety
and security of the Bureau of Prisons facilities.
At the same time prison inmate overcrowding is an
increasing problem at BOP institutions despite the activation
of new prisons over the past few years. BOP-operated
institutions at the end of fiscal year 2011 were operating 39
percent above rated capacity overall with our high security
facilities at about 55 percent overrated capacity.
And we would ask for the anomaly to--I am sorry--for
exemption from sequestration because although we got an
increase in the budget with sequestration we would actually
lose money and we are still dealing with a rising tide of
inmates coming into the system.
And lastly--I am sorry for my time--the pepper spray
program is something that we have asked to be expanded. It was
initially brought in for staff safety. All of our studies at
the Bureau of Prisons conducted in the initial run of the
pepper spray program showed significant lower rates in violence
on inmate-on-inmate violence and inmate-on-staff violence.
There is a video that we had brought to the Hill last month
that showed an actual very effective use of pepper spray in
Seattle, FDC SeaTac, where an inmate had grabbed an iron and
charged towards a staff member. He had pepper spray, sprayed it
in the direction of the inmate, the inmate covered his face and
ran past the staff member, as a result the inmate nor to staff
member was injured.
I am sorry for my time. Thank you very much for this
opportunity to testify.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you for your testimony, it is very
powerful. We did approve reprogramming the other day for the
Bureau of Prisons.
Secondly, and Mr. Fattah and I are going to put in a bill
for a national commission looking at the whole prison system.
And on the pepper spray we will certainly take a look at
it. Congressman Morgan Griffith has raised that issue with me,
so what we will do is together we will call the Bureau of
Prisons up together and we will talk to them.
So we will----
Mr. Mills. Greatly, greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Mills. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Wolf. All right, next Davis Hansberger of Midwest Trade
Adjustment Assistance Center.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
MIDWEST TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE CENTER
WITNESS
DAVID HANSBERGER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. Hansberger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman for the opportunity
to testify before this committee, and thank you, Mr. Fattah,
regarding appropriations for the TAA for firms program
administered by EDA at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
On behalf of thousands of small--is that on now? Okay. On
behalf of small--thousands of small American manufacturers I
want to thank you and the members of this committee for your
past support of this critical program.
My name is David Hansberger and I started working with the
TAA for firms program in 1988, and since 2008 I have been the
director of the Midwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
We respectfully request that Congress continue to
appropriate $16 million in fiscal year 2014 for the TAA for
firms program.
Despite the small budget the program delivers a big impact
and I would like to illustrate that with my remarks in three
areas today.
History, operations, and successes.
The TAA for firms is focused on small to medium sized
manufacturing companies that lost significant numbers of
customers and sales due to lower priced imports, but these
companies have not closed down, they have not moved their
manufacturing overseas, they are staying in the U.S.
communities and fighting for business.
The TAA for firms helps these manufacturers to train
workers, improve productivity, grow domestic, and export sales.
Operationally program staff works with each individual
company to establish their eligibility and then write a
specialized business plan that looks at strengths, weaknesses,
threats, and opportunities, and then specific projects are
detailed and then implemented by independent private sector
consultants and service providers, with the manufacturing firm
paying half the bill and the program paying half the bill.
This operational structure makes sure that the projects are
carefully designed, reviewed, prioritized, and focused to
deliver a positive and cost effective result.
And the manufacturing companies have their own skin in the
game because they have to pay half the bill too.
Projects we cost share with our clients cover a wide range
of needs and are all focused on expanding their customer base,
growing sales, and making their product more efficiently.
Examples of these projects include achieving recognized
quality standards like ISO 9000, developing new products,
updating websites for e-commerce, export development, and on
and on.
Firms adjust and generally leave the program within three
to five years and the success has been very real.
The success is documented by both a recent GAO study of
performance and an Inspector General study of cost
effectiveness.
The IG found that the program has a very low overhead with
82 percent of funds going to serve and benefit manufacturers,
and GAO determined that companies in the program demonstrated a
five percent growth in sales.
Now, these companies turned around after a decline of 18
percent in sales to that 5 percent growth, and GAO also found
there is a statistical significance between participating in
the program and making that turn around.
This growth can be found in companies such as an Illinois
die caster that has been rewarded the Precision Metal Forming
Association training award and the Hitachi Pioneer award, both
related to projects through the TAA for firms program, or a
Pennsylvania company from the first district that makes
industrial and scientific measuring equipment and worked with
the program to update their website and attract more sales.
So what we have here is a program that targets small
manufacturers that were losing sales and shedding employees and
turns them around into sales and employment growth within a few
years at low cost.
We hope TAA for firms will be viewed by Congress as
separate and distinct from other trade adjustment assistance
programs. The results are strong enough to stand independently
in any format that Congress should see fit to define the
program.
TAA for firms is the model of a cost effective, flexible,
and effective program that could work well or better on a
broader scope.
The consistent message is that the program works to grow
small manufacturers in a cost effective way.
While many are talking about the need to support small
business, grow exports, and support manufacturing jobs, here is
a program that does all three, and it does it in a cost
effective model that is time tested and works well.
Your support for level funding will certainly allow this
work to continue and achieve the successful trends that are
documented.
Thank you very much for your time and attention and the
opportunity to summarize this small but important program. I
would be happy to answer any questions.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much, I appreciate your testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. I appreciate the program and your work and
thank you very much.
Mr. Hansberger. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Joe McKinney with the National Association of Development
Organizations. Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS
WITNESS
JOE McKINNEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. McKinney. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Your full statement will appear in the record.
Mr. McKinney. Thank you.
Chairman Wolf, ranking Member Fattah, thank you for taking
time particularly on this hectic day to allow me to testify on
the importance of including $257.5 million in funding for the
U.S. Economic Development Administration for fiscal year 2014.
My name is Joe McKinney and I am the executive director of
the National Association of Development Organizations. We
represent over 400 regional development organizations across
the country.
I am hear to speak to you today about the importance of EDA
particularly in rural America.
As the overall U.S. economy has struggled to recover from
the great recession areas served by our members are
particularly-- have felt acute impact. In these communities the
loss of a relatively few number of jobs can have a devastating
effect.
I am well aware of the financial constraints faced by this
subcommittee, the needs of all the agencies covered by your
bill have important roles to play, and all are faced with the
ongoing budgetary pressure.
As you mentioned earlier today absent a grand bargain that
comprehensively addresses tax in a time of reform I feel that
domestic discretionary spending will continue to bear the brunt
of debt reduction.
While NADO was disappointed with the EDA's budget and
proposed continuing resolution I believe EDA has demonstrated
real results and that the agency can clearly show the benefits
returning to the fiscal year 2012 funding level.
Let me briefly discuss what makes EDA unique.
As you know EDA is the only federal agency with the sole
mission of fostering economic growth and creating high quality
jobs.
Planning grants are used to ensure a community has the
necessary resources to attract new businesses, and the
infrastructure grants ensure that new businesses have the
primary public services needed to locate and expand.
The economic development districts have conducted hundreds
of successful projects and regions all across the nation.
My complete statement has some of the examples of
successful EDA grants and I urge members of the subcommittee to
read that.
I also want to share with you the critical importance of
insuring that EDA's resources are focused on the programs used
most often and most effectively by EDDs across the country.
EDDs primary benefit from planning and infrastructure
grants. Rural regions must rely on assistance from EDA to help
provide the building blocks to spur economic growth, and we
believe EDA grants should remain competitive and accessible to
all rural regions without regard to population and unattainable
match requirements.
Funding opportunity should never be placed out of reach of
communities that most desperately need assistance.
In conclusion EDA grants have a critically important role
in the lives of rural Americans. Without EDA grants these
localities simply wouldn't be able to afford to provide basic
planning services and infrastructure necessary to maintain a
thriving community.
The $36 million difference in EDA grants from fiscal year
2012 budget to the proposed CR represent precious resources to
rural America.
As I mentioned earlier, these days every resource is
precious for sure.
My goal today has been to show how these additional funds
for EDA will have a substantial impact on hundreds of small and
rural communities across the Nation.
The committee's report last year acknowledged that EDA has
shifted away from traditional planning and infrastructure
grants. NADO could not agree more with that statement.
I firmly believe that if EDA continues its historic focus
on economic planning and infrastructure grants rural
communities and small cities will be able to leverage these
grants and insure that today's generation of new workers do not
have to relocate to find a good job.
We look forward to working with you in the future and I
thank you for the opportunity again to speak with you today and
I would be happy to answer any questions.
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Mr. Fattah. Well, let me thank you.
EDA I think is the most important economic development
agency we have in terms of reaching all communities and types
of communities throughout the country. And I know not just in
rural areas but in Philadelphia there was an EDA grant that
helped establish a neighborhood campus of the community college
up in northeast Philadelphia and it is very, very and vital
funding.
So thank you for your testimony today.
I would make note that there was some discussion about
whether this hearing should go forward today given all of the
other activities here in the House, and the chairman determined
that it would inconvenience so many people who have come to
testify that we should proceed.
So even though it seems a little disjointed that members
have to come and go, this is--we have all of your testimony in
the record and we appreciate it.
Mr. McKinney. Thank you.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you.
Mr. Culberson [presiding]. Tom Skalak from the University
of Virginia. If you could turn your microphone on, sir, and
turn your name. There you go. Very good. Thank you very much.
Is it Dr. Skalak?
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
WITNESS
THOMAS C. SKALAK, VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH
Mr. Skalak. Dr. Skalak.
Mr. Culberson. Dr. Skalak. Thank you very much for being
with us today and we look forward to your testimony. Your
statement will be entered into the record in its entirety.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Skalak. Thank you, Mr. Culberson and staff of Chairman
Wolf and Mr. Fattah. It is good to be back this morning with
you.
I represent--good afternoon again, Mr. Wolf.
Mr. Wolf [presiding]. Is this the guy, William and Mary?
Mr. Skalak. Yes, Chairman Wolf, we consider that an
excellent second choice. It is a pleasure to see you again.
I represent the University of Virginia as the vice
president for research.
UVA urges the subcommittee to support the highest possible
funding levels for federal science agencies in the fiscal year
2014 budget, particularly NSF, space technology, science, and
aeronautics programs at NASA, and the Economic Development
Administration, EDA.
Investments in these agencies help universities make
discoveries at the frontiers of knowledge, engineer new
technologies that solve national challenges, and power our
innovation-based economy.
But today I really want to tell you a personal story.
Two summers ago I took my son, Scott, who was ten years
old, we took him on a canoe trip down the Shenandoah River,
which you may be familiar with, we paddled down the 13-mile
stretch of that very historic river. We still run through
several miles of wilderness area whether farms, there is no
real civilization there, catching some fish, it was a very hot
day, we had to dip our hats in the water to keep cool. It was
about 100 degrees.
And we came around a bend in the river and on the left-hand
side on the bank we saw a nest with two bald eagles. One of
them flew up into the air, the other one couldn't fly up into
the air. At first we thought he was just protecting the nest,
but he actually had an injured wing.
So we had to pass on by because you are not allowed to
interfere with the nests of eagles. And so we were hopeful that
it would recover.
We want back last summer and we saw as we came around the
same bend the nest again and the two eagles were there. This
time they both flew up over the tree line.
As you can imagine, you know, we were happy to see that,
and that is a sight that of course my son who was then 11 would
probably never forget.
So I am telling you this story because just like that eagle
that took the time to heal and then fly up that is the state of
our American economy right now.
And you spoke earlier, Mr. Culberson about your grand
children and paying our way forward for them. Well, we need the
strength and resources to soar again also.
Now last week I was with the vice president of an American
Fortune 500 company and he said to me, America has the capital,
the drive, and the creativity at a level that far surpasses any
other nation in the world.
In a report just last week issued, which I can send you by
Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, reported through analysis
that cash reserves in American corporations as a ratio to
market cap of those same companies has never been higher than
in the past 25 years.
Now that cash is going to come off the sidelines in the
future and it has to have a place to go. It needs to go into
American innovation otherwise it won't. And the only way it
will have American innovation to go into is through federal
investments in innovation. It is the only way to instill the
confidence that that cash will find a place for investments.
Markets cannot accomplish that task.
So I would like to thank you, the committee, Chairman Wolf
in particular for your championship of the federal science
agencies. I hope you will continue to support them and
increases for the agencies, because this is the only way to
create the new discoveries and the confidence needed for that
cash to come off the sidelines and create long-term economic
growth in America. It won't happen any other way, and your
investments in these science agencies is what allows that to
happen.
Thank you very much.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, thank you, we will, and UVA is a great
university. Two of my kids went there and please give my best
to Teresa Sullivan your president, I think she does an
outstanding job and thank you for your testimony.
Where were you in the bend? Because the Shenandoah River
much of it is in my district, where were you?
Mr. Skalak. We were in the 13-mile stretch.
Mr. Wolf. Where?
Mr. Skalak. Between--lets see just west of Rock Fish Gap
and then going--going down river.
Mr. Wolf. But any way, welcome.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony and for your great
work, and even though the chairman says it is a great
university I think I have to agree even though we have a lot of
great ones in Philadelphia, so----
Mr. Skalak. Thomas Jefferson, yes, excellent.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Great. Thank you.
Mr. Culberson. Please pass on to your colleagues that they
have got no better friends than Chairman Wolf, Mr. Fattah, and
this subcommittee when it comes to investing in the sciences,
in NASA, and we all recognize how vital for the future that
strategic investment is and we will be there. Even though we
are living on borrowed money that is a priority we have to
continue to fund.
Thank you.
Mr. Skalak. That money is critical for the future of our
grandchildren. You bet.
Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Wolf.
[Pause]
Mr. Wolf. Mr. Perry, welcome.
Mr. Perry. Hi.
Mr. Wolf. Welcome to the committee. Unfortunately we are
running out of time, there is a four-minute time.
Mr. Perry. Okay.
Mr. Wolf. Your full statement will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DRUG COURT PROFESSIONALS
WITNESS
MATTHEW PERRY, AMBASSADOR OF DRUG COURTS
Mr. Perry. Okay. Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah,
distinguished members of the subcommittee, I am honored to
appear before you today to discuss an issue that I have come to
believe is the most important criminal justice reform of our
lifetime. Drug courts.
Last year the House of Representatives had the vision to
increase funding for drug courts to $45 million at the
Department of Justice as well as $4 million for veterans'
treatment courts so that the men and women who have served this
Nation receive the treatment they have earned.
Today I am asking our incredible champions in the House to
maintain $45 million for drug courts, $4 million for veterans'
treatment courts in the fiscal year 2014 budget.
This investment will generate immediate returns by any
standard you choose to measure from unmatched cost savings
stemming from reduced rearrests, law enforcement contracts, and
court hearings to lives restored, families reunited, and
communities rescued from the epidemic of drug abuse and crime.
I know firsthand the personal and societal devastation
caused by substance abuse. When I found recovery from
prescription drug abuse I have dedicated myself to helps
others.
I realized that as a result of my addiction I have lived by
life completely for myself for the first half of my life and
found that the answers were coming in deciding that the second
half of my life needed to be about service, about others. And
this is precisely why I make it a priority to come to
Washington, D.C. and meet with you about drug courts.
Two years ago, I led a rally at the Capitol with hundreds
of drug court professionals from across the country, we met
with members of Congress and told them of the credible success
of programs in their state.
That same year I was honored to speak at a briefing with
the House Committee on addiction, treatment, and recovery, and
it was then that fellow actor Martin Sheen turned to me and
said, Matthew, you are becoming an activist, and I said to him,
Martin, thank you, I feel like an activist, and then I turned
to a friend of mine and said, please go and look up that word
because I don't know what it means. But I apparently am
becoming one.
So every time I visit the Nation's capital I am reminded of
the outstanding leadership of this great body. So I am here
today to speak to you once again about drug courts.
Drug courts are the single most effective program for
getting serious drug addicts into life-long recovery, putting
them back to work, back in school, and back with their
families.
I have seen individuals mire in the deepest depths of
addiction transformed by drug courts. I have spoken with
veterans who after years of being unable to sleep without
painkillers and alcohol are now healthy, law-abiding pillars of
their community. I have met children whose families have been
served because of drug court and only drug court.
I have how much time?
Mr. Wolf. Not much.
Mr. Perry. I got about another page, but I will try to be
very likable and charming.
From saving money to saving lives, from eliminating racial
disparities to protecting public safety, from cutting crime, to
restoring families, for coming to the aid of our veterans, to
stopping impaired drivers, drug courts are a budget solution
that we cannot afford to cut.
There are hundreds of other reasons, but for the sake of
timing I will give you four of them.
First drug courts reduce recidivism at a level unmatched by
any other program by closely supervising participants and
keeping them in treatment long enough to find permanent
recovery. Drug courts are a stabilizing force on our criminal
justice system. And this is an important fact.
Approximately 75 percent of the people who complete drug
court will never be arrested again. When drug court is
unavailable due to budget costs roughly 80 percent of addicted
offenders will reoffend and wind up right back before the
judge.
Second, drug courts save this country money. More research
has been published on the effects of the courts than an
virtually all other criminal justice programs combined. The
facts are now known, drug courts have been found to save up to
$13,000 for every individual they serve.
Third, drug courts have stepped up to the growing number of
veterans who face charges stemming from substance abuse to
mental health issues.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken an
unprecedented toll on our men and women in uniform. While most
return home strengthened by their service, far too many
struggle in their effort to readjust to life outside the
military.
Often mental--very close to the end. Often mental health
issues are compounded by substance abuse, family strife,
unemployment, and homelessness ultimately leading to
incarceration.
With 30,000 soldiers expected to come home this year we
cannot afford to cut the last line of defense between their
healthy future and a life of mental anguish and self-
medication.
Finally, drug courts are being successfully implemented
across the country in states like Texas and New York. Drug
courts are reducing the prison population so much so that
expensive prisons are closing their doors.
In small towns like Somerset, Kentucky the drug court is
helping to take back the community from the scourge of
prescription drug abuse.
Today over 2,700 drug courts in the United States annually
serve 135,000 seriously addicted prison bound offenders.
Every citizen benefits when one of these drug courts gets
an addicted person clean and sober, pays taxes, and becomes a
productive citizen.
Now, we live of course in unique and uncertain economic
times and there is no doubt that the decisions that you have to
make are not easy, but given the overwhelming evidence of drug
court success and the billions of dollars that have already
been saved I hope that this is one decision that will be easy.
I strongly urge the House of Representatives to maintain
$45 million for drug courts at the Department of Justice and $4
million for veterans' treatment courts.
This is something that is doing the right thing and saves
money. I don't think you can say that about too many things.
So thank you for letting me talk here today.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, thank you very much.
One, I appreciate your testimony that you are willing to
come forward and use your reputation and credibility and that
is to your credit, so thank you.
Secondly, the committee is very, very supportive of drug
courts and I think you can count on that we will continue to
fund it.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. And in the 1980s I helped create the drug
courts in Pennsylvania, and I know of that great work has been
done and I want to thank you for your personal testimony and
support for this initiative, and I think that you have--and the
chairman and this committee, people who are committed both for
the drug courts and to the veterans' courts in terms of helping
our veterans.
And thank you very much.
Mr. Perry. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Mr. Culberson.
Mr. Culberson. Thank you--I am chairman of the military
construction and Veterans' Administration Subcommittee on the
Appropriations Committee and we do all that we can as well to
help make sure that they are there for the veterans and deeply
appreciate your personal testimony and just to reiterate the
strong support that Congress and this committee has to this
vital work.
Thank you.
Mr. Perry. Thank you guys. Great, thanks.
Mr. Wolf. Mr. Keating? Go ahead.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
UNITED STATES CONGRESS
WITNESS
HON. BILL KEATING, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH
OF MASSACHUSETTS
Mr. Keating. This is going to be--definitely when I change
this thing there will be definitely a downgrade in pay as I put
that over here. You know, did you ever feel like, you know, in
a formal suit that, you know, in a black tie event your pair of
brown shoes that is maybe--well, thank you.
Mr. Wolf. But I am sure you are going to do well though.
Mr. Keating. Well, I hope so, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, thank you, and Ranking Member Fattah, thank
you, and members of the committee.
You know, I am fortunate in my district as we all feel I
think in our own districts to represent a beautiful coastline
area and part of Massachusetts that is the south shore, the
south coast, Cape Cod and the islands, and in our area,
Martha's Vineyard in Nantucket, but in our area investments in
fisheries management, costal restoration, regional ocean
planning, competitive grant programs, and the critical science
research makes a difference between a paycheck and a pink slip
in our district.
I would like to begin by urging my colleagues in the
committee to work with me and my peers in providing emergency
assistance for an economic disaster issued by the Department of
Commence in September of last year for the northeast multi-
species ground fish industry. They are virtually being
eliminated right now. This is an unprecedented declaration by
the Secretary in advance of the 2013 fishing season which
begins in less than six weeks.
Members of the committee have already received many appeals
from my colleagues as well as from myself on this subject and
the true impact of fisheries disasters on costal communities is
incalculable.
Fishermen from coast to coast will face an immediate and
irreparable loss of livelihood if we are unable to provide them
with the financial assistance to survive during the next
fishing season. These are generations of families that have
started small fishing boats.
I thank you for your previous cooperation, hope that you
will continue to work with me to provide this emergency
funding.
In recent years our fishing business has suffered due to
inadequate data collection that dictates shares. We can and we
must implement fair and effective fisheries management policies
while targeting government abuse and inefficient waste.
To that extent I encourage the committee to provide a
robust funding for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.
It is imperative that the National Marine Fisheries Service
maintain the resources to increase the frequency and accuracy
of these stock assessments that are affecting the livelihood of
these fishermen, to invest in cooperative research with the
industry, and to improve recreational fishing data collection
programs.
Another top priority for southeastern Massachusetts is
finding the investments in ocean and coastal management and
science.
Massachusetts has set a national standard for
implementation and comprehensive and proactive ocean and
coastal management through our participation in the northeast
regional ocean council. It is through regional ocean
partnership grants that the commonwealth has been able to
coordinate and navigate the complex resource management
conflicts that arise from these promising new ocean usages.
To this end I hope to see $10 million provided for the
regional ocean partnership competitive grants program.
As many of you all are familiar 2002 brought some of the
most extreme and unprecedented climate events ever recorded. My
district is just one example of many of the communities
dependent on core habitat restoration and protection, programs
that directly benefit these economies and are critical to
restoring coastal estuary habitats.
Thus it is imperative that we provide funding for NOAA's
costal restoration programs, including the community-based
restoration program, the estuary restoration program, the
coastal and estuary land conservation program.
To recite, there is an undeniable link between restoration
and conservation efforts in costal communities like mine and
the economy.
Furthermore, before coming to Congress I served as a
district attorney for 12 years, and one of my top concerns has
always been the public safety, particularly during these times
of fiscal uncertainty.
And to that end I would like to request that the Staffing
for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs
be appropriated to match the authorization that we passed in
December.
In one of my cities, New Bedford fortunately the whole fire
department being inadequately able to respond. In my
neighboring town of Fall River where they had that--it is on
oil mill town with oil soaked buildings and old, you know,
types of inventories of buildings, not only commercially and
through housing, and these people are in peril as a result of
it.
So it is critical for fire houses not only in my district
by across the entire country, particularly in the communities I
mentioned.
New Bedford where the understaffed men and women are
already serving the needs of multiple communities in the
region.
Surely we can find alternatives to stripping the backbone
of our communities. Police officers, ambulance, but
particularly with the SAFER grants fire departments of the
resources that protect residents.
This is an issue in which I have been deeply engaged and
one I will continue to pursue through the appropriations
process.
Finally I would like to note that one of my first acts as a
district attorney was to initiate a drug court discretionary
grant program. I did that as a prosecutor.
I strongly support funding for the drug court discretionary
grant program which helps to develop treatment in during courts
that integrate substance abuse, mandatory drug testing, and
transitional services for non-violent substance abuse suspects.
The American people understand this is the year of budget
constraints, but my testimony not only reflects the priorities
of my district in Massachusetts, but echoes the messages I have
heard from across the country.
We must insure that this budget incorporates effective
funding decisions and encourages efficiencies but doesn't
overlook the critical needs of Americans of all backgrounds.
Once again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you members of
the committee for your time.
I won't be available to sign autographs afterwards, but I
do appreciate it.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, I do have a request though.
Mr. Keating. Okay.
Mr. Wolf. No, my--thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. My wife is from Marble Head and I have a daughter
who owns a house in Winthrop and a former person who worked on
me is a Catholic priest, Roger Landry in Fall River. Do you
know Roger?
Mr. Keating. I know of the name, I don't know him.
Mr. Wolf. He is a wonderful fellow. So would you call Roger
when you go back there and look him up for me? That is all I
wanted.
Mr. Keating. I will call Roger and make sure he is aware of
this committee's concern for the SAFER grants, for the fishing
industry. But I will personally I will. I will.
Mr. Wolf. Good. Because I have not seen him for a number of
years and he was in the Vatican for a number of years and I
understand he is now back. So I have not seen him, but if you
can----
Mr. Keating. Well, it is a great community with a lot of
challenges, and I am sure he will serve it well.
Mr. Wolf. And you have a great area.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony and we share your
concern about a number of these programs.
Thank you.
Mr. Keating. No, thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks so much.
Mr. Keating. I appreciate it. Difficult times, difficult
decisions, and I appreciate your efforts.
Mr. Wolf. Sure. Thanks.
Mr. Keating. Thanks.
Mr. Wolf. The hearing will come to order.
And we have this light. I apologize for it. You know
everyone is limited to four minutes, but it is because people
are out of town and so if you can--I mean, we are not going
to--but if you can, we would appreciate it. Thank you.
First witness of this panel is Jason Patlis, National
Marine and Sanctuary Foundation. His whole statement will
appear on the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION
WITNESS
JASON PATLIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO
Mr. Patlis. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking
Member, members of the subcommittee.
I realize I have got a tour following in the footsteps of
Matthew Perry, but I will do my best.
Mr. Wolf. I thought you were him.
Mr. Patlis. My mother and my wife might agree with you, but
I am not sure anybody else would.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you this
morning in support of a robust and capable National Marine
Sanctuary System and a strong National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
My name is Jason Patlis. I am the president of the National
Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and the National Marine
Sanctuaries, as you well know, are the underwater compliment to
our national parks on land. They represent our national
heritage at sea. They protect the best places in the American
ocean for the American people now and for future generations.
I know you know the National Sanctuaries well. They are not
just American icons. They are anchors for jobs and economic
growth and they are also pillars in coastal communities around
the country, centers of civic pride.
Knowing the deep cuts that you are looking to make in the
federal budget, but also recognizing the return of investment
of our National Marine Sanctuaries it is with respect that I
request $55 million to the National Marine Sanctuary program
base which is NOAA's ORF $5.5 million for the PAC fund with the
National Marine Sanctuaries.
Now, I want to make just two points with this testimony.
First, joining me in recommending these amounts is a national
network of community-based, site-based organizations, all total
nine in number that stretch from Boston to Hawaii and they all
support these recommendations.
First thing I would like to stress is the PAC dollars.
These funds go towards vessel acquisition and visitor center
construction. Without the PAC funds, visitor centers can't be
constructed, research vessels cannot be purchased or maintained
quite simply. As much as park managers need vehicles and trucks
to do their business on land, sanctuary managers need vessels
at sea.
And the National Marine Sanctuary system has much more real
estate in the system than national park system does--170,000
square miles.
Taking away PAC dollars is really harmful, but on the flip
side, providing PAC dollars is really, really beneficial and I
want to give you one example.
NOAA just finished a multi-year project constructing a
National Marine Sanctuary visitor center in Santa Cruz for
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Federal dollars were leveraged with state and private
dollars. Jobs were created. Construction took a number of years
and the visitor center just opened this past July.
Within three months, 33,000 visitors passed through the
doors. They expect 150,000 visitors annually for that. And it
has quickly become a landmark in the Monterey Bay region, so
PAC dollars are really important.
The second thing I want to stress is why we are
recommending this year a slight increase over the dollars from
previous years. Simply as NOAA consolidates its program and
streamlines its budget, more and more programs are being
absorbed by different offices rising to the top. The National
Marine Sanctuaries are such a hub in rising to the top, and so
they have got increasing responsibilities, increasing staff as
they draw weaker programs into the programs that are folding
and closing within NOAA. So to meet their new authorities they
really need some additional money to make that happen.
I want to give you just two examples of what has transpired
in the last two weeks that really underscore the importance of
National Marine Sanctuaries. You may be aware that on March 8
at Arlington National Cemetery, there was a very moving
ceremony for the sailors of the USS Monitor.
The back story of that started 40 years ago. I realize my
time is up. I will finish the story and then I will end my
testimony.
The back story started when the Monitor was first
designated as a National Marine Sanctuary in 1975, 40 years
ago. After that, NOAA began working with the Navy. They pulled
up the turret. That was 10 years in itself with a lot of NOAA
behind-the-scenes work with the Navy.
Within the turret they discovered the remains of two of the
sailors that were lost at sea. NOAA researchers working with
the academic community then spent another decade trying to
identify who those soldiers among the lost sailors were. Did so
to such an extent that they were able to identify the bodies
and so, you know, two weeks ago the Navy was able to, up front,
with NOAA in the background, recognize those soldiers,
recognize the commitment they made to the country and give them
the burial that they deserved as American heros. That is NOAA
work. That is NOAA's sanctuary's work and it is congressional
appropriations that make that happen.
Last week there was a whale disentanglement in Hawaii, and
I am sorry, one last story.
CNN picked it up for five minutes and Hollywood makes
movies about this, speaking of Matthew Perry, about
disentangling endangered whales, and it went viral on the net,
and those were NOAA scientists within the National Marine
Sanctuary that did that disentanglement, and they run this
program with a couple of million dollars a year with funding
support that we are able to leverage through our own fund
raising.
And so again, it is congressional appropriations that are
doing that kind of work, creating those kinds of stories,
captivating the American imagination and allowing that to, you
know, to be part of the American story.
So thank you for the support you have given sanctuaries in
the past and thank you for the consideration of this request.
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Mr. Wolf. I was out at Monterey last year and I recall the
burial at Arlington Cemetery, and the Washington Post did a
couple of stories on this. It was very, very moving.
But thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony and for your fund
raising and all the supports for these programs.
Mr. Patlis. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
Mr. Culberson. I just want to say thank you for the work
that you do. The committee strongly supports what you are doing
and also put in a plug, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Fattah, for ocean
exploration for--I don't know if we got anybody here from them,
but they do great work, Dr. Ballard and the Ocean Exploration--
underwater mapping, it doubled the size of the United States
and our natural resources overnight, just through some of the
work that they are doing.
Mr. Patlis. Thank you very much. Dr. Ballard is a Trustee
Emeritus of the foundation as is Sylvia Earle and Jean-Michel
Cousteau.
But again, the funding that NOAA sanctuaries receives is
what we work with as a base, and then we can multiply that. And
so the funds that you provide really allow us to do our job.
Mr. Culberson. Great work generates good will. Thank you.
Mr. Patlis. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Mary Munson, Coastal States Organization.
Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
COASTAL STATES ORGANIZATION
WITNESS
MARY MUNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ms. Munson. Good morning. Mr. Chairman, members of the
subcommittee.
My name is Mary Munson. I am the Executive Director of the
Coastal States Organization. We represent the governors of the
nation's 35 coastal states on oceans, coastal and Great Lakes
resource issues. I thank you for this opportunity to testify.
As you know, we rely on our coastal areas for commerce,
storm protection, recreation, energy, natural resources among
many other things.
We support adequate and sustained funding for the federal/
state partnership programs, and I have left out the actual
numbers in my testimony to keep this under four minutes, but
the Coastal Zone Management Program, the Coastal and Estuarian
Land Conservation Program, Regional Ocean Partnerships and
National Estuarian Research Reserves, they form a critical
framework supporting the nation's coast.
These programs are a small portion of the budget, but
provide dramatic results in coastal communities. They sustain
coastal economies and are a good federal investment. These
grants are matched by the states and leveraged with private and
local funds.
The U.S. economy is a coastal economy. The federal funding
doesn't reflect it. The oceans and coast provide irreplaceable
contributions to our economy and while only accounting for 18
percent of U.S. land area, coasts are home to 163 million
people and almost 5 million businesses.
Coastal counties contribute $8.3 trillion to the U.S. GDP
and employ 66 million people in coastal and ocean dependent
sectors such as ports, marine transportation, tourism, off-
shore energy, you name it.
Today our coastal resources are at risk due to more intense
storms, growing demand for the use, and an increase in natural
hazards such sea level rise.
The Coastal Zone Management Act states partner with NOAA to
balance the need to maintain productive coastal and ocean
resources and the need for sustainable and resilient
development of these coastal communities, and failure to invest
in these key programs now means a greater economic spending in
the future, likely at a time of emergency.
A couple of examples of the difference that federal funding
makes in coastal communities. In 1999, Virginia, your state, in
shaded oyster restoration efforts using $1.5 million in federal
support and additional leveraged funds to construct sanctuary
reefs and oyster harvest areas and have paid off.
Between 2001 and 2011, landings increased from 23,000
bushels to 236,000 bushels, an increase in value from $575,000
to $8.26 million, just for that oyster restoration.
In Pennsylvania, the state continues to open its coastline
to public access through federal coastal funding. In
Philadelphia, a rehabilitative pier now hosts an average of
1,800 weekly visitors. The Lake Erie coastal zone has a newly
constructed park, fishing pier, deck, walkway and that also
enhances the lake's $36 million sport fishing industry among
other benefits. So it is demonstrated effects.
There are stories like this around the country showing on-
the-ground benefits. Without national CZM program and federal
funding support, the leverage funding would disappear and these
programs wouldn't be possible.
CSO appreciates the subcommittees past support and we
appreciate your care and consideration of our request as you
move forward with the appropriations process.
Please see our written testimony for more details, but I
appreciate your time and we look forward--we are having our
annual meeting in the fall in Virginia in Norfolk, so we hope
to see you there and thank you for your time.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Ms. Munson. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Next is David Bedford with Pacific Salmon Commission.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
PACIFIC SALMON COMMISSION
WITNESS
DAVID BEDFORD, CHAIRMAN
Mr. Bedford. Mr. Chairman, my name is David Bedford. I
serve as a commissioner on the United States section of the
Pacific Salmon Commission.
The commission was established in 1985 to oversee the
implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the United
States and Canada. In May of 2008, the United States and Canada
reached an agreement on a new set of fishery regimes which
would apply for the period 2009 to 2018.
Funding in the Department of Commerce for programs intended
to fulfill national commitments reached under the treaty is
approximately $10.8 million in 2012. The references that I make
is a sort of a base in my discussion here, would be to 2012,
since that is something where we have a clear picture of what
the funding level was.
The funding for the treaty is located in three lines in the
National Marine Fishery Service budget or salmon management
activities. The Pacific Salmon Treaty Line, the U.S. Chinook
Agreement line, the 2008 Agreement line and then also the
International Fisheries Commission line under Regional Councils
and Fisheries Commissions.
The Department of Commerce principally funds programs
conducted by the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
Alaska. These programs fulfill national commitments created by
the treaty. The costs of those programs is very substantially
greater than the allotted money that is in the NOAA base.
The NOAA base level of funding is, as I say, about $10.8
million in the 2012 budget. We view that as being really a
necessary figure moving ahead. We have, as a matter of course,
have been forced to supplement that with other sources of
revenue. At the 2012 funding level we think we can make ends
meet, provided those other funding sources remain available.
The Pacific Salmon Treaty line item in particular was
funded at about $5.6 million. That supports the states and the
federal agencies to conduct salmon stock assessment, fishery
management programs and monitoring to implement the
conservation and allocation provisions of the Salmon Treaty.
The Chinook Salmon Agreement line item is funded as
approximately at $1.8 million. This is a program for research
and stock assessment. The grants are awarded out of this in a
competitive process.
The International Fisheries Commission line under Regional
Councils and Fisheries Commissions is funded at $400,000. This
pays for a bilateral salmon enhancement program on the trans-
boundary rivers to rivers that rise in Canada and float into
sea through southeast Alaska.
The 2008 Agreement line supports programs that were put in
place with the 2008 Agreement that were necessary to drive that
particular set of negotiations to a conclusion where the level
of funding needed here is $3 million.
The base annual treaty implementation funding of
approximately $5.6 million has remained essentially flat since
1985. The kind of program that is implemented under the Salmon
Treaty is a good deal more sophisticated and elaborate than it
was at that time.
We have much more greater demands now that we have
endangered species concerns on the Pacific coast. We have much
more intensive stock assessment, fishery compliance monitoring
and technical support activities that have to be supported.
The states have had to apply to various sources, for
example, the fisheries grants, Dingell-Johnson monies, state
general funds, as sources to backfill what is really an
insufficient federal appropriation.
The problem is that fisheries grants, for example, used to
be in the NOAA budget but were eliminated a couple of years
ago. Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery has had appropriations
language applied to it, but has limited its use and was
originally, it had appropriations language each year that said
it could be used for meeting obligations under the Pacific
Salmon Treaty, but is now constrained from use for those sorts
of purposes.
In any event, in looking ahead, we are troubled by how it
is we will be able to fund the kinds of programs that the state
conducts on behalf of the federal government, but we are
hopeful that we will be able to accomplish that if we can
maintain level funding.
The Fish and Wildlife Service measures the economic impacts
of the commercial line and sport fisheries on the west coast
and with the states that are implicated in the treaty between
$2 billion and $3 billion a year.
The effect of implementation of the treaty is necessary to
continue the kinds of benefits that we gather from the
fisheries on the coast. To sustain those fisheries into the
future, the treaty, again, is a conservation program that is
intended to provide a continuing flow of benefits and is
reasonably effective in accomplishing that, albeit there are
certain restock conservation problems on the coast as well.
Again, to accomplish what it is the states are trying to do
on behalf of the national level that we feel that flat funding
at the 2012 levels would be a basic necessity.
This concludes my comments and I thank you very much for
the opportunity to testify to the Committee.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your brief testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony. This is a matter
that the committee has been very supportive of in the past and
we look forward to the opportunity to consider it again. Thank
you.
Mr. Wolf. Edward Johnstone, Northwest Indian Fisheries
Commission.
Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NORTHWEST INDIAN FISHERIES COMMISSION
WITNESS
EDWARD JOHNSTONE, TREASURER
Mr. Johnstone. Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Ed Johnstone. I am a
Quinault tribal member. I represent fisheries policy for the
nation. I am also the treasurer of the Northwest Indian
Fisheries Commission. I am here filling big shoes of Billy
Frank, Jr. that asked me to come to provide this testimony. And
the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission is comprised of 23
tribes in Puget Sound, the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the
Washington Coast.
I am here to testify on NOAA programs that are important to
us such as $110 million from NOAA's Pacific Coastal Salmon
Recovery Fund. These funds are critical to the restoration of
habitat that has been lost in mostly in the Puget Sound region,
but the coast is also affected.
The work that is done in all these watershed is connected
through ESA, through the requirements of ESA, the
administration has also a thread connection with the Pacific
Salmon Treaty and other forms, and the work that we are doing
is critical work that is needed because the pace at which we
are losing our river systems and corridors and habitat is being
outpaced by the amount of money in the work that we can do. We
got good restoration programs in place, but we don't have the
money to, you know, to keep pace at the rate at which the
people are coming to the State of Washington. Cities and
counties and the states have to deal with all of this growth
and it is backlogging on us and we are reaching out, we are
trying to get the funding level at the high water mark of $110
million, and that reflects that work that needs to be done.
And this work is on-the-ground work. All the river systems
have recovery plans and this money goes to projects such as
what we have at Quinault which is an Upper Quinault
restoration. It is a hundred-year plan. It is millions of
dollars. When we have got it all engineered and when we have
the dollars to do the work, it is jobs in the community that
support these local economies as well as the state.
The Pacific Salmon Treaty that was just presented to you by
the previous speaker, we support that. All of the reasons that
he had mentioned, including the Chinook annex, the $7.859
million for the treaty and an additional $3.0 million for the
Chinook agreement, this is all critical work that has to be
done in the integrity of the color guard tag program and the
data for fisheries management purposes is real critical. It not
only fulfills commitment to the Canadians through the treaty,
but it also helps fulfill the trust obligation that the United
States has with us as treaty tribes.
The $15.9 million for NOAA's Mitchell Act hatcheries, and
these are predominantly on the lower Columbia River, we support
those hatcheries. The production in those hatcheries are very
vital to the treaty tribes and also to the Washington economy
as a byproduct; $20 million for NOAA's Regional Ocean
Partnership, that is for a lot of this work that you hear from
the Marine Sanctuary Program, is like work that we do as
coastal treaty tribes. We do collaborate with the sanctuary and
other entities to protect our areas, our treaty areas out in
the ocean, as well as working with our neighbors in the
communities.
The last thing I want to say has to do with the Treaty
Rights at Risk paper that we brought back here into Congress
and to the White House last year that talks about how our
treaty rights are diminishing because of all of these issues
that deal with the ability to recover salmon and it is at
length in our written testimony and we appreciate the
opportunity to come before you this morning.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much. I appreciate your testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you, sir, for your testimony and filling
those big shoes. You did a good job.
Mr. Johnstone. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Anne Miglarese with PLANETIQ. How do you
pronounce the group's name? Do you know?
Ms. Miglarese. Planet IQ.
Mr. Wolf. Planet IQ.
Ms. Miglarese. Uh-huh.
Mr. Wolf. Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
PLANETIQ
WITNESS
ANNE MIGLARESE, PRESIDENT/CEO
Ms. Milgarese. Good morning. Chairman Wolf and other
members of the committee, I want to thank you for the
opportunity to present to you today.
I am not seeking any funding, but need the committee's
leadership in supporting an innovative alternative to meet the
atmospheric observation needs of this country, alternatives
that have a stunning track record of success in the
intelligence community.
Today more than 90 percent of the atmospheric observations
that go into a weather forecast come from the satellites. As I
am sure you are well aware, the GAO has recently published a
report that said that there is likely to be a gap of 17 to 53
months and it will start as soon as next year.
Almost this exact same situation occurred 10 years ago in
the intelligence community. At that time the nation was trying
to build the next generation of federal government intelligence
satellites called FIA. They were over budget and behind
schedule and a serious risk to the intelligence community of
flying blind around the globe.
The NGA implemented a risk mitigation contracting strategy
at that time called ClearView which provided a steady stream of
revenue for commercial satellite imagery companies in exchange
for affordable and a consistent supply of high quality imagery
data for both civilian and military purposes.
This was the Pentagon's risk mitigation strategy, one that
not only served them well at that time, but one that continues
today, a strategy that got a nascent U.S. industry off the
ground, an industry that thrives today and is worth $2 billion
a year globally and is lead by a U.S. company.
Given the impending data gap, the purchase mile once again
offers a superior approach, encouraging government agencies to
purchase commercial data, satellite data where possible would,
significantly improve our weather forecast accuracy even if the
gap does not occur.
It would mitigate the risk of a harmful gap if it does
occur, all with predictable, sustainable and lower costs of
government in the long run and provide private sector jobs in
the U.S., high tech, high paying jobs.
Let me be clear, I am not proposing that NOAA get out of
the satellite weather business. Instead, where possible, we
suggest shifting the burden of some of the data requirements to
the commercial sector just as the intelligence community has
done.
Let the private sector put private capital to work. Let us
take the risk of a failed launch or a sensor malfunction. We
are willing.
Make no mistake, a business-as-usual strategy not only will
tilt the odds towards a longer and more harmful satellite data
gap this decade, but will also lead to similar or worse gaps in
the future.
That old adage ``if ain't broke, don't fix it'' should ring
loud and clear in your ears. This system is broke and doing the
same thing the same way will not fix it in the short or in the
long term.
My request of the Appropriations subcommittee is to require
the National Weather Service to utilize cost effective
commercial data purchases from U.S. industry at every
opportunity, encourage the National Weather Service to use
their anchor tenancy authority which has been on the books for
twenty years but never used.
NOAA should implement a strategy to facilitate growth of
the commercial weather data sector, much as NASA has helped
nurture a burgeoning commercial space flight industry and NGA
gave life to the commercial satellite imagery market. With
downstream impacts that have given us Google maps and tens of
thousands of private sector jobs, let us learn from history.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony today.
Mr. Wolf. Next, Emily Douce, Marine Conservation Institute.
Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
MARINE CONSERVATION INSTITUTE
WITNESS
EMILY DOUCE, CONSERVATION PROJECTS MANAGER
Ms. Douce. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I
want to thank you for the opportunity to testify on fiscal year
2014 appropriations in regards to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
My name is Emily Douce and I represent the Marine
Conservation Institute, a nonprofit conservation organization
that identifies important marine ecosystems and advocates for
their protection for us and future generations.
Marine Conservation Institute has become increasingly
concerned about NOAA's oceans, coasts and fisheries programs as
the growing cost to upkeep our weather satellites continues to
grow.
We support maintaining funds for the full range of NOAA's
activities. The oceans play a vital role in our nation's
economy but without adequate funding for ocean and coastal and
fisheries programs, the health of our oceans cannot be
maintained.
The U.S. ocean economy contributes more than $258 billion
to our nation's GDP through fisheries and seafood production,
tourism, recreation, construction and transportation. The first
of the three programs I would like to speak about today is
NOAA's Marine National Monument's program.
In 2009, three marine national monuments in the Pacific
were established by President George W. Bush, protecting
195,000 square miles of marine habitat. These areas include
some of the world's most pristine tropical islands and coral
reef ecosystems. Using these remarkably intact tropical
ecosystems who were developing an understanding of what healthy
and productive places look like and help us identify negative
impacts to marine ecosystems closer to home and shows us the
benefit of restoration.
Without sufficient and sustained resources, NOAA cannot
adequately protect these areas from illegal fishing, invasive
species, vessel groundings and other threats. Continued budget
cuts will reduce critical research and outreach grants to
scientists and organizations and reduce opportunities for the
U.S. to partner with other Pacific island nations to address
the threats mentioned above.
Therefore, we recommend $3 million for the Pacific Marine
Monuments program in 2014.
The next program I will highlight is the Hawaiian Monk Seal
Recovery Program. NOAA has a responsibility for reviving the
population of the Hawaiian monk seal as it only resides in U.S.
waters and is one of the most critically endangered marine
mammals in the world.
Over the last fifty years the Hawaiian monk seal population
has declined by 60 percent and only 1,000 individuals remain.
There is reasonable hope for the monk seal if a small sub-
population in the main Hawaiian islands can continue to grow.
However, this population growth has generated increased
conflicts with recreational fisherman who unintentionally hook
or untangle these seals.
NOAA has made great strides in implementing the Monk Seal
Recovery Plan in recent years. It has been conservatively
estimated that 30 percent of the monk seals alive today are due
to direct actions by NOAA and its partners.
However, we are concerned that funding for the monk seal
has severely decreased in recent years. Lower funding levels
have reduced field camps, hampered critical community liaison
efforts and diminished research programs that develop
mitigation measures for human seal interactions.
We strongly recommend moderately increasing funding by $1
million to $4.5 million in 2014 as a step towards the $7
million recommended in the recovery plan.
The final program I will mention today is NOAA's Office of
Law Enforcement. NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement is
responsible for enforcing the laws that conserve and protect
our Nation's fisheries, threatened and endangered species, and
marine sanctuaries and monuments.
The office is also responsible for enforcing the United
States international commitments to fight illegal, unregulated
and unreported or IUU fishing.
NOAA's jurisdiction spans 3.4 million square miles of
marine environments with a Pacific region comprising half of
that. As fish stocks decline worldwide, the threat of foreign
poaching of U.S. fish stocks becomes greater, particularly in
remote areas.
Officials estimate the global value of losses from IUU
fishing ranges between $10 and $23.5 billion annually.
For domestic and international fish stocks to recover,
strict regulations and increased enforcement must be put in
place, particularly in remote areas like the Pacific Marine
Monuments.
Marine conservation institutes strongly supports $67
million, a moderate increase of $1.5 million for NOAA's Office
of Law Enforcement. This will allow the program to maintain
current capabilities while also providing modest additional
funding to the Pacific region.
In summary, Marine Conservation Institute respectfully
requests that this subcommittee maintain or slightly augment
funding for the conservation side of NOAA, by the amounts
discussed today and in my written testimony.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you for your testimony. I appreciate it.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wolf. Kathryn Brigham, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission.
Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
COLUMBIA RIVER INTER-TRIBAL FISH COMMISSION
WITNESS
N. KATHRYN BRIGHAM, CHAIRWOMAN
Ms. Brigham. Good morning. And thank you for this
opportunity to provide my testimony. I am a member of the
Confederate Eight Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, I
am the Board of Trustees Secretary for our governing body and
the chairman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission.
Our member tribes include the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce
tribe, Umatilla Tribes and Warm Springs tribes.
It is my pleasure to address you to them regarding programs
that are important to our members tribes on the Pacific
Northwest Salmon Management.
I will be covering funding for the Mitchell Act, the
Pacific Salmon Treaty and Pacific Salmon Coastal Recovery
funds. In addition, I want to let you know that we are working
on a Columbia River Hatchery strategy and a request to have
mass marking language reviewed.
Specifically, we are requesting $26.6 million of the
Columbia River Mitchell Act and $10.8 million for the Pacific
Salmon Treaty we support and $90 million for the Pacific Salmon
Coastal Recovery Fund to support on-the-ground salmon
restoration activities.
Mitchell Act, in the 1930s the Mitchell Act was passed to
provide mitigation for damages done to the fisheries by
construction, existence and operation of the federal dams in
the Columbia River.
Mitchell Act is being flat funded for many years and the
funds have never adequately mitigated for the loss in tribal
fisheries, but we currently support the $26.6 million because
of the 25 percent, $6.7 million that the tribes use to rebuild
natural salmon stocks.
As we said before, we support the Pacific Salmon Treaty's
request, and then on the Pacific Salmon Coastal Recovery Fund.
The Nez Perce tribe, and I want to show you this, but the Nez
Perce tribe has a program and is a good example of how these
funds are being used. The Nez Perce tribe is 100 percent
federally-- Pacific Salmon Coastal Funding and in the
Clearwater, the coho have been declared extinct, and then
because of these funds and this program, we now have 5,000 coho
returning to the Clearwater.
The Columbia River Hatchery strategy, the Columbia River is
working toward a unified Columbia River Hatchery strategy with
our co-managers. Part of this strategy will rely on the best
available science that is supported by adequate funding.
The overall goal is to meet tribal tributary rights and the
listing of ESA stocks, prevailing laws and linking the
agreements such as U.S. v. Oregon, the Pacific Salmon Treaty,
and the accords.
Our goal is to get ESA off our back, which is to get to the
stocks delisted so we can go back to managing our stocks for
everyone to harvest in the Columbia River and its tributaries.
We request a review of the Salmon Mass Marking Program. A
congressional requirement delivered through prior appropriation
language to visibly mark all salmon produced in federally
funded hatcheries should be reconsidered.
We have requested and we continue to request that the
federal mass marketing requirement be reviewed to allow salmon
managers in the Columbia River basin to have the latitude to
make a decision on marking on a case-by-case basis that leads
to a goal of delisting ESA stocks and meeting the federal trust
responsibility to the tribes.
In summary, the four tribes have developed the capacity and
infrastructure to lead and restore and rebuilding Columbia
River Basin Salmon through collaborative efforts to protect our
treaty reserved rights and we thank you and ask you for your
continuing support.
And I want to assure you of this as well. This is the
letter that we sent in 2011 asking that mass marking be
reconsidered, and this is a referral that 41 tribes hooked
together to develop transition for our tributary rights, rights
protection funding.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you for your testimony.
Ms. Brigham. Thank you.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you for your testimony. I am very
sympathetic to some of the points that you have made. Thank
you.
Mr. Wolf. Congressman Reed.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
WITNESS
HON. TOM REED, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Mr. Reed. Thank you, Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to testify before
this Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related
Agencies.
I wish to testify in support of two programs. First, the
methamphetamine lab cleanup transfer from Community Orientated
Policing Services at the Department of Justice of $12.5 million
to the Drug Enforcement Administration. I also will testify in
support of the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service under the
National Weather Service at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration at the level of $6,209,000 to
adequately fund stream and rain gauges in the Chemung,
Allegheny and Susquehanna River basins, the heart of which are
located in my district, the 23rd Congressional District in
Western New York.
The cleanup of meth sites is a costly and potentially
dangerous process. Local law enforcement agencies cannot
adequately address the cleanup of such sites using their own
resources and require federal assistance to do so. Particularly
since the communities in my district most affected by the
impacts of abandoned meth sites are in rural areas with limited
financial resources to address this issue, it is important that
this transfer for meth lab cleanup is adequately funded in
support of this need.
Formerly the COPS Meth Initiative provided grants to local
law enforcement to engage in the cleanup of meth sites and also
funded equipment and training for dealing with the impacts of
methamphetamine on communities. The funding for meth
enforcement and cleanup was reduced from $40,385,000 in fiscal
year 2010 to $12,425,000 in fiscal year 2011, a reduction of 70
percent of the total funding from the previous fiscal year.
The current transfer of funding from the community
orientating policing services to the Drug Enforcement
Administration has now become a critical asset for communities
affected by meth production and cleanup. This support must
continue to ensure that local law enforcement has the tools and
best practices available to safely clean up meth production
sites.
On a second point, the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction
Service represents a vital resource in our district in funding
our nation's network of stream and rain gauges. Particularly in
flood-prone regions these devices provide an early warning
system when river levels begin to rise, giving communities the
time they need to prepare for the possibility of flooding or to
evacuate residents if needed. These prediction services help
mitigate the economic damages caused by flooding and are a
critical indicator needed to avoid loss of life. In particular,
I harken to my home town of Corning, New York in 1972 that
suffered the devastating effects of Hurricane Agnes and caused
widespread economic damage to my home community of Corning and
also caused many injuries and deaths in 1972.
Earlier this year, 19 stream gauges and 7 rain gauges in
New York State, operated by the United States Geological
Survey, were in danger of being shut down as a result of lack
of funding. Fortunately, the sites have shifted budgetary
resources in order to ensure funding into June of this year,
but more must be done to ensure these sites are properly funded
for the long term.
Thank you, Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and
members of this subcommittee for this opportunity.
Please let me know if I can follow up in any way
whatsoever.
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Mr. Wolf. Mr. Reed, thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Reed. Thank you very much, Chairman.
Mr. Fattah. This is nowhere near the Delaware River?
Mr. Reed. No, we are further west, but it is very close,
but that would be impacted by a similar situation with the rain
gauges.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Reed. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Nancy Colleton, Alliance for Earth Observations.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
ALLIANCE FOR EARTH OBSERVATIONS
WITNESS
NANCY COLLETON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ms. Colleton. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Fattah. It is a pleasure being here.
As you said, I'm Nancy Colleton and I am representing this
morning the Alliance for Earth Observations. I am here with a
group of academic, business and also non-governmental
organizations that help to allocate the importance of why we
look at the planet, try to understand things with the science
and technologies that you are able to do.
I am here this morning to deliver three key points. The
first is to request that you support earth science and
observing programs, funding for those programs since they are
very important to the country.
And secondly, you consider that how we run we might
strengthen the nation's investment in these systems like long-
term planning, and again, making sure that the country has the
tools and technology that it needs to better manage in the
future.
And lastly, I would hope that we begin to look more and
more at any national investment in these technologies and the
science and also any investment in our economy. And I say that
because when you look at $12 million as an investment, the
continued shorted value of our U.S. coast, for example, yet, we
have an emerging ocean reserve system.
In 2012, insurance is looking at the insured losses for
2012 alone had $58 million. U.S. crop losses just from last
year, $25 billion.
And so as we look at more and more and how we have to
manage risks, whether you are managing a community, a company
or your family, the need for information, the need for this
intelligence is becoming more and more vital.
And you are going to hear from a number of our members,
some of them are present here today to talk about the different
serving systems, and you know, as we look at how we--we have
been hearing about fisheries this morning, how vital it is to
have information, we cannot manage what we cannot measure. So
we need to measure to manage.
And lastly, I would say that as we move forward, we must
also understand that the investment in these programs--and I
know how difficult it is right now with all of these programs
trying to, requesting dollars, but $3 million across 17
agencies to do the kinds of earth science and observations that
we do to better understand our planet it is a relatively small
investment when you juxtapose that against $58 billion in
losses last year.
So my message to you this morning is short. I won't take up
my four minutes, but I hope it will be a clear message. Thank
you very much.
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Mr. Wolf. It was a very clear message. Thank you very much.
Mr. Fattah.
Mr. Fattah. Thank you very much. And obviously this
committee has supported of host of observation techniques,
whether satellites or the thousand land observation points for
the National Weather Service or the National Science
Foundation's observatory system and partnerships around the
world, so the Chairman and I agree with you in many respects.
Thank you.
Ms. Colleton. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Dr. Darrel Williams, Global Science and Technology.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
GLOBAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, INC., NESDIS
WITNESS
DARREL WILLIAMS, Ph.D., CHIEF SCIENTIST
Mr. Williams. Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and
members of the subcommittee for this opportunity to testify on
the importance of this increased funding for the NOAA and
NESDIS Comprehensive Large Array data-Stewardship System
commonly referred to as NOAA and NESDIS CLASS program.
I am Dr. Darrel Williams, Chief Scientist at Global Science
and Technology, Incorporated. We are headquartered in Maryland
but we also have offices in Virginia and West Virginia, North
Carolina and Colorado.
Prior to joining GST, I had a 35-year federal career at
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the earth sciences director
of ensuring scientific integrity of numerous earth observation
methods. Thus, I appear before you today with a keen
appreciation of the importance of the CLASS archive program.
So what exactly is CLASS? Class is a nationwide library
archive, the home of NOAA's environmental data that is designed
to consolidate, support the permanent secure and efficient
long-term preservation and dissemination of our weather
satellite data, the ocean observation data and earth
environmental data.
When completing the CLASS archives, we have one of the
largest archives in the world. The importance of CLASS archive
is somewhat again in the Library of Congress archives, but
CLASS is specifically focused on preservation of the nation's
environmental data.
As for the uses of CLASS data, they consist of the weather
and climate researchers who use the archives for a broad range
of scientific, business and humanitarian applications. These
efforts help to improve forecast capabilities which, in turn,
results in saving lives and property. The archives is also used
to better understand long-term trends, thereby assisting the
government officials in making more informed decisions down the
road.
For example, data collected during super-storm Sandy
recently and Hurricane Katrina, are now in a CLASS archive for
routine access by all users.
As for the size of the user base, we are talking about over
35,000 registered users representing organizations such as
insurance companies, legal groups, organizations involved in
disaster recovery and related activities, as well as members of
academia, U.S. and foreign government agencies.
However, we have major budget concerns for the
sustainability of class in fiscal year 2014 and beyond. Over
the past few years, the JPSS status and the GOES-R programs
have provided 70 percent of the funding to build the system to
meet their needs. Within two years, however, these funding
sources will most likely be gone.
The core CLASS budget has never been increased above the
baseline that was established in fiscal year 2002 at a level of
about $6.5 million. So again, I repeat, the baseline budget has
been stagnant for over a decade.
CLASS will have inadequate baseline funding to support the
growth and requirements that has been levied on the archive. We
have already implemented significant staff cuts to the tune of
24 full time equivalents, 12 each over the last two fiscal
years.
We are seeking an increase in baseline funding from
approximately $6.5 million to $20 million per year.
In fiscal year 2014, the total funding needed is actually
$35 million to meet all the mandated needs and the $15 million
difference between the $20 million in baseline and what we are
asking for would have to come from JPSS and GOES-R, but as you
are all probably aware, they are having funding issues of their
own and so receipt of that $15 million addition is not
guaranteed.
Currently, there are no budget line items for sustainment
of operations of maintenance, so these budget cuts, coupled
with increased demands on the system pose a serious threat to
the program's success.
In summary, the CLASS archive is critical to the U.S.
government and to our citizens because it helps us to better
understand and deal with the world we live in, including the
development of more accurate and timely weather forecasts and
predictions, better understanding of and planning for variable
phenomena such as drought and widely fluctuating temperatures
we have been experiencing in the last few years and supporting
our goal of being a weather ready nation.
So on behalf of Global Science and Technology, I would like
to thank you for your time and ask if you would please consider
increasing support for the NOAA and NESDIS CLASS program.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, thank you.
I am trying to move it along, but I want to make a comment,
though, and I don't want to do this to everybody else's
testimony.
We are seeing the domestic discretionary squeezed and
squeezed. And until there is a grand bargain, something along
the lines, and I am speaking for myself now of Simpson-Bowles,
this is going to continue, and these cuts are going to continue
coming.
To even ask for an increase is just--I mean, I agree. I
mean, all the witnesses have all been great witnesses. I wish
the whole Administration and the Congress could have listened
to you, but I think unless we do something grand and the
Simpson-Bowles test, you got to raise the retirement age for
Social Security. And I said it, okay.
So what happens? Nothing happens. I go into high schools
and I ask the young kids how many of you believe the system is
sound and will be there when you retire and in the last four
years, from Langley High School in my district to the beautiful
Shenandoah Valley, not one kid has raised their hand, so they
know more than the Congress and the Administration.
And Simpson-Bowles says if you are 50, you got to work
another month; 51, forget it, you are a free--51, 52, 53. If
you are 40, another six months. And until we deal with these
issues, the entitlement issues, these programs are going to
continue to get squeezed. I mean, you will be back next year,
but there will be exceptions, but there will be very little
increases in anything because the domestic discretionary is
just going like this, and in 2024 and 2025 when if we pray to
the God that everyone out there is still alive, every penny
that comes in, every penny, every penny that comes in will go
for Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the
debt.
And the interest on the debt will be roughly $9.2 to $10
billion a week. Can you imagine what you could have with all
that money. We owe China over a trillion dollars, so unless we
do something grand and bold, these things are just going to
come. I mean, it is just frightening what I see out there.
But I do appreciate your testimony and that is kind of for
all the programs that are being said. We have got to reform
these entitlements.
Thank you. Now, I am going to kick the can down the road.
Mr. Williams. I appreciate your difficult situation we are
all in, frankly.
Mr. Fattah. Yes, sir.
Mr. Culberson. Everyone of you will talk to your
congressman and senators to save the entitlement programs from
bankruptcy because once that happens, as Chairman Wolf says,
that will free up money for investments in this community.
Mr. Wolf. Have you been following the news out of Cyprus?
Mr. Culberson. Yes, that is our future.
Mr. Williams. I know my PIN number. I will go get some
money.
Mr. Wolf. Well, the banks aren't opening up until Tuesday.
But Dr. Cecil, Global Science and Technology.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
GLOBAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, INC., NCDC
WITNESS
L. DEWAYNE CECIL, PROGRAM MANAGER, CLIMATE DATA RECORDS
Mr. Cecil. Good afternoon and thank you very much. I
appreciate your comments, Mr. Wolf, and thank you to the
subcommittee members and staff, and I appreciate this
opportunity.
My name is DeWayne Cecil. I have been with Global Science
and Technology for a little over a year now as the program
manager for the Climate Data Record Program on the contractors
side at NOAA's national climatic data center in Asheville,
North Carolina. That is after a 31-year career in the federal
sector with NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey and a 3-year
stint with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era conflict.
And I think I bring to the private sector which are related
to your comments, Mr. Wolf, bring to the private sector a
unique look at how can we better--and you have heard a couple
of the witnesses talk about better coordination and
observations across the federal sector. That is particular
germane to your comments about, in these shrinking budgets and
the environment that we are working in, how do we do a better
job in the federal sector collecting these observations and
making the information timely and relevant to decision makers
in cities, states and regions.
So I will try to relate some of the things that we are
doing at the National Climatic Data Center to help NOAA do that
better.
Before I do that, I did a little bit of research before I
came today because I am a scientist and so I looked at the
populations of the states of all the subcommittee members and
added them up with the best numbers I could get for now and it
is about 145 million people that you represent on this
subcommittee, about the half the nation's population. And so I
am one person in four minutes, and so I really do appreciate
the opportunity that I got to come here to talk to you today.
So in 2009 the subcommittee convened a hearing to hear
about NASA and NOAA's work on better coordinating climate data
records from satellites. And Dr. Tom Carl who is the director
of NCDC in Nashville and Dr. Louis Uccellini who is now the
Director of the National Weather Service for NOAA, came and
chatted with you for quite some time and had a question and
answer period. And from that hearing, you had appropriated some
dollars to get this program started and so I just wanted to
tell you that since that time we have, Global Science and
Technology as a support contractor has helped NOAA at NCDC
transition 12 climate data record sets, satellite climate data
record sets from a research environment into an operational
environment for decision support and I will talk a little bit
about that in a few minutes.
But those research climate data records were predominantly
from the academic sector and we work with institutions in most
every state of the member of this subcommittee. They are the
ones that produce the research codes and the data and we help
NOAA then make those operational and we do that side by side
with end users so that it makes sense, it is in a format that
they can utilized, they can build decision support around.
You have heard a couple of people testify about the marine
sanctuaries. We are working closely with National Marine
Sanctuaries to use satellite climate data information.
What this information is, is 30 to 40 years records into
the past of satellites on a regional and global scale that we
can help end users, whether they are water purveyors in Salt
Lake Valley or they are farmers in Iowa or they are energy
industry in North Carolina, we can help them use this
information to make better informed decisions, not necessarily
better decisions but better-informed decisions.
And so we want to be able to continue this program. We see
some opportunities with the budget cuts that are happening, for
instance just this week, the National Weather Service announced
that the precipitation gauges, rain gauges in the historical
climate reference network in the southwest region are going to
be capped because of budget cuts because of sequestration. We
can't get technicians out to take care of these gauges and
collect the precipitation information. We see that as an
opportunity to satellite information on a regional scale could
perhaps help us get through those kinds of gaps, so we see it
as a critical program to the country that NOAA has formalized
with NASA and with USGS, and we really would like to have your
continued support and appreciate the time today.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Mr. Culberson. Where did you get that?
Mr. Cecil. The date is stored, you hear this concept of the
cloud, it is stored out on servers on the cloud, I guess. This
is actually servers at the National Climatic Data Center in
Asheville, these data sets are. But there is some plan at some
point to work with CLASS and have the data available that way
as well.
Mr. Culberson. Yeah, I don't know how secure the cloud is,
and I am frankly glad to hear that it is at servers that you
control, publicly paid for, available to public.
Mr. Cecil. Yes. Yes.
Mr. Culberson. What are the Chinese using the data for?
Mr. Cecil. Hopefully they are using it to look at weather
and climate extremes just like we are. Particularly on this
program as a contractor, we aren't working with Chinese. We are
working closely with companies that do work globally. We are
working with an energy company that is using the satellite
climate data records to buy and sell natural gas features and
they depend daily on the projections that we make off these
climate data records or NOAA makes off the climate data
records.
Mr. Culberson. Because I saw that there is a--foreign
government, China, Russia, Europe. You do have Chinese
registered users.
Mr. Cecil. Yes, as far as I--I can check that for you. I am
sure we do. I mean, it is an open public system. It is NOAA's
computer system.
Mr. Culberson. Okay. Thank you, very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Admiral Lautenbacher, Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing
Regional Association.
Mr. Lautenbacher. Yes, sir.
Mr. Wolf. Welcome back.
Mr. Lautenbacher. Thank you, sir.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
SOUTHEAST COASTAL OCEAN OBSERVING REGIONAL ASSOCIATION
WITNESS
VICE ADMIRAL CONRAD C. LAUTENBACHER, JR., (USN) (RET.), BOARD MEMBER
Mr. Lautenbacher. Mr. Chairman----
Mr. Wolf. Where do you live now?
Mr. Lautenbacher. Well, I live in two places. I live in
Atlanta mostly, but I also visit my grandchildren in Mineral
Park, California. So right now I am in California.
You made it very cold for me today. This was a shock.
Anyway, thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Chairman, Mr.
Fattah, and distinguished members of the committee and the
hardworking staff I see sitting around here. It is a trip down
memory lane.
I haven't heard much that I can't also support in spades,
and particularly from you, sir, on the situation we are in, but
I won't disappoint you. I am here to support increased funding
and restoration of cuts that are creating problems with
observing systems, particularly with a program called the
Integrated Ocean Observing System, IOOS. I represent today the
board and the Executive Committee of the Southeastern Coastal
Ocean Observing Regional Association, SECOORA, known from
Atlanta.
It is, if you will remember something I supported strongly
when I was a new administrator and thanks to you and other
members of Congress there is now a mandate which took what was
a collection of member-interest programs in various parts
around our coast, brought it together into a national program
that is organized. It is integrated and provides what I would
say a product that is unique in its way because it supports the
national warnings and forecasts and weather systems, as well as
providing detailed information for local harbors, ports, port
authorities, the coast and all the rest of the Coast Guard, the
Navy and FEMA in terms of emergency services.
So it represents a big addition to our ability to collect
the data, and it is not only just a system which provides data.
It is an end-to-end system, and it is designed for users, as I
mentioned, for FEMA and the Navy and Coast Guard.
It is doing that today. It is taking these district pieces
of hardware and people doing models who put it together in a
coordinated network that is totally integrated. There is one
data port in the southeast and it is completely integrated with
the other 11 regional agencies.
And so for a small amount of money, relatively small amount
of money, there has been big leverage in terms of our ability
to have better warnings for the severe weather that we have
had. And I just want to use two examples. My testimony has more
in there, but in super-storm Sandy, for instance, Hoboken was
submerged and a lot of those, 34,000 people were affected
because of the flooding.
The models that were used and some of the data, not all of
the data, that created the models, gave the Mayor the
opportunity to warn people and evacuate that area and save a
lot of lives. Came from the surge models that are produced by
IOOS, not by the National Weather Services, although I am not
here talking international weather service, and we need it all.
So 34,000 people, basically, had the opportunity to save
their lives and all the automobiles left, so we have protection
of life and property that made a big difference.
The Port Authority in New Jersey and New York were able to
move something like 23,000 TEUs and deliver them somewhere
else, so all of the goods that are needed. As you can certainly
know, it is hard to supply New York City and that area with the
kind of goods that keeps it going. It is a very consolidated
area of people and services.
So it is in the deepwater horizon, it was the high
frequency radars that provided the information on surface
currents and allowed federal management authorities--that is an
IOOS system that allowed us to determine where the oil was
going and predict models, so it is end-to-end service.
So let me close with, so what we are basically asking for
is a restoration of money to the system that has been cut. We
have had to put buoys in mothballs and reduce the amount of
effort that produces the research that create the models to
provide this warning for national security and for our economy,
and an increase to help us harden the systems that we have
today so that they are not going to be overcome as some of them
were during the storms, and this is not just the east coast.
This is the west coast. This is Great Lakes. It is the Pacific.
It is all that.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.
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Mr. Wolf. And we thank you very much. I appreciate your
being here.
Mr. Lautenbacher. My pleasure.
Mr. Wolf. Congressman Farr. Welcome, Sam.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
UNITED STATES CONGRESS
WITNESS
HON. SAM FARR, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA
Mr. Farr. Thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman, Ranking
Member Mr. Fattah who just left, and my good other Chairman,
Mr. Culberson. Thank you for this moment to speak to you.
I come every year as Chairman Wolf knows with one plea and
it usually starts with the map behind you that has got more
blue than green. That map is here to remind members of Congress
that 73 percent of the globe is ocean.
The U.S. government has more maritime domain because of all
our responsibilities in the South Pacific and each of those
with an exclusive 200-mile exclusive economic zone. We have
more maritime domain than any other country in the world, even
though countries like Indonesia have more coastlines.
This Committee has this critical responsibility with regard
to the three big subject matters. It is interesting how the
Department of Commerce, while we think of it mostly as our
business department, most of the Department's budget is used to
fund NOAA. Further, NOAA really has two components. It has the
ocean and coastal programs and the atmospheric programs.
What has been happening is, because of all of our natural
disasters, and I think the politics are appropriate in a sense,
but we have been moving a lot more money and it is getting very
expensive in the weather and atmospheric accounts. This is in
part because NOAA is investing in very expensive equipment, and
the satellite funding has increased by 59 percent since 2009
while funding for the National Ocean Service has decreased by
almost 14 percent.
And as I said in Committee many times, we need to stop
taking the ``ocean'' out of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. I noted once that we will just
change the name to NAA. We won't have the oceans in NOAA
anymore.
But in so many respects our oceans and our coasts are among
our greatest natural resources and largest public trust. Our
national economy depends on it.
In coastal states the highest economic region of those
states is the coastline. For example, 80 percent of all of
California's economy and wealth occurs along the coastline, an
1100-mile coastline. Ocean issues are big politics in
California.
This Committee has served as the safeguard against the
defunding of NOAA and the ocean and coastal programs in the
past. For example, in 2010 $12.4 billion was allocated to ocean
and coastal programs across all federal departments and
agencies. This represented about .33 percent of the total
federal budget. This is a relatively small investment, but it
reaps incredibly great economic rewards.
In 2010 the ocean economy contributed $258 billion to the
U.S. gross domestic product. In 2010 the ocean economy
supported 2.77 million jobs. In your state, Mr. Wolf, there
were 116,000 jobs that were tied to the ocean economy in 2010.
These Virginia-based jobs contributed $6.7 billion towards the
national GDP. I don't have it for Texas, but I do have it for
Mr. Fattah's state. In Pennsylvania, there were 41,000 jobs
tied to the ocean economy in 2010, and these jobs produced $2.4
billion towards the GDP. I think Texas would be even larger
because your coastline is so large and because of all of the
shipping that goes in and out of your coastline more so than
these other states.
So our national economy depends on continued funding for
NOAA's ocean and coastal programs.
And I want to thank you again, Mr. Wolf, because you
supported the amendment during the FY12 funding cycle, and I
really appreciate that. That amendment added $48 million back
into NOAA's ocean and coastal programs. All it essentially did
was take a one percent cut across the other accounts in order
to fund these programs.
So these are the programs that are within the ocean
responsibility of NOAA, they are the research and management of
programs that are important.
We reauthorized the marine debris program because the
Tsunami really brought a lot of debris to the Pacific coast.
Representative Don Young worked really hard to address the
docks and fishing boats that ended up on the Alaskan coastline
and affected the fisheries there.
We have created a Regional Ocean Partnerships Program. We
have created a Fisheries Habitat Restoration Program and an
Education Program, a national Sea Grant College Program. And we
have a lot of Sea Grant Fellows here in Congress working in
different congressional offices.
I have a fellow named Noah working for me from NOAA under
that program, under the Knauss Fellowship Program.
We have the Cooperative Research Program, the National
Estuarine Research Reserve System, the Integrated Ocean
Observing Program, and the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
We created a National Marine Sanctuary off the Monterey-
Santa Cruz-San Mateo county coast and it is amazing how many
people now want to come and learn about it. Fortunately, it
spurred the ability to build the Monterey Bay Aquarium which
helps interpret what is under the sea.
I mean what is so fascinating about the oceans is that when
you look out at it, it is a two dimensional plane. We have to
interpret the rest of it, the three dimensional aspect of it.
Currently, we can do that better for the stars and the planets.
However, the sanctuary program really allows us to understand
what lies beneath the two dimensional surface of the ocean so
that we can protect it.
A big issue on the west coast is the Pacific Salmon
Protection Programs, and these programs are all the ones that
we refunded in FY12. I hope that we will protect them again.
So I really appreciate your interest in this. Obviously the
east coast here is very concerned about the impacts on
Chesapeake Bay and the cumulative annual losses of degraded
water quality over the last three decades. It has wiped out
oyster reefs, it has meant a loss of $4 billion to the
economies of Virginia and Maryland.
So reducing NOAA's coastal and ocean funding has dire
economic consequences for our constituents, and I would
appreciate your leadership in protecting the ocean side of NOAA
in this budget.
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Mr. Wolf. Sam, thank you for your testimony. We will do
everything we can, and I want to thank you for your leadership.
You do show up and I was at the aquarium as you know and out in
Monterey and also I saw your dad's name, I think your dad was
involved in that wasn't he? I saw your father's name on
something when I was out in Monterey.
Mr. Farr. His name is all over things out there. He was the
State Senator who really took on environmental issues back in
the 50s and 60s when it wasn't very popular.
Mr. Wolf. Yeah. So any way, you have been very, very
faithful and so we will do everything we can.
Mr. Farr. Well, thank you, I appreciate your leadership.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks.
Mr. Farr. And I appreciate your colleague's leadership in
science.
Mr. Wolf. He has been very good.
Mr. Farr. He just likes things that are millions and
millions of years old.
Mr. Wolf. And far away.
LaDon Swann, Sea Grant Association.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
SEA GRANT ASSOCIATION
WITNESS
LADON SWANN, PRESIDENT
Mr. Swann. Good afternoon. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee, my name is LaDon Swann. I am the director of the
Mississippi-Alabama sea grant consortium. I am here in my
capacity as president of the Sea Grant Association.
I begin my remarks by thanking the subcommittee for its
long-standing support of the NOAA sea grant program.
Sea Grant works with university and state partners to help
citizens understand, conserve, and better utilize America's
coastal ocean and great lakes resources.
Because of strong congressional support Sea Grant is
meeting its core mission in support of NOAA by delivering many
benefits to our ocean and coastal communities.
In fiscal year 2012 alone Sea Grant helped deliver an
estimated $170 million in direct economic benefits to the
Nation, approximately 630 new businesses, and more than 3800
jobs that were created or retained.
Continue to provide economic and scientific benefits to
coastal residents.
The Sea Grant Association recommends that the sea grant
program be funded for fiscal year 2014 at $70 million. This is
$22 million below the authorized level for 2014.
Sea Grant is an extremely efficient program. Approximately
95 percent of the federal funding provided to Sea Grant goes to
state programs where it is used to sponsor research, conduct
extension and outreach programs, and deliver valuable services
to states and universities that participate in the program.
In addition for every two federal dollars invested at least
one additional dollar is provided in non-federal match support.
Sea Grant is a partnership of 32 programs and based at top
universities in the national oceanic and atmospheric
administration.
Sea Grant draws on the experience of more than 3,000
scientists, engineers, economists, public outreach experts,
educators and students from more than 300 institutions.
Sea Grant is able to make an impact to the local and state
level.
One of Sea Grant's great strengths is the integrity backed
relationships formed in coastal communities and with local
stakeholders. These have proved extremely beneficial during
times of disaster, response, and recovery. Beginning with
Hurricane Katrina and continuing with the deep water rise and
oil spill and most recently with Hurricane Sandy.
The Sea Grant network has provided much needed boots on the
ground and trusted assistance to affected communities.
Following each of these disasters it is often Sea Grant's
training and programs that brought the first response to these
affected communities.
Our Nation must use its coastal resources wisely to
increase the resilience of our costal communities and sustain
the health and productivity of the ecosystems on which they
depend.
With the federal funding which will leverage additional
state and local support Sea Grant is uniquely positioned to
continue to make significant contributions to improve the lives
and livelihoods of the Nation's coastal communities.
Thank you for the opportunity to present these views. I
would be happy to answer any questions or provide additional
information to the subcommittee.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Swann. Yes, sir.
Mr. Wolf. Scott Peters, Congressman Peters. Your full
statement will appear in the record.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
UNITED STATES CONGRESS
WITNESS
HON. SCOTT PETERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA
Mr. Peters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate
the opportunity to address you today.
Through the appropriations process you have the ability to
ensure that our science agencies are fully supported to grow
our economy, and I urge you to fully fund our Nation's science
and technology initiatives.
These accounts have an extremely high rate of return and do
more than anything to keep the United States innovative and
prosperous.
I know firsthand from my experience in San Diego that basic
research and development funds are critical to innovation and
national security and jobs, and I implore the committee to give
adequate attention to federal basic science research funding.
The San Diego economy is driven by tourism, the military,
and science and technology.
In fiscal year 2012 San Diego firms received more than $130
million from the National Science Foundation. It is these
critical investments that have helped San Diego earn the title
of the second largest life sciences cluster in the United
States.
Thousands of American companies of all sizes are the
product of federally funded research. Recently 100 companies
were highlighted by The Science Coalition as getting their
start from federal funding. Together they employ over 100,000
people with annual revenues approaching $100 billion.
In the 1980 Qualcomm received federal funding to conduct
research enabling the fledgling company to attract capital and
design and manufacture semiconductors for mobile phones among
other products. And today Qualcomm employs 12,000 San Diegons
and invests about $4 billion of its own money into research and
development.
If we are to compete for global talent we must keep
investing in scientific research.
As you may know in late 2008 China started its ``One
Thousand Talents Program'' aimed to bring highly educated
people, many of whom were educated abroad back to China.
Academic and other research institutes have been encouraged to
adopt similar programs which offer housing and research funding
and other incentives to recruit talented students and
researchers. That is what we have to complete with.
My friends at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies gave
me an example. They told me that for a kid today who is
interested in science, it takes at least about when he or she
is 40 years old or before they can get that lab where they can
write those grants, that they can compete for funding. We used
to fund about 25 percent of those grants and now fund about
seven percent.
And a person looking at that a landscape has to really
wonder if the United States is really committed to science, and
if this is a place for them to do science when so many other
countries are offering much more committed and adequate funding
streams than we are.
So I strongly support funding for the National Science
Foundation at the highest level.
NSF research fuels San Diego's economy by supporting
breakthroughs in bio medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering,
economics, and other social sciences, as well as information,
technology, telecommunications, and nanotechnology.
Training in STEM, science, technology, engineering and math
is critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness and national
security especially in industries like information technology,
aeronautics, advanced energy systems, and biotechnology.
Here is an example of ongoing research. A UCSD scientist is
leading an NSF-funded team to study early childhood
development. The UC system produces an average of four
inventions per day for 1,000 R&D companies. Investments in NSF
are investments in innovation.
We all understand the budgetary landscape in which we must
operate with regard to fiscal year 2014 and it is beyond
challenging and requires difficult choices.
For my own part I am willing to work together for a budget
that cuts wasteful spending, addresses our long-term debt,
creates a competitive tax code, keeps our military strong, and
invests in our infrastructure, education, and in science to
insure our competitiveness in the 21st century.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman for the opportunity to testify.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
This committee has funded the National Science Foundation
at the highest level it has ever been funded. Zero, period, no
question.
Mr. Peters. Right.
Mr. Wolf. From both sides of the aisle.
Until we deal with the entitlements, until you are prepared
to raise the retirement age for social security, until you are
prepared to pass something like Simpson-Bowles these programs
will continue to get squeezed and squeezed. We have had to cut
other programs----
Mr. Peters. Uh-huh.
Mr. Wolf [continuing]. Other programs. We have prisons now
whereby prison guards are being killed.
But until we deal with the entitlements, until we can come
together in a grand package you are going to see significant
cuts are coming.
Mr. Peters. Mr. Chairman----
Mr. Wolf. There is no other way about it.
Mr. Peters [continuing]. I understand, I would just offer
that I am a supporter of the Simpson-Bowles approach.
Mr. Wolf. I know you were, I saw your name down there.
Mr. Peters. Okay.
Mr. Wolf. And I think the Simpson-Bowles is the only
thing--I said anybody. It is easy to criticize and talk about
what the problem is, but you have got to tell us what your
solution is, and the only solution that I have seen, there may
be a better one, maybe somebody has a better idea, but the
outline, Simpson-Bowles is not the ten commandments.
Mr. Peters. Right.
Mr. Wolf. I mean, you know, you can--but if we don't do
something big and grand and bold like that, and it troubles me,
I have 16 grandkids, I worry about their future.
And we are going to be--but this committee so your mind is
put at ease, we have funded--Mr. Fattah has been there too, it
has been bipartisan, NSF has been at the highest, highest
level.
But any way thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Peters. I look forward to working with you. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thanks. Thank you very much.
Dr. Russ Lea, National Ecological Observatory Network. Yes,
sir.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY NETWORK
WITNESS
DR. RUSS LEA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Dr. Lea. Thank you, Chairman Wolf.
Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and members of the
subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify.
My name is Dr. Russell Lea and I am the CEO of NEON, Inc. I
appreciate the opportunity to appear before this subcommittee
and to ask your support for the NEON project.
The project is funded under the National Science
Foundation's MREFC account with an estimated fiscal year 2014
request of $98 million.
On behalf of the scientific community who will be using
NEON thank you for the strong support that Congress has
provided to the National Science Foundation, the NEON project,
and the core funding for the National Science Foundation's
biological sciences directorate.
NEON is a world-class distributed environmental observatory
at the frontiers of science and engineering. Its sites are
located throughout the U.S., and in the region locations
include the Blandy Experimental Farm in Virginia's
congressional district 10, the nearby Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research
Center in Maryland.
NSF has clearly stated its no cost overruns policy for
scientific facilities. For each year of NEON's construction we
are required to produce a detailed budget and a schedule
profile that is reviewed by NSF and its panels.
The observatory is approaching the middle of its approved
construction profile, estimated out-year costs are expected to
start with $98 million in fiscal year 2014. This amount could
change once the Administration releases its budget request, but
changes to that profile will impact the contracts and
agreements to industry for work that is currently in progress.
Such delays will ultimately increase the cost of a project, and
if funding falls below what is needed to build out the
observatory it will jeopardize a construction at a number of
locations.
This is potentially damaging because the constellation of
the NEON sites together function as a single integrated
instrument.
NEON is a shared vision by the scientific community to
build this one of a kind observatory to listen to the pulse of
the U.S. continental ecosystem.
Congressional support has gotten us to the point where a
number of observatories are currently in place with more being
constructed every single day.
We have an obligation to execute this project and deliver a
fully functional, fully scoped observatory to insure this
Nation is equipped with the highest quality data to cope with
an ever changing environment.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
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Mr. Wolf. Okay. Thank you very much for your testimony. I
appreciate it.
Judith Bond, Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETIES FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
WITNESS
JUDITH S. BOND, PH.D., PRESIDENT
Ms. Bond. Thank you very much.
We understand the constraints you are under, but we have
to-- we feel passionately, I think all these people in here
about what we need and future generations.
Mr. Wolf. And I am glad you feel passionately, but----
Ms. Bond. So we have to----
Mr. Wolf [continuing]. You have to feel passionate about
reforming the entitlements too, because----
Ms. Bond. Absolutely. I understand.
Mr. Wolf [continuing]. I am not going to ask you how old
you are, but even here----
Ms. Bond. Old enough.
Mr. Wolf [continuing]. Maybe add 12 years to your age. At
that time every penny goes for Medicare, Medicare, social
security, and interest on the debt, and the interest payments
will be about $10 billion a week of--that is interest. And
imagine what we could do with all the programs and we could
just do amazing things.
But I am glad you a passionate, but we are going have to
deal with that.
Ms. Bond. To get it done.
So let me just tell you a little bit about my background. I
am a professor and former chair of biochemistry and molecular
biology at Penn State University in Hershey.
Mr. Wolf. I have heard of that place.
Ms. Bond. You have heard of that place?
Before that I was at Virginia Commonwealth University in
Virginia Tech. But I come here today in my capacity as
president of FASEB, the Federation.
This is an umbrella organization of 26 life science
societies, and we represent more than 100,000 researchers, all
of who feel passionately about research and education.
And we request--our request our ask is for a budget of $7.4
billion for NSF. That is an increase, a small increase, but it
will fund like 324 new investigators, a lot of students and
future investigators and problem solvers, and that is why we
ask for this. It is a goal.
NSF is the only federal research agency dedicated to
advancing fundamental research and education across all fields
of science and engineering, and it is a primary funder for
fields like mathematics, computer science, chemistry, basic
biology with application to well being in the social sciences.
In addition it undertakes efforts to strengthen science
technology and engineering, mathematics, education. So it is
the future of our science.
These grants are awarded with very high peer review systems
for all states, merit review, and the proposals are evaluated
both on scientific basis and societal value.
So even though we have these unprecedented fiscal
challenges we need to keep our Nation globally competitive and
enable economic growth that is borne out of these discoveries
and innovation. We can't cut everything and keep on going down.
We have to invest in something.
NSF insures the development of a world-class engineering
workforce of future generations, and it is for universities, it
is for tech companies, it is for all kinds of economic growth
engines.
It is a crucial source of scientific breakthroughs and this
also fuels other mission organizations. And the failure to
build is that we will slow the pace of discovery, discourage
the next generation, and sacrifice our position as a global
leader. We have heard that from a number of people and I think
Representative Peters said it very well.
Therefore that is why we are going to recommend this $7.4
billion and do anything we can do help you get there. We are a
resource for data, we have, you know, these 100,000 scientists
who would be glad to come and talk to your colleagues and to
help in any way we can.
But it is the intellectual capital, it is the innovation,
and it is the future of science in our country that we are
fighting for.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, I agree, and again, we have funded NSF at
the highest level ever.
And you can ask those 100,000 scientists to write their
members of Congress to ask them to support something like the
Simpson-Bowles Commission. Because once we do something like
that it will take the pressure off the domestic discretionary,
it will just allow us to do precisely what you are saying.
Do you still live in Happy Valley or----
Ms. Bond. No, I moved down south, North Carolina, the
Research Triangle area. But I still go up--go back up quite a
bit.
Mr. Wolf. Good. Thank you.
Ms. Bond. And you will have somebody else from Penn State
here.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you for your testimony this morning.
Ms. Bond. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Elizabeth Rogan, Optical Society.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
OPTICAL SOCIETY
WITNESS
ELIZABETH ROGAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Ms. Rogan. Good afternoon, Chairman Wolf and staff and it
is an honor to be here with colleagues, and it was great to see
Matthew Perry here this morning, and we realize, we took a
small poll and thought maybe we should have the actors from the
Big Bang Theory come next time. They have done more for science
education than any other PR campaign that I know of.
My name is Elizabeth Rogan I am the CEO of the Optical
Society and I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the
fiscal budget for NSF and NIST.
And I have heard you loud and clear listening to your
comments on the support that you have given the NSF and NIST
and the challenges, and I am hoping I begin to make the case of
what optics and photonics can do to help with the budget
problems.
So optics and photonics is a highly specialized area of
physics and engineering known as the science of light, and it
makes possible high speed internet, life saving imagining
health devices, LED, solar energy, and I think you know that
because you know so much about the science business. And this
is a science that NSF and NIST have helped underwrite and fund
and it does solve problems. It does innovate competition, it
does help the economy.
This last past summer, Mr. Chairman, the National Academy
of Sciences worked on a report called ``Optics and Photonics:
Essential Technologies for our Nation,'' and this group came
together and came back with five challenges this country faces
to maintain its competitiveness.
One of them for instance was broadband telecom. I just came
in this morning from the largest scientifically run telecom
conference in the world and they are working on amazing things
like cybersecurity, silicon photonics, datacom efforts.
These are--we have got companies that are engaged in
working on these areas and growing because of the funding that
NSF did ten years or five years ago in these areas. It is just
incredible to see the innovation that is happening.
These two agencies as you know are just critical for a lot
of activities, but the economies that you are talking about
there is a real case to be made here, so NIST is the leading
agency for this, NNMI, the National Network for Manufacturing
Initiatives, and this is an organization that is going to
create a manufacturing and research infrastructure here in this
country that helps support industry, that comes up with a way
that we can keep industry here, we can keep sales here, we can
keep jobs here.
Last year there was a pilot program called Additive
Manufacturing, it is 3D printing, you have heard about this,
and it is amazing, it is amazing technology that builds
products from scratch, micro level products, and it creates
things, it saves waste, it saves on all kinds of abilities for
budgets in this case, and it creates, you know, engine parts
for jets, all kinds of things, but it is very, very creative.
Researchers at MIT developed something called the 3D Light
Switch and it is a technique that was funded by NSF that
manipulates neurons for light. And again, this is another life
saving device. But it is not only for protecting lives and
making our lifestyles better, it really does help the economy.
It builds jobs, it creates a tax incentive that these companies
and individuals will be able to pay taxes with the investments
that have been done by NSF.
And this committee has been terrific in pioneering and
championing continuous funding for these areas which I know you
know that we need. And as a member of the science community we
so appreciate your support and we are here to do whatever we
can to help.
We hear you loud and clear. And we really appreciate the
opportunity to be a witness today.
Thank you.
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Mr. Wolf. Well, thank you. We will continue, and I wish
every member here hears what we are saying because I think it
would put in perspective to say we have got to resolve this
thing quickly.
Ms. Rogan. Uh-huh.
Mr. Wolf. If we keep cutting the sciences and cutting the
different things the Nation--frankly we had Niall Ferguson here
who said great nations begin to decline very rapidly.
Ms. Rogan. That is right.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much.
Ms. Rogan. Thank you very much.
Mr. Wolf. Dr. Thomas Bogdon, University Center for
Atmospheric Research.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
WITNESS
DR. THOMAS J. BOGDON, PRESIDENT
Dr. Bogdon. Good afternoon, Chairman Wolf, Mr. Culberson,
it is a pleasure to be here.
I am Thomas Bogdon, I am the president of the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research and I represent nearly 100
academic research institutions across this country that
collectively manage the national center for atmospheric
research for the national science foundation.
I want to begin by thanking the subcommittee for its long-
standing support of research and education at NSF, NASA, and
NOAA.
As Superstorm Sandy takes its place in history over the
last few months we should consider what the impact of Sandy
might have been on the mid Atlantic states if that storm had
hit some 50 years earlier say in October of 1963.
It might well have disrupted the 1963 World Series between
the Yankees and the Dodgers, or it might have played havoc with
the Giants/Cowboys football game at Yankee Stadium, or it might
just a killed tens of thousands of people.
Fifty years after hurricane forecasts extended two days
into the future, computer models and weather satellites were in
their infancy, and forecasters have not foreseen the
unprecedented left hook that Sandy took into New Jersey. That
is because we lack the sophisticated weather information and
systems that made it possible to make the right call on Sandy.
That enabled our citizens to prepare and take actions,
actions that made a difference between life and death for
millions of people along the east coast.
What did we do, what did you do to position us to be in the
position to make such a forecast?
You chose to invest in the science and technology and
education from the basic research and mathematics and computer
science to the development of satellites and instrumentation
that made vital observations.
We then ran those observing data through advanced computers
which turned that intelligence into life saving information.
These advances are important, because as you know, today we
are more vulnerable to the severe storms than we were in 1963.
We have seen the deadliest hurricane and tornado outbreaks
since the beginning of the 20th century, we have many people
living in coastal areas, we are dependent on a communication
system that is easily disrupted by storms and extreme events,
and we are also very much dependent on the power grid for
everything from transportation to commerce to sophisticated
medical care, all of which are vulnerable to the extreme
weather events.
But it was not the investment in computing satellite
technology that delivered this life saving information, it was
our investment in the environmental sciences including weather,
climate, and ocean research, as well as the social sciences
that help people to respond to those warnings in ways that made
sense and saved lives and livelihood. And it was the innovation
that enabled us to distill all that information so that it
could be presented to our people, to your constituents with or
without smartphones in a way that they could understand it.
As you have said yourself our Nation is having a debate
regarding its fiscal future that will impact every citizen here
today as well as future generations.
As part of that debate you have said yourself we are
preparing to cut spending in nearly every part of the budget
including research and development.
At a time when science is growing more capable of providing
better and timelier forecasts is reducing our best research
really the best way to prepare for a storm that could impact
the U.S.?
We should use Sandy as a teachable moment and ask are we
investing sufficiently in our research enterprise to enable us
to accurately forecast the storms of tomorrow and are we really
ready to walk away from the investments in our research
enterprise that we made over the last 50 years? Investments
which have served us as the foundation of our Nation's future,
economic, and national security.
I hope you will continue to invest in the research
enterprise so that some 50 years from now our children, their
children, your children and grandchildren will find themselves
in more economic opportunity, environmental stability, improved
health care, and a better future.
Thanks for your attention.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you very much for your testimony. I
appreciate it very much.
Dr. Jonathan Lynch, American Society of Plant Biologist,
professor of plant nutrition, Penn State University. Welcome.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT BIOLOGISTS
WITNESS
DR. JONATHAN LYNCH, PROFESSOR OF PLANT NUTRITION
Dr. Lynch. Thank you, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wolf. There must be snow on the ground in Happy Valley
now isn't there?
Dr. Lynch. There is. It is surprisingly cold.
Mr. Wolf. Yeah.
Dr. Lynch. Thank you for inviting me to testify on the
fiscal year 2014 NSF budget.
My name is Jonathan Lynch, professor of plant nutrition at
Penn State University.
I appear before you today on behalf of the American Society
of Plant Biologists, 4,500 researchers and educators from
around the U.S. and around the globe.
Our goal is to promote research and education on plant
biology and promote the interests of plant scientists.
First of all we would like to thank you very much, thank
this committee for its strong support of NSF budget last year.
We recognize as we have discussed several times in this
session the dire fiscal constraints that we are confronting as
a Nation for these discretionary funds; however, we also
believe, as I believe I believe you share, that these
investments are critical for economic, you know, revival and
global competitiveness.
NSF supported research in plant biology is developing more
sustainable ways to produce food, fiber, fuel, and a
sustainable way national resource management and making basic
scientific discoveries that are important for human health and
nutrition.
Because of this we hope that your strong support for NSF
budget will continue in this fiscal year.
I would like to share with you just an example of what NSF
funding has meant for my own research program.
My goal is to develop crops with greater tolerance to
drought and low soil fertility. That is important in developing
countries where these are primary constraints to food security
and they are important in the United States since drought is
the principal risk to crop production and fertilizer is the
principal cost both environment and economic cost of crop
production.
NSF investments in our program over the past 20 years have
enabled us to develop new varieties of common bean and soybean
that have double and tripled the yield of previous varieties
under these stressful conditions that are being grown
throughout the world.
We have discovered traits, that root traits of corn that
allows these plants to grow much better under drought and low
soil fertility that are being used to breed better crops for
Africa and are of interest to the U.S. seed industry.
These crop improvements will be important assets in the
future when agriculture will have to sustain a larger
population with improved--with increased input costs and the
likelihood of more extreme weather.
The NSF directorate to biological sciences (BIO) is of
course the main funder of non-medical biological research in
U.S. colleges and universities. Plant biology research under
BIO, such as bread basic research to enable agricultural
development, which is a partnership with the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, and the plant research program have been very
important in advancing this field.
Additionally, of course as has been mentioned before in the
session, NSF is a major source of funding for turning an
education of the scientific workforce.
Therefore, the ASPB urges the committee to support
educational programs at NSF including graduate research
fellowships, postgraduate fellowships, and early career
fellowships.
Here again, I want to share with you briefly, my experience
is very fortunate in my career I am able to work with young
people who are very bright and motivated who are just itching
to make an impact on these problems we face, and these types of
programs with NSF are very important for the opportunities
these people have to pursue their careers.
Of course America's challenges in energy, agriculture, and
health cannot be solved in a few years, they require sustained
investment as this committee is aware. And we believe these
investments will yield results both in the near term and the
long term.
Thank you very much.
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Mr. Wolf. Thank you. Thank you very much for your
testimony.
Mr. Culberson. Mr. Wolf, one question?
Mr. Wolf. Sure, go ahead.
Mr. Culberson. Excuse me, very quickly.
How close are we to developing plants for hydrogen around
the atmosphere?
Dr. Lynch. Well, of course some plants can do that. Now the
Gates Foundation has made a large investment just recently in
trying to get corn to do that, and that is going to be a long-
term project, a high risk project, but that could be a very
significant advancement obviously. I would guess more like 25
years. Yes.
If it was easy for plants to do this they would have
figured out how to do this already over 450 million years of
evolution.
Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. Thank you.
Jeffery Rudolph of American Alliance of Museums.
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
WITNESS
JEFFERY RUDOLPH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER
Mr. Rudolph. Chairman Wolf, Mr. Culberson, thank you for
inviting me to testify today.
I am Jeff Rudolph, president and CEO of the California
Science Center.
I have previously served as chair of the board of the
American Alliance and Museums and also the Association of
Science Technology Centers.
I am here on behalf of the museum community, including the
association of science museum directors to request that the
subcommittee continue its strong support of informal STEM
education by investing in the National Science Foundation's
Advancing Informal STEM Learning or AISL program and informal
science education efforts of NOAA and NASA.
AISL received $61.4 million in fiscal year 2012. I strongly
concur with the request made by Bud Rock, CEO of the
Association of Science and Technology Centers, in his written
testimony requesting report language to clearly direct NSF to
return the focus of the AISL program to support a public
engagement in science. This will reverse the recent trend of
focusing AISL funding on formally university led research at
the expense of effective educational and public engagement
program and conduct it through museums and others such as
public television and radio.
As you know STEM education is critical to our Nation's
economic strength and global competitiveness. Museums
throughout the country play a vital role in our Nation's STEM
education efforts.
In its 2009 record learning science and informal
environments the National Research Council and National
Academies found powerful evidence in support of the value of
and need for STEM learning in non-school settings. It also
found that informal learning in museums can have a significant
impact on science learning outcomes for those historically
under represented in the STEM fields.
At the California Science Center we serve about two million
guests annually. Our sole focus is to stimulate curiosity and
to inspire science learning. It is our expertise to communicate
science and inspire interest in science.
We conducted 24 studies over a ten-year period in an effort
to measure our impact on science learning in our community. The
research which was recently published in the Journal of
Research on Science Teaching found that we have had a
significant impact on science learning with more than 79
percent of parents reporting their children's science center
experience increased their interest in and understanding of
science.
The impact of the California Science Center on children
from under represented and low income families was found to be
even greater.
Similar outcomes can be found in museums across the nation
including the center at the Smithsonian and districts--museums
across the country in almost all of your districts I believe.
AISL grants have provided critical investments in research
and development of innovative and field advancing out of school
STEM learning.
Support for programs such as the Franklin Institute Science
and Museum and Prelibrary of Philadelphia's after-school
program engaging children and families from diverse audiences
in science and literacy's provide important support for
advancing the field and our ability to inspire and motivate the
next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity testify and I encourage
you to recognize the importance of STEM education provided by
museums and science centers across the Nation.
I also encourage your support of continued funding the AISL
program at its current level, and inclusion of report language
to clearly direct NSF to use the AISL program to continue
support of engaging the public in STEM learning.
I would be happy to answer any questions.
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Mr. Wolf. When I was a kid I used to go to the Franklin
Institute a couple times a year.
Mr. Rudolph. Great.
Mr. Wolf. It was amazing.
Anyway, I appreciate your testimony, I am very grateful.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Rudolph. Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. The last witness, I think the drum roll comes
with Christopher Lawson, Ph.D., Alabama Experimental Program to
Stimulate Competitive Research. And you are the last one. But
it says in the Bible ``the last shall be first.''
----------
Thursday, March 21, 2013.
ALABAMA EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
WITNESS
CHRISTOPHER LAWSON, PH.D., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr. Lawson. That is right. So I appreciate the drum roll.
So, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee my name is
Christopher Lawson and I am the physics professor at UAB, the
University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Mr. Wolf. Do you have a football team down there?
Mr. Lawson. No, that is the one at Tuscaloosa.
Mr. Wolf. Oh, you are in Birmingham.
Mr. Lawson. That is right. And I also serve as executive
director of Alabama ESPCoR.
So thank you for this opportunity to testify about NSF
EPSCoR and NASA EPSCoR ,and for fiscal year 2014 we
respectfully request the $160 million for the NSF EPSCoR budget
and $25 million for the NASA EPSCoR budget.
Congress established the EPSCoR program to ensure that
research universities in all states participate in federal
science and technology activities. Although EPSCoR states have
20 percent of the Nation's population and close to 25 percent
of the doctoral research universities these states only receive
about 10 percent of the federal research outlays. EPSCoR
provides a mechanism to address these geographic imbalances.
The program has been a huge success, investments have
generated growth in state economies, attracted students in the
STEM fields, and created a broader base of high-tech research
expertise.
In my home state of Alabama NSF EPSCoR funding has
generated revolutionary advancements in science and engineering
that led to new business growth and new jobs. For example,
EPSCoR funded research at UAB has ceded a new type ultra
sensitive laser optical nose that can sniff environmental
toxins from spills caused by natural disasters, it may also
able enable long-range laser sniffing of explosives such as
roadside IEDs to protect our troops.
This new technology led directly to the creation of new
multi-million dollar start up company in Alabama.
NSF EPSCoR dollars have introduced more than 2,000
individuals across Alabama to science and technology concepts
in the last year alone.
In a time when the President and Congress talk about the
urgency of getting more of our students engaged in STEM fields
it only makes sense to build on this success by continuing to
fund NES EPSCoR at $160 million.
Like its NSF companion Congress designed NASA EPSCoR to
increase the research capacity of states with little NASA
research involvement.
The program helps states compete for funding in areas that
are directly relevant to NASA's mission in earth and space
science, human space flight, and aerospace technology. For
example, NASA EPSCoR research at the University of Alabama, the
one with the football team, on fluid dynamics has potential to
reduce air flow drag by 30 percent. A one percent reduction in
drag can save an airline company $100,000 to $200,000 in fuel
per year per aircraft, thus this research could ultimately
reduce the Nation's dependency on fossil fuels, CO2
emissions in the atmosphere, and of course reduce cost.
Funding the NASA EPSCoR program at last year's request
level of $25 million will help to development additional new
types of NASA-related technologies for additional economic
growth.
At a time of economic challenge ands tight budgets that you
have talked about so much programs like EPSCoR that seek a
broader distribution of research funding makes solid fiscal
sense. Limiting these resources to only a few states and
institutions is self-defeating for our Nation in the long run.
NSF and NASA EPSCoR help all states to benefit from
taxpayer investments and federal research and development and
they generate long-term growth in a skilled workplace for the
future.
NSF and NASA EPSCoR stretch limited federal dollars farther
through state matching. Not only do states benefit from
increased research capacity and growth, but our Nation benefits
from the rich and diverse pool of talent that our entire
country can provide.
At a time when 33 percent of all bachelor's degrees in
China are in engineering compared to four and a half percent in
the U.S., if we are to remain globally competitive instead of
restricting ourselves to only a few states and a few
institutions we need to be training and harnessing all of our
Nation's brain power and EPSCoR working to achieve that goal.
I thank you for inviting me to testify.
[The information follows:]
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Mr. Wolf. Well, Mr. Rudolph thank you very much and I want
to thank you for your testimony.
I want to thank all our witnesses that have testified here
today. It has been a very compelling day. But thank you very
much.
Mr. Rudolph. Thank you.
Mr. Wolf. And with that the hearing is adjourned.
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