[House Report 106-521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 106-521
======================================================================
MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2000, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
_______
March 14, 2000.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Young of Florida, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
together with
DISSENTING AND ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 3908]
The Committee on Appropriations submits the following
report in explanation of the accompanying bill making emergency
supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2000, and for other purposes.
Bill Highlights
The bill recommended by the Committee includes
$1,701,021,000 of emergency funding to support Plan Colombia
and Andean region counternarcotics activities, as well as
related Department of Defense activities. It also includes
$4,955,723,000 for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and other
national security matters, of which $4,709,023,000 is for the
Department of Defense. The bill includes $2,243,257,000 for
Hurricane Floyd and other natural disaster assistance and for
other emergency purposes. Additionally, the bill includes
several nonemergency appropriations for various miscellaneous
activities, the additional funding for which is offset.
TITLE I
COUNTERNARCOTICS
CHAPTER 1
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
Salaries and Expenses
The Committee recommends $299,698,000, to remain available
until expended, of which $6,650,000 is provided as an emergency
appropriation as requested for DEA activities in support of
Plan Colombia, and $293,048,000 is provided as a contingent
emergency appropriation. This amount provides for activities
necessary to support a comprehensive strategy to combat the
flow of drugs from Colombia and the region into the United
States.
Of this amount, $17,198,000 is provided to support
intelligence and investigative programs in source countries, an
increase of $10,548,000 above the amount requested for DEA
activities to implement Plan Colombia, as follows: (1)
$6,250,000 requested for fiscal year 2000 and 2001 costs
associated surveillance and electronic intercept equipment in
source countries as requested; (2) $5,000,000 to enhance
analytic and support capabilities on a regional basis; (3)
$4,500,000 for improvements to the MERLIN system in source
countries to support intelligence and investigative
requirements; and (4) $1,448,000 for other field programs, an
increase of $1,048,000 above the amount requested. The
Committee expects DEA to submit a spending plan prior to the
expenditure of these funds.
The Committee notes that narcotics trafficking
investigations are increasingly dependent on the use of
intercepted communications, accounting for 72% of all court-
authorized electronic surveillance actions. Court-approved
electronic surveillance was vital to the recent successes of
Operations Millenium and Impunity, which linked drug
trafficking activity within the United States to the highest
levels of the international cocaine trade. Recognizing that as
criminal organizations utilize advanced technologies to elude
law enforcement, U.S. law enforcement's current drug
intelligence and investigative capabilities have been eroded.
Therefore, the Committee also recommends $282,500,000, as a
contingent emergency appropriation, to be deposited in the
Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund, to ensure that
current domestic drug-related intelligence and investigative
capabilities are maintained in accordance current statutory
requirements and deadlines. In addition, the Committee approves
the reprogramming submitted by the Department on January 10,
2000, which makes available an additional $100,000,000 for this
purpose.
CHAPTER 2
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE--MILITARY
OTHER DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRAMS
Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense
(Including Transfer of Funds)
Assistance for Plan Colombia
Fiscal year 2000 supplemental request................. $98,400,000
Fiscal year 2001 request.............................. 62,400,000
Committee recommendation.............................. 185,800,000
The Committee recommends $185,800,000 in emergency
supplemental appropriations, to support Plan Colombia goals to
stand up and equip two additional Colombian Army
counternarcotics battalions and to assist the Government of
Colombia in its efforts to enhance its airborne tracking and
interception capabilities.
The Committee recommends funds for the following programs:
Train and equip Colombian Army counternarcotics
battalions.......................................... $21,200,000
Counternarcotics brigade headquarters................... 1,000,000
Aviation infrastructure support......................... 13,200,000
Military reform......................................... 6,000,000
Organic intelligence capability......................... 5,000,000
Senior Scout............................................ 5,000,000
Tracker aircraft modifications.......................... 10,000,000
AC-47 aircraft modifications............................ 7,400,000
Ground based radars..................................... 20,000,000
Radar command and control............................... 5,000,000
Andean Ridge intelligence collection.................... 7,000,000
Colombian ground interdiction........................... 5,000,000
Classified.............................................. 80,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total............................................. 185,800,000
The Committee directs the Secretary of Defense to provide
to the Committees on Appropriations, not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act, a report on the proposed uses of
all funds under this heading. In addition, this report shall
describe steps taken to ensure the maximum force protection of
U. S. personnel while deployed in Colombia, including their
rules of engagement.
Organic Intelligence Capability
The Committee bill includes $5,000,000 to provide aircraft
to the Colombian Air Force with organic intelligence
capability. The Committee directs that the Secretary of Defense
provide a report to the congressional defense committees 30
days prior to the obligation of these funds detailing the
types, cost, configuration and quantity of the aircraft being
provided.
Classified Programs
The Committee's recommendations regarding classified
programs are summarized in a classified annex accompanying this
report.
GENERAL PROVISION--THIS CHAPTER
The Committee bill includes a general provision providing
authorities for the use of Department of Defense funds in this
Act for counterdrug activities.
CHAPTER 3
BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
Funds Appropriated to the President
Department of State
Assistance for Plan Colombia and for Andean Regional Counternarcotics
Activities
Fiscal year 2000 Emergency Supplemental request....... $818,000,000
Fiscal year 2001 Plan Colombia request................ 256,000,000
Committee recommendation.............................. 1,099,000,000
The Committee has recommended $1,099,000,000 in emergency
supplemental appropriations to support Plan Colombia to reduce
the supply of narcotics to the United States from the Andean
region; to aid Colombian local and national governing ability;
and to support human rights. Also, these funds will assist
other nations in the region in reducing the cultivation,
production and trafficking of illegal narcotics destined for
the United States and to provide alternative economic
development and related assistance.
Of this amount, the President requested that $818,000,000
be designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as
amended. In addition, the President requested $256,000,000 in
fiscal year 2001 to support Plan Colombia. These funds shall
only be available to the extent that an official budget request
that designates the entire amount as an emergency requirement
is transmitted to the Congress. The Committee has provided that
these funds be available until expended, as requested by the
Administration. To ensure that programs undertaken with these
emergency funds may be implemented rapidly, the Committee has
provided that funds obligated after February 6, 2000, and prior
to the date of enactment of this Act for administrative
expenses which directly support Plan Colombia and for Andean
regional counternarcotics activities may be finally charged to
funds made available for such purposes by this title.
The Committee has provided a waiver of section 482(b) of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, regarding the procurement
of weapons and ammunition, for funds under this heading.
Further, to support Plan Colombia and for regional
counternarcotics activities, any U. S. government agency to
which funds are transferred under any authority of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 may utilize, in addition to any
authorities available for carrying out section 481, any
additional authorities available to that agency for carrying
out related activities, including the use of such funds for
administrative expenses.
The Committee directs the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the
Administrator of the Agency for International Development, to
provide to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
Committees on Appropriations not later than 30 days after
enactment of this Act, a report on the proposed uses of all
funds under this heading on a country-by-country basis for each
proposed program, project or activity. The Committee expects
the Administration's report to reflect the priorities as
recommended in the following funding columns. The Committee
notes that the report by the Secretary of State must be
received prior to the initial obligation of any of these
emergency supplemental funds. The Committee expects this report
to serve as the basis for any future reprogramming of funds by
the Executive Branch. Further, all funds provided under this
heading are subject to the regular notification procedures of
the Committees on Appropriations.
Assistance for Plan Colombia
The Committee has recommended $962,000,000 to support the
Colombian government's Plan Colombia. This assistance is
designed to support the five objectives of the Colombian
government: to gain control of the drug producing regions in
southern Colombia; to increase drug interdiction efforts; to
provide additional assistance to the Colombian National Police;
to increase alternative economic development programs; to
strengthen government and nongovernmental human rights
programs; and to assist Colombian national and local government
justice and anti-crime programs.
Support for the Push into Southern Colombia
The Committee has recommended $501,000,000 to support the
Government of Colombia's objective to gain control of the drug
producing regions of southern Colombia. This amount is
$47,100,000 below the overall level requested by the
Administration for this objective for fiscal years 2000 and
2001 for Plan Colombia.
These funds will support certain aspects of training and
equipping the second and third Colombian Army counternarcotics
battalions. Central to this entire effort is providing reliable
airlift for these counternarcotics battalions. The Committee
recommendation funds procurement of 28 UH-60 Blackhawk and 15
UH-1N helicopters for use by the Colombian Army. These funds
also will support pilot, crew and mechanic training and
operations and maintenance support for these aircraft in fiscal
years 2000 and 2001. The Committee directs that UH-60 Blackhawk
procurement be managed by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation
Agency.
The Committee has recommended that of the funds provided in
support of this objective, $16,000,000 be utilized to support
alternative development in southern Colombia and $15,000,000 be
provided for temporary emergency resettlement and employment
programs as proposed by the Administration. The Committee
recommendation funds the following programs:
Train and equip Colombian Army counternarcotics
battalions.......................................... $7,000,000
Army counternarcotics battalion UH-1N program........... 64,000,000
Army counternarcotics battalion UH-60 program........... 362,000,000
Sustain Army counternarcotics battalion................. 6,000,000
Forward infrastructure development...................... 3,000,000
Force protection enhancements........................... 4,000,000
Logistical support...................................... 4,400,000
Army counternarcotics battalion organic intelligence.... 9,000,000
Training for senior commanders.......................... 1,100,000
Army counternarcotics battalion communications.......... 3,000,000
Other infrastructure and sustainment.................... 6,500,000
Alternative development in southern Colombia............ 16,000,000
Temporary emergency resettlement and employment......... 15,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total--Push into southern Colombia.................. $501,000,000
Support for Interdiction Efforts
The Committee has recommended $130,500,000 to enhance
United States and Colombian narcotics interdiction efforts. The
majority of these funds are dedicated to upgrading the radar
systems in four U.S. Customs Service P-3 airborne early warning
interdiction aircraft. The U.S. Customs Service aircraft will
be dedicated to missions to detect and monitor suspect targets
destined for the United States from cocaine source zones,
primarily Colombia. The Committee also supports the
Administration's $2,000,000 request for the U.S. Department of
Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control to expand programs
aimed at sanctioning Colombian narcotics kingpins and
$1,000,000 requested for the U.S. Office of National Drug
Control Policy's counternarcotics intelligence architecture
program.
Additionally, the Committee recommendation funds U.S. and
Colombian air, land, and sea interdiction programs as follows:
Upgrade Colombian Air Force OV-10 aircraft.............. $15,000,000
Upgrade aircraft for night operations................... 1,900,000
Airfield upgrades....................................... 8,000,000
Upgrade U.S. Customs Service P-3 aircraft radar systems. 68,000,000
Support for Colombian air interdiction program.......... 19,500,000
Support for Colombian riverine interdiction program..... 12,000,000
Ammunition for Colombian riverine interdiction program.. 2,000,000
Colombian Navy operations infrastructure support........ 1,000,000
U.S. ONDCP Counternarcotics intelligence architecture... 1,000,000
U.S. Treasury/OFAC sanctions support.................... 2,100,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total--Interdiction support....................... $130,500,000
Support for the Colombian National Police
The Committee has recommended $115,500,000 to support the
Colombian National Police (CNP). The Committee notes that the
CNP has for years been at the forefront of the Colombian
government's counter-narcotics efforts and has received
significant United States support in recent years. The
Committee recommends three significant programs to enhance the
CNP's eradication efforts. These include: $26,000,000 for
procurement, training and support for two UH-60 Blackhawk
helicopters, $20,600,000 for twelve Huey II helicopters, and
$20,000,000 for the purchase of T-65 agricultural spray
aircraft and OV-10 aircraft. The Committee recommends
additional funds be provided for communications, ammunition,
spare parts, training and logistical support. The Committee
directs that the UH-60 Blackhawks for use by the Colombian
National Police will be dedicated to counternarcotics
operations in southern Colombia. The Committee is aware of the
success of the CNP's poppy eradication program and encourages
expansion of this effort with additional spray aircraft
provided with funds under this Act. The Committee
recommendation funds the following programs:
Secure communications................................... $3,000,000
Weapons and ammunition.................................. 3,000,000
UH-60 Blackhawk procurement and support................. 26,000,000
Enhanced logistical support............................. 2,000,000
CNP forward operating capability and force protection... 5,000,000
CNP border bases construction........................... 5,000,000
Additional CNP airmobile units.......................... 2,000,000
Upgrade CNP aviation facilities......................... 8,000,000
Additional spray aircraft............................... 20,000,000
Upgrade existing CNP airplanes (including FLIR)......... 5,000,000
Upgrade 12 UH-1H helicopters to Huey II configuration... 20,600,000
Sustainment and operations.............................. 5,000,000
Training for pilots and mechanics....................... 1,900,000
Airfield security....................................... 2,000,000
Enhanced eradication.................................... 4,000,000
Spare parts............................................. 3,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total--Support for the Colombian National Police.. $115,500,000
Support for Alternative Economic Development in Colombia
The Committee has recommended $116,500,000 to support
alternative economic development programs in Colombia. These
funds are in addition to the $16,000,000 provided for
alternative development associated with the Colombian
government's objective to ``Push into Southern Colombia''. The
Committee supports the Administration's proposal to work
closely with the Colombian government's alternative development
agency, PLANTE, in the development and execution of these
programs. The Committee recognizes these funds represent a ten-
fold increase above current U.S. alternative development
support to Colombia and, therefore, has recommended $6,000,000
for operating expenses for the Agency for International
Development to effectively manage this program, as well as
management of human rights and rule of law programs. The
Committee recommendation funds the following programs:
Environmental programs.................................. $5,000,000
Voluntary eradication programs.......................... 46,000,000
Assistance to local governments......................... 15,000,000
Assistance for internally displaced persons............. 24,500,000
AID Operating Expenses in Colombia...................... 6,000,000
Community-level alternative development................. 20,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total--Alternative economic development in
Colombia.......................................... $116,500,000
Support for Human Rights and Judicial Reform in Colombia
The Committee has recommended $98,500,000 for a broad range
of human rights, judicial reform and other programs designed to
support the peace process and to strengthen democracy and rule
of law in Colombia. The Committee strongly supports funding for
these programs and recognizes that protecting human rights and
rule of law are central to the overall goals of Plan Colombia.
Therefore, the Committee has recommended an increase of
$5,500,000 above the amount requested by the Administration for
protection of human rights workers, to strengthen human rights
institutions and for judicial reform. The Committee recommends
$2,500,000 to assist in the creation of a professional military
legal corps and to institutionalize human rights training in
the Colombian military. The Committee recommends enhancement of
demand reduction programs in Colombia and Peru and
establishment of similar programs in Bolivia and Ecuador
through the Department of State's International Narcotics
Control Bureau. The Committee recommendation funds the
following programs:
Protection of human rights workers...................... $4,500,000
Strengthen human rights institutions.................... 8,500,000
Establish CNP/Fiscalia human rights units............... 4,000,000
Judicial system policy reform........................... 2,500,000
Criminal code reform.................................... 3,500,000
Prosecutor training..................................... 4,500,000
Judges training......................................... 4,000,000
Casa de Justicia judicial program....................... 6,500,000
Public defender program................................. 2,500,000
Asset forfeiture-money laundering task force............ 4,000,000
Counternarcotics investigative units.................... 4,000,000
Anti-corruption program................................. 6,000,000
Asset management program................................ 1,000,000
Anti-kidnapping program................................. 2,000,000
Financial crime program................................. 3,000,000
Judicial Police training program........................ 4,000,000
Witness and judicial security........................... 5,000,000
Armed Forces human rights and legal reform.............. 1,500,000
Army JAG school......................................... 1,000,000
Training for Customs police............................. 6,000,000
Maritime enforcement and port security.................. 4,000,000
Multilateral case initiative............................ 4,500,000
Prison security program................................. 8,000,000
Banking supervision assistance.......................... 1,000,000
Revenue enhancement assistance.......................... 1,000,000
Customs training assistance............................. 1,000,000
Conflict management and peace process................... 1,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total--Support for human rights and judicial
reform............................................ $98,500,000
Greater Regional Emphasis
The Committee recognizes the unique crisis affecting
Colombia and the United States and has, therefore, responded to
the President's request that the overwhelming majority of these
emergency funds be provided in direct support of Plan Colombia.
However, this effort requires a greater regional emphasis so
that the problems associated with the cultivation, processing
and trafficking of illegal narcotics are not simply relocated
elsewhere in the region. Therefore, the Committee has
recommended $137,000,000 for assistance for other countries in
the region. This is $61,000,000 above the amount requested by
the President for regional activities.
Support for Peru
Alternative economic development and other programs... $15,000,000
Other interdiction programs........................... 27,000,000
-----------------
Total........................................... $42,000,000
The Committee has recommended that up to $42,000,000 shall
be made available for assistance for Peru, including up to
$15,000,000 for alternative economic development programs and
up to $27,000,000 for interdiction programs. These funds are
designed to support mutually beneficial narcotics interdiction
programs, including upgrading Peruvian government C-26
surveillance aircraft, communications upgrades, spare parts,
expanding riverine operations, and interdiction training for
the Peruvian National Police's road interdiction efforts. The
Committee recommendation includes $7,000,000 to upgrade four
UH-1H helicopters to Huey II configuration for use by the
Peruvian National Police in the coca growing regions of the
Huallaga and Apurimac valleys. The Committee is aware that the
government of Peru is considering alternatives to its aging
fleet of Russian-built helicopters currently providing
logistical and resupply support for Peruvian counternarcotics
programs. The Committee encourages the Department of State to
consider the use of funds under this Act to support American-
made helicopters which can conduct high-altitude logistical and
resupply operations in Peru.
The Committee supports expansion of the ongoing alternative
development programs already underway in key coca growing areas
of Peru. The Committee expects these programs to consist of
technical assistance, training and credit programs to former
coca growers for the cultivation and marketing of licit crops.
Additionally, these funds may be utilized to strengthen local
governments and improve community and economic infrastructure,
such as water supplies, farm-to-market roads and refurbishment
of local schools.
Support for Bolivia
Alternative economic development and other programs... $49,000,000
Interdiction.......................................... 8,000,000
-----------------
Total........................................... $57,000,000
The Committee has recommended that not less than
$57,000,000 be made available for assistance for Bolivia,
including not less than $49,000,000 for alternative economic
development and $8,000,000 for interdiction programs. The
Committee supports the efforts of the Bolivian government,
through its ``Dignity Plan'', to terminate coca production in
the Chapare region of Bolivia. The Committee understands that
these additional funds for alternative economic development
will allow the Bolivian government to expand programs designed
to develop and market new agricultural products and to assist
with small scale infrastructure such as maintenance of farm-to-
market roads and bridges. The Committee expects interdiction
assistance will reinforce the Bolivian government's
counternarcotics presence in the Yungas region, upgrade
intelligence collection equipment, expand C-130 pilot training,
and provide spare parts for various military vehicles.
Support for Ecuador
Alternative economic development and other programs... $8,000,000
Other interdiction programs........................... 12,000,000
-----------------
Total........................................... $20,000,000
The Committee has recommended that not less than
$20,000,000 be made available for assistance for Ecuador,
including not less than $8,000,000 for alternative economic
development and other programs to be carried out by the Agency
for International Development. The Committee recognizes the
severe economic and political crisis currently facing Ecuador
and understands that this instability only increases the
opportunity for the cultivation of coca and the trafficking of
precursor chemicals and illicit narcotics destined for the
United States. The Committee supports alternative economic
development and other programs to improve water and sanitation,
health services, improved local governance, demand reduction,
and to assist displaced people, especially in Sucumbios
province on Ecuador's northern border with Colombia.
The Committee has recommended $12,000,000 for interdiction
programs, including $3,500,000 for the upgrade, training and
support for two UH-1H helicopters to Huey II configuration for
use by the Ecuadoran National Police. The Committee directs
that the balance of interdiction funds be dedicated to boosting
Ecuadoran police and military interdiction capabilities and to
enhance road and seaport interdiction programs.
Support for Regional Interdiction Programs
Total--Regional Interdiction Program.........................$18,000,000
The Committee has recommended not less than $18,000,000 for
interdiction programs in other countries in South and Central
America and the Caribbean. The Committee has been made aware of
the significant interdiction requirements in Panama, Costa
Rica, Brazil and Venezuela. The Committee directs that the
Secretary of State, when reporting to the Speaker of the House
of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations as
required by this Act, will provide recommendations and
justifications for the use of this money on a country-by-
country basis.
CHAPTER 4
Military Construction, Defense-wide
The Committee recommends $116,523,000 for Military
Construction, Defense-wide, as compared to the request of
$38,600,000. These amounts are provided as a contingent
emergency appropriation for the construction of three Forward
Operating Locations to support the Colombia Anti-Drug Program,
as follows:
Location/Facility Cost
Ecuador:
Airfield Pavement/Rinse Facility.................... $38,600,000
Aircraft Maintenance Hangar/Nose/Dock Apron......... 6,723,000
Expeditionary Maintenance Facilities................ 4,900,000
Expeditionary Rescue Station........................ 2,200,000
Expeditionary Squadron Ops/AMU/Storage.............. 2,600,000
Expeditionary Visiting Airmen Quarters/Dining
Facility.......................................... 4,650,000
Expeditionary Visiting Officer Quarters............. 1,600,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Subtotal, Ecuador................................. 61,273,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Aruba:
Airfield Pavement/Rinse Facility.................... 8,800,000
Expeditionary Maintenance Facilities................ 860,000
Small Exped. Aircraft Maintenance Hangar/Apron...... 590,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Subtotal, Aruba................................... 10,250,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Curacao:
Airfield Pavement/Rinse Facility.................... 29,500,000
Aircraft Maintenance Hangar/Nose/Dock Apron......... 9,200,000
Expeditionary Maintenance Facilities................ 3,000,000
Expeditionary Squadron Ops/AMU/Storage.............. 2,200,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Subtotal, Curacao................................. 43,900,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Various:
Planning and Design................................. 1,100,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Subtotal, Various................................. 1,100,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Total............................................. 116,523,000
TITLE II
PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS IN KOSOVO AND OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY MATTERS
CHAPTER 1
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Security and Maintenance of United States Missions
The Committee recommends $104,000,000, as an emergency
appropriation, to remain available until expended, instead of
$239,000,000, as requested. This amount provides for the costs
of site acquisition, design and construction of a new secure
embassy facility and Marine guard quarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
The Committee recommendation does not include additional
funds requested to construct a new diplomatic facility in
Pristina, Kosovo, or a new annex on the existing embassy
compound in Tirana, Albania. The Committee notes that funds
remain unallocated from fiscal year 1999 emergency
appropriations and fiscal year 2000 appropriations in this
account, and may be reprogrammed to address critical security
needs at other posts in the region.
CHAPTER 2
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE--MILITARY
Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund
The President requested, and the Committee recommends,
$2,050,400,000 in emergency supplemental appropriations for the
Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund to pay for
unfunded costs associated with contingency operations in Kosovo
and East Timor.
The following table summarizes the Committee's
recommendations for activities to be funded from this fund.
FY 2000 CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS
[In thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplemental Committee
request recommendation Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kosovo:
Military Personnel:
Army.................................................... 157,400 157,400 ..............
Navy.................................................... 25,600 25,600 ..............
Marine Corps............................................ 6,400 6,400 ..............
Air Force............................................... 2,400 2,400 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
Total................................................. 191,800 191,800 ..............
===============================================
Operation and Maintenance:
Army.................................................... 1,332,100 1,332,100 ..............
Navy.................................................... 49,900 49,900 ..............
Marine Corps............................................ .............. .............. ..............
Air Force............................................... 114,800 114,800 ..............
Defense-Wide:
USSOCOM............................................. 24,000 24,000 ..............
AFIS................................................ 300 300 ..............
DISA................................................ 52,200 52,200 ..............
DLA................................................. 2,200 2,200 ..............
Other............................................... 226,600 226,600 ..............
Total, Defense-Wide..................................... 305,300 305,300 ..............
Navy Reserve............................................ 100 100 ..............
OHDACA.................................................. 12,000 12,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
Total................................................. 1,814,200 1,814,200 ..............
===============================================
Other:
Defense Health Program.................................. 19,400 19,400 ..............
===============================================
Total Kosovo.......................................... 2,025,400 2,025,400 ..............
===============================================
East Timor:
Operation and Maintenance:
Army.................................................... 9,000 9,000 ..............
Navy.................................................... 12,000 12,000 ..............
Marine Corps............................................ 1,000 1,000 ..............
Air Force............................................... 3,000 3,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
Total East Timor...................................... 25,000 25,000 ..............
===============================================
Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund: Grand Total...... 2,050,400 2,050,400 ..............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Classified Programs
The Committee's recommendations regarding classified
programs are summarized in a classified annex accompanying this
report.
Natural Disasters
The President requested $27,400,000 for damage to
Department of Defense facilities resulting from Hurricane
Floyd. The Committee has been informed by the military services
regarding other natural disasters which have been no less
destructive to U.S. military facilities, and which have also
resulted in a strain on the Department's financial resources.
These include Hurricanes Irene, Dennis, and Jose; Typhoons Bart
and Olga; and an earthquake which struck Southern California.
Based on estimates received from the Department, the Committee
recommends emergency supplemental appropriations of
$115,875,000 for natural disaster related expenses. The
Committee is aware that the military services have identified
and begun to complete specific repairs as a result of these
natural disasters. Accordingly, the Committee recommends
providing funds to the military services and defense components
in the applicable operation and maintenance accounts, rather
than in a transfer fund as proposed by the budget request.
NATURAL DISASTERS--REPAIRS
[In thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplemental Committee
request recommendation Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation and Maintenance:
Army........................................................ .............. 19,532 19,532
Navy........................................................ .............. 20,565 20,565
Marine Corps................................................ .............. 37,155 37,155
Air Force................................................... .............. 30,065 30,065
Defense-Wide................................................ 27,400 .............. (27,400)
Army Reserve................................................ .............. 2,174 2,174
Army National Guard......................................... .............. 2,851 2,851
Defense Health Program...................................... .............. 3,533 3,533
-----------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 27,400 115,875 88,475
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vieques
The President requested $40,000,000 to meet the concerns of
the residents of Vieques, Puerto Rico, related to training at
the Navy range on the island. This proposal would implement
measures to meet expressed health, safety, environmental, and
economic concerns. In light of the importance of this range to
meeting immediate Navy and Marine Corps readiness and training
requirements, the Committee recommends an emergency
supplemental appropriation of $40,000,000, for ``Operation and
Maintenance, Defense-Wide'', for the purposes requested by the
President.
Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) Aircraft
The President requested $73,000,000 in emergency
supplemental appropriations to purchase, modify, and provision
a used 757 aircraft to support the Foreign Emergency Support
Team (FEST). The Committee recommends approval of this request.
Budget Execution Shortfalls
The Committee bill includes a general provision which
provides authority for the Secretary of Defense to transfer
funds (from balances which otherwise would expire at the end of
the fiscal year) to tactical aviation shortfalls identified by
the Air Force during execution of the fiscal year 2000 budget,
such as engines, radars, countermeasure dispensers, conformal
fuel tanks, radar warning receivers, and aircraft cost
increases. The Committee directs that Air Force expiring
balances be used as the first priority, but that Defense-Wide
expiring balances may also be used only to the extent that Air
Force funds are not sufficient to fully meet tactical aviation
budget execution shortfalls.
M1A2 Tank Upgrades
In the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000, the
Congress provided authority to enter into a new multiyear
contract for procurement of an additional 307 M1A2 Abrams tank
upgrades subject to submission of a cost analysis report to the
congressional defense committees. This analysis, provided to
Congress in February 2000, outlined an alternate procurement
strategy using existing statutory multiyear authority to
shorten the span of the contract, reduce unit prices by more
than 14 percent, save over $250 million over the life of the
contract, and field combat equipment at a much faster rate.
Upon further discussions with the Committee, it was determined
that opportunities existed to further reduce average unit costs
from the originally proposed $7.26 million per vehicle to $5.9
million per vehicle, a 19 percent savings. Although this
approach would require an additional up front appropriation of
$125 million to accelerate production rates and facilitate
revisions to the multiyear contract, the total program savings
produced by this appropriation should exceed $350 million over
the life of the contract. The Committee bill includes a general
provision which initiates this process, with funding provided
by transfer from unobligated reserves in the National Defense
Stockpile Transaction Fund.
Shared Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP)
For fiscal year 2000, additional funds were provided within
``Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy'' to
initiate a new Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) project within
the SHARP program. It has become apparent that continuing this
effort within the SHARP program will delay the fielding of
SHARP, an event not desired by either the Committee or the
Navy. Therefore, the Committee directs that the SAR effort be
shifted to the TARPS-CD development program for concept testing
and evaluation. The additional funds, however, shall remain in
the SHARP program to finance other program requirements. The
Committee understands that there are lessons learned by the
recent carrier deployment of the TARPS-CD system and fully
expects the Navy to implement enhancements necessary to meet
future fleet operational requirements.
Defense Health Program
The Committee bill includes general provisions which
provide $854,500,000, and requisite legal authority, to cover
unfunded requirements and unanticipated increases in TRICARE
contract claims in the Defense Health Program. Within this
amount $90,300,000 is available for obligations and
obligational adjustments for prior year contract claims and
$764,200,000 is available for obligations and obligational
adjustments for fiscal years 2000 and 2001. This funding is
essential in order for the Department of Defense to meet both
its legal obligations and to avoid severe disruptions to the
military health care system due to lack of funding.
While providing the authority and funding for prior year
claims, the Committee in no way believes this action obviates
any investigation or reporting necessary under the Department's
fiscal management guidelines. To the contrary, the Committee
believes that a thorough review of this matter should be
conducted in order to avoid a similar circumstance in the
future. Therefore, the Committee directs the Department, in
conjunction with the General Accounting Office, to review this
matter for potential violations of the Anti-Deficiency Act and
the Department's fiscal rules and regulations. The Committee
further directs the Department to report to the congressional
defense committees 60 days after enactment of this Act on the
extent and scope of any violations of fiscal law or DOD fiscal
regulations.
GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS CHAPTER
In addition to general provisions cited previously in this
chapter, the Committee recommends the following general
provisions.
The Committee bill includes a general provision which
provides the Department of Defense with the authority to
maintain housing allowances at the 1999 levels during fiscal
year 2000. The Department has advised the Committee that the
funds required to make any retroactive payments to service
members in a military housing area can be accommodated within
the military personnel accounts.
The Committee bill includes a general provision which
provides $1,556,200,000 in emergency supplemental
appropriations to cover the cost of price increases in bulk
petroleum purchased by the Department of Defense.
CHAPTER 3
Overview of Funding Recommendation
The President has requested $250,875,000 in emergency funds
for assistance for southeast Europe and Kosovo. Of this total,
the Committee is recommending $142,700,000. The Committee
recommendation focuses on supplemental assistance for
Montenegro, Croatia, and building up defense alliances in the
region.
The Republic of Montenegro faces increasing pressure from
Serbian forces, and needs United States assistance to maintain
its democratic, pro-Western government. In addition, the
Committee is greatly encouraged by recent political events in
Croatia, which should lead to further progress on
implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords. The new Government
of Croatia is committed to democracy, human rights, the return
of refugees, and free markets, and needs immediate assistance
to attain these goals.
The Committee is recommending $12,400,000 of the total of
$92,800,000 requested for Kosovo. These funds are to be
allocated to support American officers involved in the
international police force. From existing funds in the account,
the Administration has already allocated $150,000,000 for
assistance for Kosovo, of which only $10,000,000 had been
obligated as of March 1, 2000.
The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2000, contained a provision
prohibiting obligations for Kosovo unless the Secretary of
State could certify that the resources pledged by the United
States at the November 17, 1999, donors conference on Kosovo
would not exceed 15 percent of the total resources pledged by
all donors. On December 3, 1999, the Secretary of State
certified that the United States pledge amounted to 14.82
percent of all pledges.
The emergency supplemental request of $92,800,000 would
breach the ceiling of 15 percent based on the November pledge
total of $1,056,000,000. Even though total pledges have
increased to $1,210,700,000 as of late February, approval of
the full request of the Administration would result in the
United States providing as much as 20 percent of the total
international effort to rebuild Kosovo.
The Committee is extremely concerned that the United States
is meeting its share of the funding burden for Kosovo while
other nations are failing to live up to their responsibilities.
As an example, the Committee has received information from the
Department of State that as of March 1 of this year, 481 of the
550 American police officers pledged by the United States as
our share of the international police force in Kosovo were
deployed. Of the remaining 3,883 officers that were supposed to
be provided by European and other nations, only 1,878 were
deployed.
In addition, the Committee notes that at the November
donors conference, the European Commission pledged 500,000,000
euros (approximately $486,000,000) subject to parliamentary
approval. However, the European Parliament only authorized a
contribution of 360,000,000 euros (approximately $350,000,000),
so the Commission subsequently reduced its pledge to that
amount.
The United States has already provided significant
resources to assist Kosovo. We provided $347,000,000 in
humanitarian assistance in fiscal year 1999. Of the total
resources available to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) for the Kosovo emergency last year,
$78,500,000, or 27 percent, came from the United States. The
United States also exceeded its usual contribution of 25
percent for refugee assistance worldwide through UNHCR last
year by providing almost one-third of the resources available
to that organization.
All these funds are in addition to the $156,000,000 pledged
for Kosovo at the November donors conference and already
available from funds previously appropriated for fiscal year
2000.
The decision of the Administration to seek significant
additional resources for Kosovo is contrary to assurances that
were given by the President to the Congress that the United
States would not play a major role in the rebuilding of post-
conflict Kosovo. For this reason and the reasons cited above,
the Committee cannot recommend additional funds for Kosovo
beyond those that will directly impact public order. Therefore
the Committee is recommending not to exceed $12,400,000 for
support of United States officers participating in the
international police force. The maintenance of public order is
of the highest priority for the protection of United States
troops in Kosovo, and it is only for this reason that the
Committee is recommending additional emergency funding.
BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
Funds Appropriated to the President
Operating Expenses of the Agency for International Development
The Committee recommends funding for Agency for
International Development (AID) operating expenses at a level
of $13,000,000, compared to the request of $22,000,000. The
recommendation assumes that full funding of $4,000,000 will be
provided for security improvements. However, funding for new
and expanded office space, additional employees and for other
costs has been reduced by 50 percent.
The reduction from the President's request is recommended
due to a significant cut in program funding being proposed by
the Committee under the account ``Assistance for Eastern Europe
and the Baltic States''. In addition, the Committee is
concerned the Agency for International Development is
projecting a larger administrative presence in the Balkans than
is justified given the nature and size of the programs proposed
for the region. Many of the funds appropriated to the program
account are, or will be, administered by other agencies. In
addition, some of these funds will be provided as budget
support rather than as programs that would be administered by
the Agency for International Development. For these reasons the
Committee does not believe the full request for AID's operating
expenses is justified at this time.
Other Bilateral Economic Assistance
Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States
The Committee recommends $95,825,000 for ``Assistance for
Eastern Europe and the Baltic States'', which is $99,175,000
below the Administration's request of $195,000,000.
The Committee is recommending the full funding requests of
$34,000,000 for Montenegro and $35,725,000 for Croatia. In
addition, as requested $13,700,000 are being recommended for
assistance to opposition political parties in Serbia including
support for nongovernmental organizations and independent
media. Funding of $12,400,000 for Kosovo is limited to police
activities.
floods in mozambique and southern africa
The Committee urges the Administration to use every effort
possible to guarantee sufficient funding for recovery
assistance for Mozambique and surrounding territories affected
by the recent floods. Nearly one million people are homeless or
in desperate need of help. The death toll is expected to soar
into the thousands and mass starvation is feared, as the entire
region's harvest were destroyed. The number of malaria cases
has tripled and medical personnel worry about other waterborne
diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Though Mozambique is
one of the continent's poorest countries, with a per capita
income of $670 a year, its economy was one of the fastest
growing until the floods started in February, 2000 and Cyclone
Eline struck on February 22, 2000. After a 16-year civil war
ended in 1992, the former Portuguese colony embraced democratic
elections and free-market capitalism, wooing foreign investors
by selling off state-run enterprises. The Committee is
concerned about the long-term impact of the floods on the
country's recovery from civil war and especially the future of
efforts to rid Mozambique of 2 million land mines from more
than a decade of fighting. Flood waters have washed away land,
complicating mapping projects that have located land mines. The
Committee commends the US Agency for International Development,
the Coast Guard and the Department of Defense for their efforts
so far. Recognizing the enormity of the flood's impacts, the
Committee strongly urges the US Agency for International
Development to move forward in a timely manner with medium and
long-term recovery efforts. The Committee requests that the
assessment report on the devastation and need of the area
(including an analysis of how the United States can best be of
assistance in regional recovery efforts) be submitted to the
Congress from the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
USAID Administrator, no later than April 15, 2000. The
Committee expects that any assistance made available pursuant
to the assessment report should be provided in a manner which
is proportionate to the geographic enormity of the disaster.
The Committee further requests that reallocation and
reprogramming efforts to provide available funds for recovery
not be programmed away from other Africa funds. Additionally,
the Committee directs the Administration to submit a Fiscal
year 2001 budget amendment modifying their request for
development assistance and child survival funding based upon
new needs.
MILITARY ASSISTANCE
Funds Appropriated to the President
International Military Education and Training
The Committee recommends $2,875,000 in International
Military Education and Training grants for countries of the
Balkans and southeast Europe. This is the same level requested
by the President. These funds will be used to promote
professionalization of the militaries of southeast Europe,
including enhancement of self-defense capabilities, inter-
operability, and improved civilian-military relationships to
solidify democratic reform efforts. In the event of another
military crisis in southeast Europe, increased cooperation
between the militaries of the region and the United States and
its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies will be
crucial.
Foreign Military Financing Program
The Committee recommends $31,000,000 in Foreign Military
Financing grants to countries of the Balkans and southeast
Europe, the same level as requested by the President. These
funds will be used to strengthen NATO ties with Balkan
countries and the countries of southeast Europe. They will also
help bolster Serbia's neighbors to help withstand its
provocations and unite for regional security cooperation.
Pursuant to the President's budget request, the funds will
be allocated as follows:
Albania................................................. 4,400,000
Bosnia.................................................. 3,000,000
Bulgaria................................................ 5,700,000
Macedonia............................................... 6,000,000
Romania................................................. 7,500,000
Slovakia................................................ 2,400,000
Slovenia................................................ 2,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
TOTAL............................................. 31,000,000
The Committee is aware that the funds for Bosnia will be
used to maintain equipment that was provided to that country
pursuant to authority previously provided to the President to
drawdown $100,000,000 in military goods and services. However,
future maintenance requirements should be met by that
government and not by the United States.
CHAPTER 4
Military Construction, Defense-Wide
The Committee recommends $6,700,000, as a contingent
emergency for storm related damage to family housing at
numerous locations, as authorized by Section 2854 of Title 10,
United States Code. Of this amount, $1,400,000 was requested
under ``Operation and Maintenance, Defense-wide''.
Quarters Number 6, Marine Corps Barracks
The Commandant of the Marine Corps' residence has been
located at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. since 1810.
This historic structure has lacked major renovation and repair
over the years. A comprehensive approach to address roof
repairs, replacement of structural components damaged by water/
termites, replacement of antiquated electrical wiring and
plumbing, window replacements, and asbestos and lead paint
removal are necessary. In addition, the quarters fails to meet
ADA standards and is in need of a fire suppression system.
Funds for design of this renovation have been identified by the
Marine Corps. The Committee urges the Marine Corps to
accelerate the design and to develop an adequate cost estimate
for this project. The Committee supports the use of private
donations, along with appropriated funds, to assist in the cost
of the renovation. A general provision has been included
authorizing the use of private donations for this purpose and
requiring a thirty day notification to the appropriate
committees of Congress prior to the expenditure of such funds.
Military Construction, Army Reserve
The Committee provides $12,348,000 as a contingent
emergency appropriation due to storm damage related to
Hurricane Floyd for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in
Greenville, North Carolina.
TITLE III
NATURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE AND OTHER EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS
CHAPTER 1
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Inspector General
The Committee recommends $2,000,000 for the Office of the
Inspector General, and intends these funds to be used for
oversight and audit activities involving the more than $16
billion provided in emergency agricultural assistance in fiscal
years 1999 and 2000. The Committee wants to ensure the
Inspector General's office has resources to carry out its
oversight activities with respect to these funds.
Since 1998, the Farm Service Agency has received more than
$130 million in additional funds to cover shortfalls in their
budget requests. In spite of budgetary restrictions, the
Committee continues to provide the funding necessary to ensure
that services to producers are maintained. The Committee
directs the Inspector General to conduct a study of the Farm
Service Agency salary and expense requirements necessary to
administer the programs of the Farm Service Agency and report
the findings to the Committee within six months of enactment.
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Salaries and Expenses
The Committee recommends $7,140,000 to contain and control
Pierce's disease which is devastating agricultural areas in
Southern California, and is moving northward into other
regions. Funds are needed immediately to monitor for the
earliest signs of the disease and to inspect nurserystock prior
to shipment. The disease is spread by a vigorous and difficult
to control insect called the glassy-winged sharpshooter. This
insect is a major problem, but elimination of the insect would
not eliminate the disease.
The Committee is disappointed by the federal response to
this outbreak. It is clear that efforts to control the spread
of the disease must be increased. It is also clear that there
is an immediate need for additional research efforts to study
near and long term alternatives for controlling the bacterium
common to Pierce's disease. The Committee expects the Secretary
to initiate such efforts immediately, within existing
resources.
Farm Service Agency
salaries and expenses
Severely depressed commodity prices, combined with impacts
of natural disasters, continue to place significant stress on
farm and ranch income. Recognizing the dire farm income
situation, Congress provided $8.7 billion in additional
emergency assistance as part of the fiscal year 2000
appropriation act. As producers begin spring planting, the farm
economy remains depressed, driving up demand for loan
deficiency payments (LDP's), commodity loans, farm credit and
emergency program assistance. LDP and commodity loan workload
is expected to increase by roughly $5 billion over the fiscal
year 1999 level. Further, costs of implementing the Pigford
consent decree settlement, involving discrimination claims by
African-American farmers, have increased beyond previous
estimates and are being absorbed within the salaries and
expenses account. Absorbing these costs would lead to a
reduction of 900 county staff, further exacerbating the
staffing shortfall to meet workload. Beyond the sheer workload
demands, county office employees are hobbled by severely
outdated computer systems, including key program systems for
which technical support will no longer be available from the
vendor effective March 31. The Committee believes it is
essential that services be made available to producers in a
reliable, timely manner. Workload at the county offices through
early 2000 has essentially exhausted the resources available
for temporary employment which is critical to providing timely
services. The Committee includes funds needed to support an
adequate level of county office staffing and to make computer
system changes needed to avoid potential failures which would
impair program and payment delivery.
Within the amount recommended, the Committee recommends
$26,237,000 for temporary staffing to assure program delivery,
$12,865,000 for consent decree costs, and $38,458,000 for
information technology, for a total of $77,560,000.
emergency conservation program
The Committee recommends language which would allow the use
of unobligated funds available in the Emergency Conservation
Program to be used to repair farm buildings and equipment that
were damaged by Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, or Irene, in order to
assist lower-income producers to restore farming operations.
The Committee is aware that the available unallocated balance
in the Emergency Conservation Program is $5,000,000, and that
the available unobligated balance is $94,000,000 as of January
31, 2000. Within these available resources, the Committee
expects the Department to meet all requirements for repair of
hurricane-related damage to buildings and equipment.
CORPORATIONS
federal crop insurance corporation fund
As part of the fiscal year 1999 emergency supplemental
appropriations bill, funds were provided to buy down the cost
of crop insurance by 30 percent. Based on actual levels of
insurance purchased by producers, the cost exceeded the funds
available by approximately $13,000,000. The Committee
recommends supplemental funding up to $13,000,000 to cover this
shortfall. This additional appropriation will avoid the need to
bill participating producers an average of $10 each to recover
excess premium. In most cases, the cost of such billing would
exceed the reimbursement owed.
commodity credit corporation fund
The Committee recommends language which would forgive up to
$81,000,000 in marketing loans made by the Commodity Credit
Corporation to producer-owned associations that suffered losses
from Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, or Irene. For certain crops, the
Department of Agriculture provides loans to producer-owned
associations to provide flexibility in marketing commodities.
Such associations use loan proceeds to purchase crops from
individual producers, and subsequently sell the crops to repay
the USDA loan. According to the Office of Management and
Budget, a number of these associations suffered hurricane-
related losses to uninsured crops in storage after the
association had purchased them from producers. Due to
degradation of crop quality, associations cannot sell crop
collateral at prices sufficient to repay the USDA loan.
Forgiving a portion of the association loans would relieve
additional financial stress on these associations and their
members.
The Committee directs that these funds shall be distributed
among any and all affected associations, and among all
qualifying commodities.
RURAL ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
rural community advancement program
The Committee recommends $28,000,000 for water and waste
grants.
The Committee also recommends $15,000,000 for Community
Facilities grants.
Rural Housing Service
rural housing insurance fund program account
The Committee recommends $15,872,000 for the subsidy cost
to support $40,000,000 in direct loans to fund new rural rental
housing projects in areas affected in 1999 by Hurricanes
Dennis, Floyd, or Irene. This will support approximately 1,000
units to house displaced low-income and elderly rural residents
whose housing was damaged or destroyed by last year's
hurricanes.
The Committee also recommends language providing for a loan
level of $296,000,000 for section 502 housing loans and a loan
level of $13,000,000 for section 504 housing repair loans.
rental assistance program
The Committee recommends $13,600,000 in rental assistance
grants to ensure that qualifying low-income tenants in the
1,000 units to be constructed in hurricane-affected areas will
pay no more than 30 percent of their income for housing
expenses.
mutual and self-help housing grants
The Committee recommends $6,000,000 for mutual and self-
help housing grants.
rural housing assistance grants
The Committee recommends $8,000,000 for rural housing
assistance grants.
farm labor program account
The Committee recommends $5,000,000 for grants to low-
income migrant and seasonal farm workers.
Rural Utilities Service
rural electrification and telecommunications loans program account
The Committee recommends $1,021,000 to subsidize the cost
of rural utilities 5 percent hardship loans for an estimated
loan level of $113,250,000.
FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AND RELATED PROGRAMS
Foreign Agricultural Service and General Sales Manager
The Committee recommends an additional $2,000,000 for the
Foreign Agricultural Service to administer and oversee
emergency and other international food assistance. The Service
is expected to undertake activities in support of monetization
where there is the highest potential for promoting and
enhancing economic growth and development in recipient
countries. Further, the Service is directed to specifically
expand its presence in Ukraine where there is a strong
potential for expansion, and Bulgaria, where there is a need
for more adequate administration and monitoring of USDA
programs due to the sharp increase in USDA food aid programs in
the Balkans. The Committee believes these funds will help build
strong U.S. partnerships with emerging economies and enhance
exports to develop long-term markets for U.S. agricultural
inputs and products.
RELATED AGENCIES AND FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
buildings and facilities
The Committee recommends $20,000,000 for the first phase of
construction to replace the Los Angeles, California,
laboratory. This laboratory provides critical technical and
analytical support to FDA's domestic and import inspection
effort, and is a key element in the Agency's science base. The
existing facility is over 40 years old, outmoded to the point
of obsolescence, and unsafe. Expediting this project will
enhance FDA's efforts to assure that products are safe, will
significantly improve operational efficiency, and will provide
a safe working environment for FDA employees.
Additional Matters
bovine tuberculosis
It has come to the Committee's attention that bovine
tuberculosis has been identified in deer for the first time in
Michigan. Free-roaming deer are quickly transferring this
disease to cattle herds throughout the state. This severely
impacts Michigan's dairy and cattle industry.
The Committee urges the Department to address this problem
immediately, through epidemiology and surveillance, deer
ecology, epidemiological risk analysis, disease control and
eradication, and diagnosis and pathogenesis.
The Secretary of Agriculture will be expected to promptly
notify the Committee of any additional funding requirements,
accompanied by official requests for additional funds. The
Secretary is directed to report to the Committee by May 1,
2000, on his plan of action.
plant pests and diseases
The Committee is concerned about the increasing risk to our
national food supply from plant pests and diseases. Recent
examples include citrus canker in Florida, Pierce's disease in
California, plum pox virus in Pennsylvania, Asian longhorned
beetles in Illinois and New York, and Mediterranean and Mexican
fruit flies throughout the southern United States. The
Committee notes that the Secretary of Agriculture has authority
to declare emergencies and to use the resources of the
Commodity Credit Corporation to meet such threats to American
agricultural production. This system has served our country
well for many years by granting the Secretary the power to make
virtually unlimited efforts to eliminate emerging pest and
disease problems before outbreaks expand and become
unmanageable.
It appears that a problem has now arisen with this system.
After the Secretary has made an emergency declaration, the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must apportion funds from
the Treasury before the effort can commence. It appears that
the exercise of this apportionment function has unnecessarily
delayed USDA action, and has permitted problems to expand, and
to increase the cost of eradication. The Committee strongly
believes that this is not a proper use of OMB's ministerial
power.
In particular, the state of Florida is increasing its
effort to control and eradicate citrus canker during the
current fiscal year. The Committee supports this effort, and
directs the Secretary of Agriculture to report by May 1, 2000
on all requests for OMB apportionment of funds under existing
emergency declarations.
Hereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture is directed to
submit to the Committee copies of all apportionments requested
under emergency declarations at the time they are submitted to
OMB, as well as the response received from OMB.
GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS CHAPTER
Section 3101.--The Committee recommends $35,000,000 for
technical assistance to support enrollment of acreage into the
Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program.
These programs provide significant environmental benefits. In
addition, in the current economic crisis facing the farm
sector, these programs provide needed assistance to farmers and
ranchers who want to conserve natural resources but lack
financial resources to do so.
Section 3102.--The Committee recommends a technical
correction to the Act of August 19, 1958 to permit Section
416(b) food aid programs to operate more efficiently.
Section 3103.--The Committee recommends $40,000,000 for
replacement of commercial lime, orange, and grapefruit trees
that have been removed to control citrus canker. The principal
method for controlling the spread of citrus canker is tree
removal, followed by a period of two years for the land to lay
fallow, and five years of lost revenue. The current program
calls for the removal of trees within a 1,900 foot radius of
any detected citrus canker. With current estimates of total
affected acreage, deducting federal crop insurance indemnity,
the Committee estimates that $25,000,000 will be required for
lime trees and $15,000,000 will be required for other trees in
order to compensate growers for lost production.
Section 3104.--The Committee recommends language making
certain areas of Dade County, Florida eligible for Business and
Industry loans.
CHAPTER 2
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
General Administration
salaries and expenses
Recent events in Los Angeles and New York have heightened
public concern about police misconduct. The Committee is
concerned that the Justice Department has not moved
expeditiously to conclude ongoing investigations into patterns
and practices of police misconduct and discrimination in
carrying out law enforcement activities in those cities. The
Committee directs the Justice Department to use resources
already made available to complete these important
investigations and, if inadequate, to use the Department's
authority to supplement such resources, pursuant to
reprogramming requirements.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economic Development Administration
Economic Development Assistance Programs
The Committee recommends $25,800,000, as an emergency
appropriation, to remain available until expended, instead of
$30,550,000 requested as an emergency appropriation and
$900,000 requested as a contingent emergency appropriation.
This amount provides for planning assistance, public works
grants, and capitalization of revolving loans funds to assist
in the recovery efforts of communities impacted Hurricane Floyd
and other recent disasters. The Committee expects the EDA to
submit a spending plan prior to the release of these funds.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Operations, Research, and Facilities
The Committee recommends $19,400,000, as an emergency
appropriation, to remain available until expended, instead of
$23,900,000 requested as an emergency appropriation, and
$5,000,000 requested as a contingent emergency appropriation.
This amount provides $17,400,000 to assist fishermen impacted
by Hurricanes Floyd, Dennis, Georges, and Mitch, as well as to
provide relief from the recent, unexplained, disaster in the
Long Island Sound lobster fishery. The Committee expects NOAA
to submit a spending plan prior to the release of these funds.
In addition, $2,000,000 is provided for repairs to the Beaufort
laboratory in North Carolina damaged as a result of Hurricane
Floyd.
The Committee recommendation does not include additional
amounts requested as contingency funds to address undeclared
and undetermined fisheries disasters. Funds requested for
additional research and assessment activities for the West
Coast groundfish fishery are not included. The fiscal year 2000
appropriations Act included an enhancement of $1,540,000 to
augment ongoing research and assessment activities to study the
continuing decline of the West Coast groundfish fishery.
RELATED AGENCY
Small Business Administration
Disaster Loans Program Account
The Committee recommends an additional $33,300,000 in
emergency fiscal year 2000 subsidy appropriations for disaster
loans for recovery efforts related to Hurricane Floyd, and
other natural disasters, instead of $31,000,000 as requested.
The Committee notes that, when combined with previous
appropriations, this additional amount will provide for a total
fiscal year 2000 disaster loan program level of $1,201,000,000.
The Committee also recommends an additional $27,600,000 in
emergency fiscal year 2000 appropriations for direct
administrative expenses associated with disaster loan making
and servicing activities necessary to carry out the disaster
loan program related to Hurricane Floyd and other natural
disasters, instead of $19,500,000 as requested. The
recommendation includes language, not requested, that no funds
provided shall be used for indirect administrative expenses.
The Committee notes that this additional amount results in a
total appropriation of $143,600,000 for the direct
administrative costs of the fiscal year 2000 disaster loan
program.
The Committee notes that the amounts provided exceed the
requested amount due to updated projections by the Small
Business Administration which include disaster loan activity
since the time of the request.
Language is included designating the amounts provided as an
emergency requirement, and making these amounts available only
to the extent that an official budget request is submitted
requesting that these specific amounts be designated as an
emergency requirement as defined in the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.
CHAPTER 3
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE--CIVIL
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Corps of Engineers--Civil
General Investigations
The Committee recommendation includes $1,500,000 for the
Corps of Engineers to conduct a study of the need for
additional flood protection in Princeville, North Carolina. The
entire amount is designated by the Congress as an emergency
requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.
national shoreline erosion control development and demonstration
program
The Committee directs the Corps of Engineers to fully fund
the artificial reef, Cape May Point, New Jersey Demonstration
project from the funds appropriated in the FY2000 Energy and
Water Development Appropriations Act for the National Shoreline
Erosion Control Development and Demonstration Program.
Operation and Maintenance, General
The Committee has recommended $27,925,000 for the Corps of
Engineers to perform emergency maintenance of projects impacted
by natural disasters in 1999, $8,750,000 more than the amount
requested by the Administration. The work to be performed
includes dredging, repairs to dredged material disposal areas,
snagging and clearing, and scour protection at navigation
projects impacted by Hurricanes Floyd, Bret, and Irene. The
entire amount has been designated by the Congress as an
emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as
amended.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ENERGY PROGRAMS
Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund
The Committee recommendation includes $16,000,000 as
proposed by the Administration. This funding will be used to
accelerate environmental cleanup at the Paducah, Kentucky, and
Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plants. The entire amount
has been designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement
pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.
ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
Other Defense Activities
(including transfer of fund)
The Committee recommendation includes $63,000,000 for Other
Defense Activities, an increase of $45,000,000 over the
Administration's request. Of the total, $4,000,000 is offset by
the transfer of unobligated balances in the ``Biomass energy
development'' account. The entire amount has been designated by
the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section
251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act of 1985, as amended.
Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down Project.--The Committee
recommendation includes language authorizing the Department to
initiate design of the Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down
Project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. No
additional funding is required for this project in fiscal year
2000.
Office of Security and Emergency Operations.--The Committee
recommendation supports the Administration's request of
$4,000,000 for the Office of Security and Emergency Operations
to support critical staffing needs. The funding will support an
additional 16 employees. As these employees are hired, the
Committee expects the Office to reduce its reliance on support
service contractors and management and operating contractor
detailees.
Cyber Security.--The Committee recommendation for cyber
security activities is $49,000,000, an increase of $45,000,000
over the Administration's request of $4,000,000. The additional
funding is provided to address urgent cyber security needs at
the three nuclear weapons laboratories and to establish the
requirements and develop prototypes to enhance protection of
the Department's classified networks.
Environment, Safety and Health.--The Committee
recommendation supports the Administration's request of
$10,000,000 to accelerate projects which have been initiated to
address worker health and safety concerns at the Paducah,
Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plants.
CHAPTER 4
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
Wildland Fire Management
The Committee recommends an additional $100,000,000 for
wildland fire management. This amount is contingent upon
receipt of a budget request that includes a Presidential
designation of the amount requested as an emergency requirement
as defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control
Act of 1985, as amended.
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Construction
The Committee recommends an additional $5,000,000 for
construction to repair damage due to hurricanes. The Committee
understands that these funds will be used for repairs to
Service property in the States of Maryland, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.
National Park Service
Construction
The Committee recommends an additional $4,000,000 for
construction to repair or replace visitor facilities,
equipment, roads and trails, and cultural sites and artifacts
at national park units damaged by ice storms, floods,
hurricanes and lightning. The Committee understands that these
funds will be used for repairs to Service property in Alabama,
Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi,
New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands.
United States Geological Survey
Surveys, Investigations, and Research
The Committee recommends an additional $1,800,000 for
surveys, investigations, and research to repair or replace
stream monitoring equipment and associated facilities damaged
by storms, floods, and hurricanes. The Committee understands
that these funds will be used for repairs in the States of
Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia.
RELATED AGENCY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Wildland Fire Management
The Committee recommends an additional $150,000,000 for
wildland fire management. This amount is contingent upon
receipt of a budget request that includes a Presidential
designation of the amount requested as an emergency requirement
as defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control
Act of 1985, as amended.
CHAPTER 5
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Low Income Home Energy Assistance
The Committee recommends $600,000,000 to replenish the
Emergency Fund of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program, the same as recommended by the Administration.
CHAPTER 6
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
COAST GUARD
Operating Expenses
The bill appropriates an additional $37,000,000 for the
Coast Guard's operating expenses. This amount includes
$18,000,000 for additional and unanticipated health care costs
for Coast Guard personnel, their dependents, and retirees, and
$19,000,000 for aviation spare parts. The entire amount
appropriated has been designated as an emergency requirement
pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control
Act of 1985, as amended. The administration proposed similar
supplemental funding for health care costs, but was derived by
transfer from funding made available to the Department of
Defense.
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
Federal-aid Highways
Emergency Relief Program
(Highway Trust Fund)
The bill provides an appropriation of $600,000,000 to fund
the backlog of requests for damage repairs necessary due to
disasters. Since the beginning of fiscal year 1999, the
emergency relief program has been facing heavy demand for on-
going funding needs from events approved in prior years. This
coupled with requests for funding for events which occurred in
fiscal year 1999 such as Hurricanes Floyd and Dennis
contributed to the current backlog of requests. The funding
needs far exceeded the annual authorization of $100,000,000 for
the emergency relief program. The entire amount appropriated
has been designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as
amended.
RELATED AGENCY
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD
Salaries and Expenses
The bill provides $24,739,000 to reimburse the Navy for
wreckage location and recovery of Egypt Air 990 and Alaska Air
261, as well as for facilities, technical assistance, and
testing associated with the investigations. The entire amount
appropriated has been designated as an emergency requirement
pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control
Act of 1985, as amended.
GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS CHAPTER
The Committee has included a provision that prohibits the
use of any funding provided in the regular fiscal year 2000
Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriation Act for
operation of the transportation computer center.
The Committee has included a provision that enacts an
executive draft on federal transportation in the national
capital region.
CHAPTER 7
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Community Planning and Development
HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM
The Committee recommends providing $25,000,000 for the
North Carolina Housing Finance Agency for the purpose of
providing temporary rental assistance, and for development of
affordable housing needed for persons dislocated by the floods
caused by Hurricane Floyd and surrounding events. North
Carolina estimates that 2,000 families, including many
homeowners, were displaced by the floods that ravaged parts of
North Carolina. This appropriation will enable the State to
provide temporary rental assistance to low-income families who
lost their homes and will enable communities to begin
rebuilding. The Committee has also recommended an additional
$11,000,000 for disaster related work through the New Jersey
Department of Community Affairs.
Administrative Provision
The Committee has included language providing for one-year
renewal, using unobligated amounts in the Housing Certificate
Fund, of certain homeless assistance grants that were not
renewed in the most recent HUD funding cycle.
INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
Federal Emergency Management Agency
DISASTER RELIEF
The Committee recommendation permits an additional
$77,400,000 in emergency funds appropriated to FEMA to be used
for home buyouts and relocation assistance for flood victims of
Hurricane Floyd in North Carolina and other affected states,
the same as proposed in the President's request. Public Law
106-113 made a portion of the appropriation for ``disaster
relief'' available for buyout of principal residences that have
been made uninhabitable by flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd
and surrounding events and established conditions for
eligibility. Upon further review, FEMA has determined that
additional funds are required to satisfy the most urgent buyout
and relocation needs in the affected areas. While rules for
administering this effort are just now being finalized, the
Committee agrees with the goals of FEMA as they seek to remove
people from the 100-year floodplain, thereby reducing the cost
of future disasters.
The Committee understands that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has substantially completed a flood control project
in Harlan County, Kentucky, and directs the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to make necessary revisions to the
flood plain map for the area. An addendum to the existing map
for the affected project areas should be made available to the
City and County of Harlan.
From within the amounts available to FEMA, the Committee
directs FEMA to provide up to $200,000 to the National Ground
Water Association to assemble and disseminate information
promoting safe disinfection procedures for ground water wells
contaminated by flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The supplemental request included a rescission of
$40,000,000 designated by the Congress for a space shuttle
science mission and proposed using these funds for shuttle
upgrades and hiring of additional staff at four NASA centers.
The Committee remains committed to the need for a dedicated
space shuttle science mission and therefore has not taken the
action proposed in the supplemental request. Instead, the
Committee recommends additional appropriations for ``Human
space flight'' of $25,800,000 to be used for the most urgent
upgrades to ensure the safe operation of the space shuttle
fleet. During fiscal year 1999 NASA discovered significant
wiring problems with the shuttle fleet which resulted in launch
delays. Numerous other safety upgrades have been identified as
requiring urgent resolution and the Committee is encouraged
that NASA appears to be developing a comprehensive upgrade
program. The most recent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel report
noted ``. . . the slow-paced implementation of the Orbiter
Upgrade Program does not bode well for any early improvements .
. . in identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities.'' The panel
urged NASA and the Congress to follow closely the findings and
recommendations of the National Research Council's report,
``Upgrading the Space Shuttle'' (1999). It is the Committee's
intent that NASA pursue the direction of the Advisory Panel
with regard to upgrades. Related to the issue of upgrades is
the recognition that NASA's aggressive down-sizing plan has
placed the safe operation of the fleet in jeopardy. To resolve
this issue, the Committee recommends an appropriation of
$20,200,000 for ``Mission support'' for hiring up to 282 FTE to
augment NASA's staff and the Johnson, Kennedy, Marshall, and
Stennis Centers. Finally, the Committee recommends an
appropriation of $29,000,000 for ``Science, aeronautics and
technology'' to address urgent and unanticipated program needs.
Transfers of Funds
The Committee has included language transferring $2,600,000
from the Environmental Protection Agency, environmental
programs and management account to the state and tribal
assistance grants account.
TITLE IV
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND OFFSETS
CHAPTER 1
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
Weapons Activities
The Committee recommendation includes $55,000,000 as
proposed by the Administration. This funding will be used to
address critical workforce and required infrastructure
improvements at three production facilities. Additional funding
of $45,000,000 is included for the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee; $7,000,000 is included for the Kansas City Plant in
Missouri; and $3,000,000 is included for the Pantex Plant in
Amarillo, Texas.
Energy Programs
science
The Committee directs the Department to develop a plan
outlining the cost, scope, and schedule for decontaminating and
decommissioning the High Flux Beam Reactor at the Brookhaven
National Laboratory.
CHAPTER 2
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
State and Private Forestry
(Transfer of Funds)
The Committee recommends an additional $500,000 for State
and private forestry, to be derived by transfer from
unobligated balances in the wildland fire management account,
for volunteer fire assistance programs in those counties in
North Carolina where the President has made emergency
declarations. The Committee recognizes the extreme and
unprecedented damage to eastern North Carolina by Hurricane
Floyd and the excellent emergency work done by local volunteer
fire departments to protect life and property. These funds
should be distributed among all affected counties on the basis
of population.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Conservation
The Committee recommends an additional $19,000,000 for
energy conservation to become available on October 1, 2000 for
weatherization assistance grants. The Committee notes that
weatherization assistance funds are not distributed until many
months after they are appropriated. The Committee is providing
these funds, and the advance notice of their availability, so
that they will be available prior to the next winter heating
season. The Committee expects the Department to make the
necessary preparations to ensure that these funds can be
distributed as soon as they become available. The Department of
Energy estimates that with these funds approximately 9,500
additional homes can be weatherized.
CHAPTER 3
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration
Salaries and Expenses
The Committee recommends this technical change to clarify
that funds collected by the National Mine Health and Safety
Academy for tuition, room, board, and other authorized
activities can be used to support these activities in addition
to the $228,373,000 appropriated in the Departments of Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2000.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
health resources and services
The Committee recommends $20,000,000, for special projects
of regional and national significance (SPRANS) for abstinence
education activities. This funding shall become available on
October 1, 2000 and remain available until September 30, 2001.
The committee supports abstinence education for
adolescents, ages 12 through 18, and supports expansion of
efforts to present an abstinence-only message to America's
youth. The preliminary results from these programs in states
such as Oklahoma are promising. It is important, however, to
ensure that America's youth do not receive mixed messages, or
medically inaccurate information. The legislation directs that
abstinence messages given to a group of youth by a grantee must
not be diluted by any instructor or materials from the same
grantee. Nothing in the legislation is intended to prevent
these adolescents from seeking health information or services.
Nothing shall preclude entities who are teaching these
abstinence-only classes and who have a public health mandate
from discussing other forms of sexual conduct or providing
services, as long as this is conducted in a different setting
than where and when the abstinence-only course is being
conducted.
The committee is also committed to studying the
effectiveness of abstinence education, of sexuality education,
and of lack of education in these areas. In order to properly
track the long term effects of these programs, it is necessary
to conduct longitudinal studies that follow groups of
adolescents receiving a particular curricula for a number of
years. Therefore the committee provides up to 2.5% of the
funding under this legislation to study, track and evaluate
groups of youth who receive such education, including a
representative sample of adolescent clients who use Federally
funded family planning services. These cohorts should be large
enough to provide statistically significant results in all
major population segments of American society, including
African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, Hispanics, and Native
Americans. They should also be able to track socio-economic
variables as well. Criteria for success should include
prevention and reduction of out of wedlock pregnancies and
sexually transmitted diseases, including both viral and
bacterial; rates of abortion; age at first intercourse; and
numbers who postpone intercourse throughout adolescence.
Progress reports should be submitted to Congress annually.
National Institutes of Health
buildings and facilities
The enacted fiscal year 2000 appropriation for the
Buildings and Facilities program contained $27,000,000 intended
for the Clinical Research Center.
Administration for Children and Families
Refugee and entrant assistance
The Committee recommends extending the availability of
Refugee and Entrant Assistance funds to a three-year period.
The Administration included this proposal in the FY 2001
President's Budget. With the extended availability of these
funds, States will have three years to obligate and expend
funds, negating the need for continued reappropriations in this
account.
Payments to the States for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance
The Committee recommends an additional $35,000,000 for
Payments to the States for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance.
The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-169)
expanded service available to older youth in Foster Care and
certain youths that have aged out of Foster Care. It also
increased funding to $140,000,000.
The supplemental funds recommended by the Committee along
with the $105,000,000 provided in the Departments of Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2000 will assure full funding for this
program.
Administration on Aging
Aging services programs
The Committee recommends extending the availability of
several specified items funded in the Administration on Aging.
GENERAL PROVISIONS--DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Section 4301.--The Committee recommends that the authority
to transfer funds among accounts, an authority provided to all
agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, be
removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Committee received testimony that the agency has
provided Congress with inaccurate spending data, the result of
both a culture of disrespect for the role of Congress and a
breakdown of budgetary and financial management systems. The
Committee understands that the Director and the Secretary have
taken aggressive steps to begin to address this situation.
These include:
Certification, by the Departmental Chief Financial
Officer of all National Center for Infectious Diseases'
expenditures;
Certified training on budget execution and financial
management by the Departmental Chief Financial Officer
for all senior managers in the National Center for
Infectious Diseases;
An external review of all CDC fiscal management
practices;
A review of all of CDC's 133 programs to assure that
there are no further discrepancies between
Congressional directives and reports to Congress and
the way money is actually being spent;
A review by an independent auditing firm of all
expenditures relating to hantavirus;
New leadership for the viral disease programs.
The Committee believes that the flexibilities it provides
to the departments and agencies under its jurisdiction can only
be carried out when proper management controls and systems are
in place. The Committee will re-evaluate the ability of the
agency to manage its budgetary resources in the fiscal year
2001 bill. The Committee expects the agency to refrain from
exercising this transfer authority prior to the enactment of
this supplemental appropriation.
Section 4302.--The Committee recommends the repeal of
Section 216 of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 2000. This section provides for the delayed obligation of
funds within a number of accounts listed in the table below. As
a result of this action, the department and agencies funded by
this Act will be able to obligate funds in the normal pattern.
DELAYED OBLIGATIONS
National Institutes of Health........................... $3,000,000,000
Health Resources and Services Administration............ 450,000,000
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.............. 500,000,000
Children and Family Services Programs................... 400,000,000
Social Services Block Grant............................. 425,000,000
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. 200,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total............................................... 4,975,000,000
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Education Research, Statistics and Improvement
The Committee recommends several technical changes to the
names of individual projects funded in this account.
GENERAL PROVISIONS--DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Section 4303.--The Committee recommends that Section 304 of
the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 be
repealed. Section 304 permits the Department of Education to
transfer up to 1% of any appropriation among accounts. The
total increase may not exceed 3%. This provision was originally
included in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1997. The Committee report accompanying the House bill for
this fiscal year and from time-to-time in following fiscal
years included the following language in the section related to
Departmental Management:
Each of the departments under the Committee's
jurisdiction is statutorily required to have audited
financial statements covering all the department's
accounts and activities. Congress enacted this
requirement in the Government Management Reform Act of
1994 after having observed the benefits of the pilot
program of audited financial statements that had been
required by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of
1990. An audited financial statement is like a
``scorecard'' that reflects a department's progress in
achieving the significant financial management reforms
required by the CFO Act, and in providing effective
stewardship and management of government funds.
Accordingly, the Committee expects the Department to
work vigorously towards obtaining a clean opinion on
its financial statements. The transfer and
reprogramming authority the Committee has granted
provides substantial flexibility to the Department and
is particularly valuable during periods of increasing
fiscal constraints. However, the Committee questions
the extent to which agencies can properly exercise such
authority and accurately account for affected funds if
they have not made substantial progress towards
achieving the CFO Act's financial management reforms.
Accordingly, in subsequent years, the Committee will
consider the Department's progress in making such
reforms and in obtaining a clean opinion on its
financial statements when scrutinizing requests for
current appropriations and in deciding whether to
continue, expand or limit transfer and reprogramming
authority.
As a result of difficulties encountered in the installation
of a new financial management system and several material
weaknesses only tangentially related to the installation of the
financial system, the independent auditors of the Department's
fiscal year 1998 statement indicated that they ``. . . were
unable to obtain sufficient evidential support for the amounts
presented. . . .'' The Committee, as evidenced in its reports,
believes that the audited statement is important both as an
achievement itself and an indicator of the concern management
places on this critical area. Given the multiple failures
delineated in the Report of the Independent Auditors, the
Committee believes that the Department's transfer authority
should be suspended. The Committee will review this decision in
the fiscal year 2001 bill. The Committee expects the Department
to refrain from exercising this authority until after the
enactment of this supplemental appropriation.
The Committee notes that the independent auditors of the
Department's 1998 statement indicated that they ``. . . were
unable to obtain sufficient evidential support for the amounts
presented . . .'' and, thus, issued a disclaimer of opinion on
the 1998 financial statements. This occurred after the
Department had received the previous year a ``clean'',
unqualified opinion on its financial statements. Given the
results of the 1998 audit, the Committee believes that the
Department's transfer authority should be suspended for the
remainder of fiscal year 2000. The Committee expects the
Department to refrain from exercising this authority until
after the enactment of this supplemental appropriation. The
Committee also notes that the 1999 audit released on March 1,
2000 shows improvement over 1998 and will review its decision
in the fiscal year 2001 bill.
Section 4304.--The Committee recommends that the authority
of agencies under the Subcommittee's jurisdiction to carry over
salary and expense funds for one additional quarter be removed
from the Department of Education and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The purpose of this provision was to
avoid year-end spending simply to obligate expiring funds. The
provision was first included in the Departments of Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1999. As with transfer authority, the
Committee believes that this increased flexibility is available
to departments that have shown effective managerial oversight
of budget execution and modern, operational financial systems.
Since the enactment of the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2000 serious deficiencies have appeared in
the budget and financial management and reporting systems of
several agencies and departments funded by that bill.
1. The Independent auditors for the Department of Education
were unable to obtain sufficient evidentiary support for the
amounts presented in the consolidated balance sheet as of
September 30, 1998. The Committee believes that this failure
represents a serious breakdown. As such, the Committee
recommends suspending this authority through the end of the
fiscal year. The Committee will review the progress of the
agency toward attaining a clean opinion as part of the agency
management review in the fiscal 2001 bill.
2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
indicated in testimony before the Committee that it provided
incorrect information to the Committee with respect to spending
levels for hantavirus and had not followed Congressional
directives with respect to funding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
The Secretary and the Director of CDC have moved aggressively
to address these problems. However, the Committee believes that
CDC should not exercise the flexibilities included in this
provision until there is firm evidence that the recently
initiated reforms are effective. The Committee will review the
progress of the agency as part of the agency management review
during the consideration of the fiscal 2001 bill.
Sec. 4305.--The Committee recommends technical corrections
in the conforming amendments on the set-asides in the Welfare-
to-Work Amendments of 1999 as enacted by the Consolidated
Omnibus Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106-113
at 113 Stat. 1501A-286). The last 3 zeroes were omitted in
setting forth the amounts of three reserved set-asides in FY
1999.
CHAPTER 4
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
CONGRESSIONAL OPERATIONS
JOINT ITEMS
Capitol Police Board
SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS
The bill provides an additional $1,874,000 to the Capitol
Police Board for security enhancements at the Library of
Congress to complete the closed circuit television ($1,390,000)
and access control ($484,000) improvement tasks. These
projects, initially funded in the Omnibus Consolidated and
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, Public Law
105-277, require additional funding for the closed circuit
television installation and the bollard perimeter at the James
Madison Memorial Building.
ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL
Capitol Buildings and Grounds
fire safety
The bill provides $15,166,000 to the Architect of the
Capitol to address deficiencies identified in the Office of
Compliance's recently issued ``Report on Fire Safety
Inspections of Congressional Buildings''.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, the Office of
Compliance identified 173 potential fire safety hazards or
violations in the Capitol and House office buildings. The
Office of the Architect has advised the Committee that most of
these findings have been addressed through a combination of
ongoing studies, designs, project implementations, or existing
funding. The funding in this bill will provide the resources
necessary to address all remaining findings with design or
construction funds, testing and maintenance services, or
studies of appropriate options. The Architect of the Capitol
has indicated that since report issuance, 66 of the findings
either had been or now have been resolved; 15 are still in
process of being corrected, and study, design, or construction
funds have already been appropriated for another 92 items. In
this bill, funding is provided to continue design and
implementation for 24 of the 92 projects which can be started
during fiscal year 2000. For the remaining 68 of the 92
projects, further study and design solutions are in process and
need to be completed before the Architect will have the
necessary documentation to request additional funding. For some
projects, additional funds will probably be required when
solution options are determined and/or designs have been
completed.
In addition, the Committee has provided funds to address
similar fire safety issues that the Architect has identified in
other buildings under his jurisdiction, namely the Library of
Congress, the Botanic Garden and the Capitol Power Plant. In
order to avoid unnecessary permanent staff build-up for
temporary design and construction tasks, the bill also provides
funds for project management and fire engineering services.
A list of the specific projects funded in the bill follows:
Recommended in bill
U.S. Capitol:
Study and design, replace Halon systems............. $40,000
Asbestos survey, all buildings...................... 1,225,000
Install smoke detectors & fire alarm system......... 2,600,000
Fire alarm system upgrade........................... 50,000
Testing emergency generators & switchgear, all
buildings......................................... 1,170,000
Fire safety project management & engineering
services.......................................... 1,704,000
Study damper/smoke control.......................... 50,000
Fire safety standard operating procedures & program
development....................................... 200,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total U.S. Capitol................................ 7,039,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
House office buildings:
Replace Omega sprinkler heads, LHOB & CHOB.......... $100,000
Design, replacement of switchgear, FHOB............. 30,000
Design, replace Halon fire suppression systems,
RHOB, CHOB, FHOB, & OHOB.......................... 125,000
Fire alarm system upgrade, RHOB, LHOB, CHOB,& FHOB.. 190,000
Upgrade pull stations, RHOB......................... 20,000
Design, fire protection for areas not covered by
sprinkler systems, CHOB, LHOB, FHOB............... 107,000
Survey for emergency lighting upgrade, all buildings
including garages................................. 209,000
Elevator fireman's recall, RHOB, LHOB, CHOB, & FHOB. 41,000
Storage of hazardous materials, west underground
garage............................................ 25,000
Design, refuge areas, all buildings................. 155,000
Correct fire wall penetrations, all buildings....... 40,000
Fire dampers, CHOB storerooms....................... 10,000
Fire safety project management...................... 200,000
RHOB sprinklers & telecommunications cable tray
systems........................................... 1,815,000
Emergency generator, LHOB........................... 150,000
Emergency power distribution, LHOB.................. 325,000
Sprinkler mechanical equipment rooms, all buildings. 36,000
Study damper/smoke control, all buildings........... 235,000
Emergency power distribution, CHOB.................. 400,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total House Office Buildings...................... 4,213,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Capitol power plant: Fire alarm upgrade for ADA......... 3,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Botanic garden:
Design, D.C village refuge areas.................... 10,000
Study damper/smoke control.......................... 11,000
Design, D.C. village fire alarm system for ADA...... 5,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total Botanic Garden.............................. 26,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Library Buildings And Grounds, Structural and Mechanical
Care:
Replace sprinkler heads, all buildings.............. 550,000
Replace switch gear, JMMB........................... 1,750,000
Study & design, replace Halon fire suppression
systems, all buildings............................ 120,000
Study, emergency lighting, all buildings............ 200,000
ADA fire alarm upgrades, all buildings.............. 750,000
Design, refuge areas, all buildings................. 85,000
Fire safety project management...................... 200,000
Study damper/smoke control, all buildings........... 230,000
--------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________
Total Library Buildings and Grounds............... 3,885,000
========================================================
____________________________________________________
Total All Items (Excluding Senate office buildings)..... 15,166,000
Abbreviations: ADA--Americans with Disabilities Act; CHOB--Cannon House
Office Building; FHOB--Ford House Office Building; JMMB--James Madison
Memorial Building; LHOB--Longworth House Office Building; OHOB--O'Neill
House Office Building; RHOB--Rayburn House Office Building.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER 5
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
processing, assistance and management
The President has requested an additional $19,796,000 for a
new initiative, Staffing Tax Administration for Balance and
Equity (STABLE). The Committee believes that this request
should be considered within the context of the fiscal year 2001
appropriations process and denies, without prejudice, funding
for this initiative in fiscal year 2000.
tax law enforcement
The President has requested an additional $6,807,000 for a
new initiative, Staffing Tax Administration for Balance and
Equity (STABLE). The Committee believes that this request
should be considered within the context of the fiscal year 2001
appropriations process and denies, without prejudice, funding
for this initiative in fiscal year 2000.
information systems
The President has requested an additional $13,180,000 for a
new initiative, Staffing Tax Administration for Balance and
Equity (STABLE). The Committee believes that this request
should be considered within the context of the fiscal year 2001
appropriations process and denies, without prejudice, funding
for this initiative in fiscal year 2000.
INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
Committee for the Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled
salaries and expenses
The President has requested an additional $687,000 to
finance the expanded marketing of Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD)
products to federal employees. The Committee believes that this
request should be considered within the context of the fiscal
year 2001 appropriations process and denies, without prejudice,
additional funding in fiscal year 2000.
General Services Administration
policy and operations
The President has requested an additional $2,000,000 for
the General Services Administration's efforts related to
information security and, specifically, for the Federal
Computer Incident Response Center. The Committee believes this
request should be considered within the context of the fiscal
year 2001 appropriations process and denies, without prejudice,
additional funding in fiscal year 2000.
Office of Personnel Management
salaries and expenses
The President has requested an additional $1,000,000 for
ongoing work related to ensuring the availability of
information security personnel in federal agencies in light of
changes in GSA purchasing practices. The Committee believes
that this request should be considered within the context of
the fiscal year 2001 appropriations process and denies, without
prejudice, additional funding in fiscal year 2000.
CHAPTER 6
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Veterans Health Administration
medical care
Language is included in the bill permitting the Department
of Veterans Affairs to use up to $200,000 of fiscal year 2000
funds for planning and technical assistance needs for the 2002
Paralympic Games. The Committee recognizes that the Department
is the nation's leader in rehabilitative medicine and already
sponsors several successful sporting events for disabled
athletes. The Committee expects the Department's level of
effort to be no less than that for the 1996 Paralympic Games
and directs the Department to submit a plan for participating
in the 2002 Paralympic Games by May 1, 2000.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Community Planning and Development
homeless assistance grants
The Committee has included language clarifying that 1% of
the technical assistance funds may be used for management and
information systems needed to track the number of clients
served by homeless programs.
Federal Housing Administration
fha-general and special risk program account
The Committee recommends providing $49,000,000 in credit
subsidy necessary for HUD to commit estimated levels of
mortgage loan commitments. The Committee is concerned, however,
that this additional appropriation is necessary only because
HUD refused to adhere to the assumptions made by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in determining credit subsidy rates
when the President's Budget request was submitted to Congress.
This failure violates budget conventions and HUD is admonished
to refrain from similar actions in the future.
Management and Administration
office of inspector general
The Committee recommends extending the time period for the
expenditure of funds from one year to two years, and provides
that $6,000,000 of the appropriation is not available for
obligation until October 1, 2000. This longer term facilitates
the implementation of the Anti-fraud initiative, including the
hiring of the remaining new staff needed and coordinating with
local enforcement officials.
Administrative Provision
The Committee has included language clarifying that
assisted families continue to have the right to elect to remain
in the same unit of their project if that project is eligible
to receive enhanced vouchers.
INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
Environmental Protection Agency
environmental programs and management
The Committee has included bill language which clarifies
the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to make certain
grants for watershed and aquifer protection work in the State
of New York which had been provided in the fiscal year 2000
Appropriations Act.
Bill language has also been included which transfers
$2,600,000 appropriated in fiscal year 1999 as a grant to
develop an automated data center and for other monitoring and
information gathering work in the State of Pennsylvania, to the
State and tribal assistance grants account for specific
wastewater and sewer infrastructure improvements in the State
of Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER 7
OFFSETS
Section 4701.--The Committee recommends language to
prohibit funding for the Fund for Rural America.
Section 4702.--The Committee recommends language to
prohibit funding for the Initiative for Future Agriculture and
Food Systems.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
Defense Environmental Restoration and Waste Management
(rescission)
The Committee recommendation rescinds $13,000,000 as
proposed by the Administration.
Other Defense Activities
(rescission)
The Committee recommendation rescinds $40,000,000 from
funds appropriated in fiscal year 1999 for United States/
Russian plutonium disposition activities. These funds have been
identified as excess to current program needs, and the
Administration has proposed to defer the availability of these
funds until fiscal year 2003.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
general departmental management
(rescission)
The Committee recommends rescinding an advance
appropriation of $20,000,000 for title XX of the Public Health
Service Act for abstinence education activities. The Committee
has provided for these activities under the Health Resources
and Services Administration.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
federal information technology systems and related expenses
(rescission)
The bill includes a rescission of $26,600,000 from
unobligated balances of the funds transferred to the Department
of Transportation for Year 2000 conversion of Federal
information technology systems and related expenses. The bill
also includes a provision that the Department of Transportation
shall allocate this rescission among the appropriate accounts
within the Department and report such allocation to the House
and Senate Committees on Appropriations.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Public and Indian Housing
housing certificate fund
Language proposed by the Administration to cancel
$25,000,000 of unexpended balances from this account has not
been included.
Language proposed by the Administration to rescind
$103,000,000 of obligated balances from this account has not
been included.
TITLE V
GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS ACT
Section 5102.--The Committee has included language that
repeals certain pay date shifts that were included in the
Fiscal Year 2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act. That Act
provided that when military members were to be paid on
September 30, 2000, or when civilian employees were to be paid
on September 29, 2000, or on September 30, 2000, these groups
were to be paid on October 1, 2000. Section 5002 of this Act
repeals those pay date shifts.
Section 5103.--Language is included in the bill that makes
a technical correction to the budget scoring provisions of the
Fiscal Year 2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act. This scoring
correction is made effective immediately after enactment of
this Act. This correction will not have any effect on OMB
scoring of that legislation.
Section 5104.--The bill includes a provision that waives
sequestration for any budget breach that might be caused by the
appropriations included in the bill. At the time of preparation
of this bill, OMB scoring was not available, and it was not
clear whether this provision would be needed. As this
legislation progresses, the OMB scoring will be further
assessed to see whether this provision needs to be retained.
Waiving sequestration, if necessary, would be consistent with
the development of fiscal year 2000 appropriations. The measure
of fiscal control for this fiscal year has been whether the on-
budget surplus was breached, or whether the Social Security
Trust Fund was used rather than whether the budget caps were
breached. It is in this same policy this bill has been
developed. A technical breach of the budget caps is not viewed
as the relevant fiscal control.
Section 5105.--The Committee bill includes a general
provision, requested in the supplemental budget request, which
provides authorization for funds in the Committee bill (or
funds made available by transfer) for intelligence activities.
Section 5106.--The Committee bill includes a general
provision, requested in the supplemental budget request, which
repeals provisions in the Department of Defense Appropriations
Act, 2000, regarding prompt payment and progress payments for
defense contracts.
Sec. 5107.--The Committee bill includes a general provision
which provides that no funds appropriated to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for fiscal year 2000 may be used to
relocate, or to plan for the relocation of, the functions or
personnel of the Technical Training Center from its location in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Changes in the Application of Existing Law
Pursuant to clause 3(f)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the following statements are
submitted describing the effect of provisions in the
accompanying bill which directly or indirectly change the
application of existing law.
The bill includes several appropriations that are not
authorized by law and as such may be construed as legislative
in nature.
The bill includes several emergency appropriation and
contingent emergency appropriation designations that may be
construed as legislative in nature.
Language is included under Department of Agriculture,
Emergency Conservation Program, which allows the use of
unobligated balances for repair and reconstruction of farm
structures and equipment under certain conditions.
Language is included under Department of Agriculture,
Commodity Credit Corporation Fund, which directs the Secretary
to provide assistance to marketing associations under certain
conditions.
Language is included which provides additional funds for
conservation technical assistance, notwithstanding section 11
of the Commodity Credit Corporation Act.
Language is included which prohibits funding for the Fund
for Rural America.
Language is included which prohibits funding for the
Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems.
Language is included which provides $40,000,000 for
replacement of commercial lime, orange, and grapefruit trees
that have been removed to control citrus canker.
Language is included making certain areas of Dade County,
Florida eligible for Business and Industry loans.
Language is included under Department of State, Security
and Maintenance of United States Missions, providing that
appropriations are available notwithstanding section 15 of the
State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, which provides transfer authority and specific
authorization for funds in support of counter-drug efforts in
Colombia.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, providing funds for economic development activities
on the island of Vieques.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, under ``Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer
Fund'', which increases the number of appropriations accounts
to which funds may be transferred.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, concerning funds for intelligence related programs.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, which provides additional authority to maintain
housing allowances at the 1999 levels for fiscal year 2000.
Language has been included for Department of Defense--
Military, which provides for the obligation of funds for prior
year contracts for the TRICARE health care program.
Language is included under the Corps of Engineers, General
Investigations, which states that the study of flood protection
for Princeville, North Carolina, may include any flood
mitigation measures that the Secretary of the Army determines
are necessary.
Language has been included under ``Other defense
activities'' which authorizes the Department of Energy to
initiate design of the Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down
Project.
Two rescissions and one transfer of previously appropriated
funds are included under Atomic Energy Defense Activities.
Under ``Operating Expenses of the Agency for International
Development'', funds are made available until September 30,
2001.
Under ``Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic
States'', funds are made available until September 30, 2001;
funds are made available only for assistance for Montenegro and
Croatia, assistance to support democratization in Serbia, and
not to exceed $12,400,000 for assistance for Kosovo; and funds
made available for Kosovo may only be used for police
activities.
Under ``International Military Education and Training'',
funds are made available until September 30, 2001; and funds
are made available for grants to countries of the Balkans and
southeast Europe.
Under ``Foreign Military Financing Program'', funds are
made available until September 30, 2001; funds are made
available for grants to counties of the Balkans and southeast
Europe; and such grants shall be nonrepayable notwithstanding
sections 23(b) and 23(c) of the Arms Export Control Act.
Language is included under Bilateral Economic Assistance
establishing a new Assistance Plan for Colombia and for Andean
Regional Counternarcotics Activities account, making the funds
appropriated available until expended, exempting the funds from
the application of section 482(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961, and allowing any agency to which funds are transferred
or allocated to use part of such transfer or allocation for
administrative expenses incurred after February 6, 2000. Other
language under the account mandates the availability of funds
for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and other countries, directs that
the Defense Security Cooperation Agency manage the procurement
of certain helicopters, directs that 2 helicopters be used by
the Colombian National Police, and requires a report on the
proposed use of funds prior to initial obligation.
Language is included under Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, transferring funds
from the Wildland Fire Management account for volunteer fire
assistance programs in North Carolina.
Language is included under the Mine Safety and Health
Administration, Salaries and Expense account to make $750,000
available from room, board and fees of the Mine Safety and
Health Academy in addition to the amounts appropriated.
Language is included under the Department of Health and
Human Services, Refugee and Entrant Assistance to extend the
availability of certain funds for an additional year.
Language is included under the Department of Health and
Human Services, Administration on Aging, Aging Services
Programs to extend the availability of funds for an item
specifically identified in this account.
Language is included in the Department of Health and Human
Services, General Provisions to remove the authority to
transfer funds from the Secretary of Health and Human Services
with respect to funds appropriated to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Language is included in the Department of Health and Human
Services, General Provisions to repeal provisions delaying the
obligation of funds appropriated to the Health Resources and
Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Children and Family
Services Programs, the Social Services Block Grant and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Language is included in the Department of Education,
Education Research, Statistics, and Improvement clarifying the
intent of Congress with respect to certain funding items
identified in this account.
Language is included in the Department of Education,
General Provisions striking the authority of the Department to
transfer funds among accounts. Language is included in the
General Provisions denying the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Department the ability to extend the
availability of certain salary and expense funds for an
additional quarter. Language is included in the general
provisions amending Section 403 of the Social Security Act to
make technical corrections to set-asides within the Welfare to
Work program.
Language is included that exempts the Architect of the
Capitol from section 3709 of the Revised Statutes in connection
with the funds provided for fire safety.
A general provision is included which authorizes the use of
private donations for construction, improvement, repair and
maintenance of Quarters Number 6 located at Marine Corps
Barracks, Washington, D.C.
A general provision is included authorizing the Secretary
of the Air Force to carry out a demonstration project at Brooks
Air Force Base, Texas to improve mission effectiveness and
reduce the cost of providing installation support.
The bill includes a provision that rescinds $26,600,000
from unobligated balances of funds transferred to the
Department of Transportation for Year 2000 conversion of
federal information technology systems and related expenses.
Language has been included that enacts an executive draft
on federal transportation in the national capital region.
In title IV of the bill, in connection with the
appropriation provided in Public Law 105-277 for Information
Technology Systems and Related Expenses, the Committee strikes
``$2,250,000,000'' and inserts ``$2,015,000,000''.
Language is included that restricts the availability of the
funds to the current fiscal year unless otherwise provided.
Language is included repealing sections 305 and 306 of H.R.
3425 that was enacted by reference in Public Law 106-113 that
shifted certain pay dates from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year
2001.
Language is included that amends section 1001(a) of Public
Law 106-113 by making a technical correction to the budget
scoring of that law and prescribes the timing of the correction
to immediately subsequent to enactment of that law.
Language is included waiving sequestration for any budget
breach that might be caused by this Act.
Language is included under the Department of Veterans
Affairs, Veterans health administration, medical care, allowing
the use of funds for planning and technical assistance to the
2002 Paralympic Games.
Language is included under the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, HOME investment partnerships program,
providing $25,000,000 for the purpose of providing temporary
rental assistance, and for developing new affordable housing
for victims of Hurricane Floyd and surrounding events.
Language is included under the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, homeless assistance grants, clarifying that
one percent of the technical assistance funds may be used for
management and information systems.
Language is included under the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, management and administration, office of
inspector general, which extends existing appropriations by one
additional fiscal year with a limitation that certain funds
become available on October 1, 2000.
Language is included under the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, administrative provisions, which adds a new
provision amending section 8(t)(1)(B) of the United Housing Act
of the United States Housing Act of 1937.
Bill language is included under the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, community development block grants,
which clarifies that a project is located at Spring Hill
College in Mobile, Alabama.
Language is included under the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, administrative provisions, providing for the
one-year renewal of certain homeless assistance gains.
Billn language is included under the Environmental
Protection Agency, state and tribal assistance grants, which
clarifies that a water and wastewater projects is located
within Haywood County, North Carolina.
Language is included under the Environmental Protection
Agency, environmental programs and management, which clarifies
the authority to make certain grants and which transfers funds
to another account within EPA.
Language is included under General Provisions which would
prevent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from using funds
appropriated in fiscal year 2000 to relocate or plan for the
relocation of the Technical Training Center.
Appropriations Not Authroized by Law
Pursuant to clause 3(f)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the following table lists the
appropriations in the accompanying bill which are not
authorized by law:
Department of Justice
Drug Enforcement Administration
Salaries and Expenses
Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Operations, Research, and Facilities, with certain
exceptions
Department of Defense--Military
Operation and Maintenance, Army
Operation and Maintenance, Navy
Operation and Maintenance, Marine Corps
Operation and Maintenance, Air Force
Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide
Operation and Maintenance, Army Reserve
Operation and Maintenance, Army National Guard
Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund
Aircraft Procurement, Air Force
Defense Health Program
Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense
Defense-Wide Working Capital Funds
Assistance for Plan Colombia and for Andean Regional
Counternarcotics Activities
Operating Expenses of the Agency for International Development
Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States
International Military Education and Training
Foreign Military Financing Program
Military Construction, Defense-wide
Military Construction, Army Reserve
Family Housing, Army
Family Housing, Navy and Marine Corps
Family Housing, Air Force
Department of Housing and Urban Development (except Public and
Indian Housing programs)
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Transfer of Funds
Pursuant to clause 3(f)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the following is submitted describing
the transfer of funds provided in the accompanying bill.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Account to Amount Account from Amount
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Energy--Other Defense Activities.. $4,000,000 Department of Energy--Biomass $4,000,000
Energy Development.
Department of Defense--Military, Procurement of 125,000,000 Department of Defense--Military, 125,000,000
Weapons and Tracked Combat Vehicles, Army. National Defense Stockpile
Transaction Fund.
Department of Defense--Military, Aircraft 90,000,000 Department of Defense--Air Force 90,000,000
Procurement, Air Force. or Defense-Wide in titles I or II
of P.L. 106-79, or in title IV of
P.L. 105-262, or in title III of
P.L. 105-56.
Environmental Protection Agency, State and 2,600,000 Environmental Protection Agency, 2,600,000
Tribal Assistance Grants. Environmental Programs and
Management.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, State 500,000 Department of Agriculture, Forest 500,000
and Private Forestry. Service, Wildland Fire Management.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rescissions
Pursuant to clause 3(f)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the following table is submitted
describing the rescissions recommended in the accompanying
bill:
rescissions recommended in the bill
Amounts
recommended
Department or Activity for rescission
Department of Energy, Atomic Energy Defense Activities,
Defense Environmental Restoration and Waste
Management.......................................... $13,000,000
Department of Energy, Atomic Energy Defense Activities,
Other Defense Activities............................ 40,000,000
Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the
Secretary........................................... 20,000,000
Department of Transportation, Federal Information
Technology Systems and Related Expenses............. 26,600,000
Comparison With the Budget Resolution
Clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires an explanation of compliance with
section 308(a)(1)(A) of the Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-344), as
amended, which requires that the report accompanying a bill
providing new budget authority contain a statement detailing
how that authority compares with the reports submitted under
section 302 of the Act for the most recently agreed to
concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year from
the Committee's section 302(a) allocation.
Appropriations in this bill are either designated emergency
or offset in budget authority therein. Prior to the development
of this bill the Committee had not received increases to its
allocation to reflect the actual appropriations enacted to
date. Because of this, any comparison to the Committee's
current allocation, even adjusted for any anticipated increases
for the emergency appropriations in this bill, would not
provide an accurate picture of where the Committee stands
against its allocation. The bill includes several provisions
that cause fiscal year 2000 outlays to increase. Even though
these provisions are included, they are not large enough to
create an on-budget deficit for this year or impact the Social
Security Trust Fund surplus. Also, at the time of reporting
this bill, it was not certain whether the outlay increases
would be within the outlay allowance for discretionary
appropriations.
Five-Year Outlay Projections
In compliance with section 308(a)(1)(B) of the
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
(Public Law 93-344), as amended, the following table contains
five-year projections associated with the budget authority
provided in the accompanying bill:
Millions
Budget Authority:
2000................................................ 8,458
2001................................................ 435
Outlays:
2000................................................ 9,137
2001................................................ -2,739
2002................................................ 1,596
2003................................................ 476
2004 and beyond..................................... 226
Assistance to State and Local Governments
In accordance with section 308(a)(1)(C) of the
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
(Public Law 93-344), as amended, the financial assistance to
State and local governments is as follows:
Millions
Budget Authority........................................ 1,336
Fiscal Year 2000 outlays resulting therefrom............ 963
Constitutional Authority
Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives states that:
Each report of a committee on a bill or joint
resolution of a public character, shall include a
statement citing the specific powers granted to the
Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed
by the bill or joint resolution.
The Committee on Appropriations bases its authority to
report this legislation from Clause 7 of Section 9 of Article I
of the Constitution of the United States of America which
states:
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in
consequence of Appropriations made by law . . .
Appropriations contained in this Act are made pursuant to
this specific power granted by the Constitution.
Compliance With Clause 3 of Rule XIII (Ramseyer Rule)
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
ACT OF AUGUST 19, 1958
[A]t any time Commodity Credit Corporation has any grain
available for donation pursuant to [clause (3) or (4) of] the
Food for Progress Act of 1985, section 416 of the Agricultural
Act of 1949, as amended, section 210 of the Agricultural Act of
1956, or title II of the Agricultural Trade Development and
Assistance Act, as amended, the Corporation, in lieu of
processing all or any part of such grain into human food
products, may purchase such processed food products in
quantities not to exceed the equivalent of the respective grain
available for donation on the date of such purchase and donate
such processed food products pursuant to [clause (3) or (4) of
such] the Food for Progress Act of 1985, such section 416, and
to such section 210, and make such processed food products
available [to the President] pursuant to such title II, and may
sell, without regard to the provisions of section 407 of the
Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended, a quantity of the grain
equivalent to the processed food products so purchased:
Provided, That no food product purchased pursuant to the
authority contained herein shall constitute less than 50 per
centum by weight of the grain from which processed (except that
this limitation does not apply in the case of the protein
byproduct resulting from the production of fuel alcohol from
agricultural commodities), or contain any additive other than
for normal vitamin enrichment, preservative, and bleaching
purposes.
------
SECTIONS 8175 AND 8176 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2000
[Sec. 8175. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Department of Defense shall make progress payments based on
progress no less than 12 days after receiving a valid billing
and the Department of Defense shall make progress payments
based on cost no less than 19 days after receiving a valid
billing: Provided, That this provision shall be effective only
with respect to billings received during the last month of the
fiscal year.]
[Sec. 8176. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Department of Defense shall make adjustments in payment
procedures and policies to ensure that payments are made no
earlier than one day before the date on which the payments
would otherwise be due under any other provision of law:
Provided, That this provision shall be effective only with
respect to invoices received during the last month of the
fiscal year.]
------
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND
RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000
* * * * * * *
TITLE I--DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
* * * * * * *
Mine Safety and Health Administration
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
For necessary expenses for the Mine Safety and Health
Administration, $228,373,000, including purchase and bestowal
of certificates and trophies in connection with mine rescue and
first-aid work, and the hire of passenger motor vehicles;
[including not to exceed $750,000 may be collected by the
National Mine Health and Safety Academy] and, in addition, not
to exceed $750,000 may be collected by the National Mine Health
and Safety Academy for room, board, tuition, and the sale of
training materials, otherwise authorized by law to be
collected, to be available for mine safety and health education
and training activities, notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302; the
Secretary is authorized to accept lands, buildings, equipment,
and other contributions from public and private sources and to
prosecute projects in cooperation with other agencies, Federal,
State, or private; the Mine Safety and Health Administration is
authorized to promote health and safety education and training
in the mining community through cooperative programs with
States, industry, and safety associations; and any funds
available to the department may be used, with the approval of
the Secretary, to provide for the costs of mine rescue and
survival operations in the event of a major disaster.
* * * * * * *
TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
* * * * * * *
Administration on Aging
AGING SERVICES PROGRAMS
For carrying out, to the extent not otherwise provided, the
Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended, and section 398 of the
Public Health Service Act, $934,285,000, of which $2,200,000
shall be for the Anchorage, Alaska Senior Center and shall
remain available until expended: Provided, That notwithstanding
section 308(b)(1) of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as
amended, the amounts available to each State for administration
of the State plan under title III of such Act shall be reduced
not more than 5 percent below the amount that was available to
such State for such purpose for fiscal year 1995: Provided
further, That in considering grant applications for nutrition
services for elder Indian recipients, the Assistant Secretary
shall provide maximum flexibility to applicants who seek to
take into account subsistence, local customs, and other
characteristics that are appropriate to the unique cultural,
regional, and geographic needs of the American Indian, Alaska
and Hawaiian Native communities to be served.
* * * * * * *
GENERAL PROVISIONS
(TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Sec. 206. Not to exceed 1 percent of any discretionary
funds (pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act of 1985, as amended) which are appropriated for the
current fiscal year for the Department of Health and Human
Services in this Act may be transferred between appropriations,
but no such appropriation shall be increased by more than 3
percent by any such transfer: Provided, That the Appropriations
Committees of both Houses of Congress are notified at least 15
days in advance of any transfer: Provided further, That this
section shall not apply to funds appropriated under the heading
``Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--Disease Control,
Research, and Training'', funds made available to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention under the heading ``Public
Health and Social Services Emergency Fund'', or any other funds
made available in this Act to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
* * * * * * *
[Sec. 216. Of the funds appropriated for the National
Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2000, $3,000,000,000 shall
not be available for obligation until September 29, 2000. Of
the funds appropriated for the Health Resources and Services
Administration for fiscal year 2000, $450,000,000 shall not be
available for obligation until September 29, 2000. Of the funds
appropriated for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
for fiscal year 2000, $500,000,000 shall not be available for
obligation until September 29, 2000. Of the funds appropriated
for the Children and Families Services Programs for fiscal year
2000, $400,000,000 shall not be available for obligation until
September 29, 2000. Of the funds appropriated for the Social
Services Block Grant for fiscal year 2000, $425,000,000 shall
not be available for obligation until September 29, 2000. Of
the funds appropriated for the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration for fiscal year 2000,
$200,000,000 shall not be available for obligation until
September 29, 2000. Such funds delayed by this section shall be
available for obligation until October 15, 2000.]
* * * * * * *
TITLE III--DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
* * * * * * *
EDUCATION RESEARCH, STATISTICS, AND IMPROVEMENT
For carrying out activities authorized by the Educational
Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of
1994, including part E; the National Education Statistics Act
of 1994, including sections 411 and 412; section 2102 of title
II, and parts A, B, and K and section 10102, section 10105, and
10601 of title X, and part C of title XIII of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, and title VI
of Public Law 103-227, $596,892,000: Provided, That $50,000,000
shall be available to demonstrate effective approaches to
comprehensive school reform, to be allocated and expended in
accordance with the instructions relating to this activity in
the statement of managers on the conference report accompanying
Public Law 105-78 and in the statement of the managers on the
conference report accompanying Public Law 105-277: Provided
further, That the funds made available for comprehensive school
reform shall become available on July 1, 2000, and remain
available through September 30, 2001, and in carrying out this
initiative, the Secretary and the States shall support only
approaches that show the most promise of enabling children to
meet challenging State content standards and challenging State
student performance standards based on reliable research and
effective practices, and include an emphasis on basic academics
and parental involvement: Provided further, That $30,000,000 of
the funds provided for the national education research
institutes shall be allocated notwithstanding section
912(m)(1)(B-F) and subparagraphs (B) and (C) of section
931(c)(2) of Public Law 103-227: Provided further, That of the
funds appropriated under section 10601 of title X of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended,
$1,500,000 shall be used to conduct a violence prevention
demonstration program: Provided further, That $45,000,000 shall
be available to support activities under section 10105 of part
A of title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965, of which up to $2,250,000 may be available for
evaluation, technical assistance, and school networking
activities: Provided further, That funds made available to
local educational agencies under this section shall be used
only for activities related to establishing smaller learning
communities in high schools: Provided further, That funds made
available for section 10105 of part A of title X of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 shall become
available on July 1, 2000, and remain available through
September 30, 2001: Provided further, That of the funds
available for part A of title X of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965, $10,000,000 shall be awarded to the
National Constitution Center, established by Public Law 100-
433, for exhibition design, program planning and operation of
the center, $10,000,000 shall be provided to continue a
demonstration of public school facilities to the Iowa
Department of Education, $1,000,000 shall be made available to
the New Mexico Department of Education for school performance
improvement and drop-out prevention, $300,000 shall be made
available to Semos Unlimited, Inc., in New Mexico to support
bilingual education and literacy programs, $700,000 shall be
awarded to Loyola University Chicago for recruitment and
preparation of new teacher candidates for employment in rural
and inner-city schools, $500,000 shall be awarded to Shedd
Aquarium/Brookfield Zoo for science education/exposure programs
for local elementary school students, $3,000,000 shall be
awarded to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America to expand
school-based mentoring, $2,500,000 shall be awarded to the
Chicago Public School System to support a substance abuse pilot
program in conjunction with Elgin and East Aurora School
Systems, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the University of
Virginia Center for Governmental Studies for the Youth
Leadership Initiative, $800,000 shall be awarded to the
Institute for Student Achievement at Holmes Middle School and
Annandale High School in Virginia for academic enrichment
programs, $100,000 shall be awarded to the Mountain Arts Center
for educational programming, $1,500,000 shall be awarded to the
University of Louisville for research in the area of academic
readiness, $500,000 shall be awarded to the West Ed Regional
Educational Laboratory for the 24 Challenge and Jumping Levels
Math Demonstration Project, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to
Central Michigan University for a charter schools development
and performance institute, $950,000 shall be awarded to the
Living Science Interactive Learning Model partnership in Indian
River, Florida for a science education program, $825,000 shall
be awarded to the [North Babylon Community Youth Services for
an educational program] Town of Babylon Youth Bureau for an
educational program, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the Los
Angeles County Office of Education/Educational
Telecommunications and Technology for a pilot program for
teachers, $650,000 shall be awarded to the University of
Northern Iowa for an institute of technology for inclusive
education, $500,000 shall be awarded to Youth Crime Watch of
America to expand a program to prevent crime, drugs and
violence in schools, $892,000 shall be awarded to Muhlenberg
College in Pennsylvania for an environmental science program,
$560,000 shall be awarded to the Western Suffolk St. Johns-
LaSalle Academy Science and Technology Mentoring Program,
$4,000,000 shall be awarded to the National Teaching Academy of
Chicago for a model teacher recruitment, preparation and
professional development program, $2,000,000 shall be awarded
to the University of West Florida for a teacher enhancement
program, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to Delta State University
in Mississippi for innovative teacher training, $1,000,000
shall be awarded to the Alaska Humanities Forum, Inc., in
Anchorage, Alaska, $250,000 shall be awarded to An Achievable
Dream in Newport News, Virginia to improve academic performance
of at-risk youths, $250,000 shall be awarded to the Rock School
of Ballet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to expand its
community-outreach programs for inner-city children and
underprivileged youth in Camden, New Jersey and southern New
Jersey, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the University of
Maryland Center for Quality and Productivity to provide a link
for the Blue Ribbon Schools, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the
Continuing Education Center and Teachers' Institute in South
Boston, Virginia [to promote participation among youth in the
United States democratic process] to expand access to and
improve advanced education, $1,000,000 shall be for the
National Museum of Women in the Arts to expand its
``Discovering Art'' program to elementary and secondary schools
and other educational organizations, $400,000 shall be awarded
to the Alaska Department of Education's summer reading program,
$400,000 shall be awarded to the Partners in Education, Inc.,
to foster successful business-school partnerships, $250,000
shall be for the Kodiak Island Borough School District for
development of an environmental education program, $2,000,000
shall be for the Reach Out and Read Program to expand literacy
and health awareness for at-risk families, $1,000,000 shall be
for the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, Virginia for an
educational program, $450,000 shall be for the Challenger
Learning Center in Hardin County, Kentucky for technology
assistance and teacher training, $250,000 shall be for the
Crawford County School System in Georgia for technology and
curriculum support, $500,000 shall be for the Berrien County
School System in Georgia for technology development, $35,000
shall be for the Louisville Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club
Diversion Enhancement Program, $100,000 shall be awarded to the
Philadelphia Orchestra's Philly Pops to operate the Jazz in the
Schools program in the Philadelphia school district, $500,000
for the Mississippi Delta Education for a teacher incentive
program initiative, $500,000 shall be for A Community of Agile
Partners in Education and the Pennsylvania Telecommunications
Exchange Network for a technology resource sharing initiative,
$500,000 shall be for enhanced teacher training in reading in
the District of Columbia, $100,000 shall be awarded to the
Project 2000 D.C. mentoring project, and $1,250,000 shall be
awarded to Helen Keller World Wide to expand the ChildSight
vision screening program and provide eyeglasses to additional
children whose educational performance may be hindered by poor
vision, $750,000 shall be awarded to the Explornet Technology
Learning Project in North Carolina, $1,750,000 shall be awarded
to the Connecticut Early Reading Success Institute to broaden
the training of professionals in best practices in reading
instruction, $400,000 shall be awarded to the National Academy
of Recording Artists and Sciences Foundation for the GRAMMY in
the Schools program to provide music education to high school
students, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the Rosa and Raymond
Parks Institute for Self-Development for the Pathways to
Freedom program for civil rights education for young people and
for community learning centers, $500,000 shall be awarded to
the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation to replicate and
scientifically evaluate full-service community schools,
$500,000 shall be awarded to the Henry Abbott Technical High
School in Danbury, Connecticut for workforce education and
training activities, $1,000,000 shall be awarded to the
Educational Performance Foundation, CPI music education program
called ``From the Top'', $250,000 shall be awarded to the Mount
Vernon School District in Mount Vernon, New York for the
Institute of Student Achievement program, $2,000,000 shall be
awarded to the National Council of La Raza for a project to
improve educational outcomes and opportunities for Hispanic
children, $250,000 shall be awarded to the [Oakland Unified
School District in California for an African American Literacy
and Culture Project] California State University, Hayward, for
an African-American Literacy and Culture Project carried out in
partnership with the Oakland Unified School District in
California, $300,000 shall be awarded to the Vasona Center
Youth Science Institute, $750,000 shall be awarded to the Life
Learning Academy Charter School in San Francisco, California,
$250,000 shall be awarded to the National Urban Coalition Say
YES To A Youngster's Future Program to provide math and science
education, $750,000 shall be awarded to the Wisconsin Academy
Staff Development Initiative in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to
provide math, science, and technology teacher training,
$500,000 shall be awarded to the University of Missouri-St.
Louis to develop a plan to improve the education system in the
City of St. Louis, Missouri, $313,000 shall be awarded to the
City of Houston for the ASPIRE after-school program, [$900,000
shall be awarded to the Boston Music Education Collaborative
comprehensive interdisciplinary music program and teacher
resource center in Boston, Massachusetts] $462,500 shall be
awarded to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the teacher
resource center and $370,000 shall be awarded to the Boston
Music Education Collaborative for an interdisciplinary music
program, in Boston, Massachusetts, $250,000 shall be awarded to
the Baltimore Reads after-school tutoring program in Baltimore,
Maryland, $300,000 shall be awarded to the School of
International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont to develop an
education curriculum addressing child labor issues in
collaboration with the Brattleboro Union High School, $750,000
shall be awarded to the University of Puerto Rico for the
continuation and expansion of the Hispanic Educational Linkages
Program in New York City, including the South Bronx, New York,
$250,000 shall be awarded to the Community Service Society of
New York for mentoring, tutoring and technology activities in
New York City public schools, including schools in the South
Bronx, $250,000 shall be awarded to the Smithsonian Institution
for a jazz music education program in Washington, D.C.,
$500,000 shall be awarded to Johnson Elementary School in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, to develop an innovative arts education model
which could be replicated in other schools, $2,000,000 shall be
awarded to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for after-school
programs, $500,000 shall be for the University of New Orleans
for a teacher preparation and educational technology
initiative, and $250,000 shall be for the Florida Department of
Education for an Internet-based teacher recruitment model,
$250,000 shall be awarded to the [Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts for the ``Make a Ballet'' arts education
program in the New York City area] American Ballet Theater for
the ``Make a Ballet'' arts education program in the New York
City area: Provided further, That of the funds available for
section 10601 of title X of such Act, $2,000,000 shall be
awarded to the Center for Educational Technologies for
production and distribution of an effective CD-ROM product that
would complement the ``We the People: The Citizen and the
Constitution'' curriculum: Provided further, That, in addition
to the funds for title VI of Public Law 103-227 and
notwithstanding the provisions of section 601(c)(1)(C) of that
Act, $1,000,000 shall be available to the Center for Civic
Education to conduct a civic education program with Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and, consistent with the
civics and Government activities authorized in section
601(c)(3) of Public Law 103-227, to provide civic education
assistance to democracies in developing countries. The term
``developing countries'' shall have the same meaning as the
term ``developing country'' in the Education for the Deaf Act.
* * * * * * *
GENERAL PROVISIONS
* * * * * * *
[(TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
[Sec. 304. Not to exceed 1 percent of any discretionary
funds (pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act of 1985, as amended) which are appropriated for the
Department of Education in this Act may be transferred between
appropriations, but no such appropriation shall be increased by
more than 3 percent by any such transfer: Provided, That the
Appropriations Committees of both Houses of Congress are
notified at least 15 days in advance of any transfer.]
* * * * * * *
TITLE V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
* * * * * * *
Sec. 513. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law,
unobligated balances remaining available at the end of fiscal
year 2000 from appropriations made available for salaries and
expenses for fiscal year 2000 in this Act, shall remain
available through December 31, 2000, for each such account for
the purposes authorized: Provided, That the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations shall be notified at least 15 days
prior to the obligation of such funds: Provided further, That
the provisions of this section shall not apply to any funds
appropriated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
or to the Department of Education.
* * * * * * *
------
SECTION 403 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
SEC. 403. GRANTS TO STATES.
(a) Grants.--
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(5) Welfare-to-work grants.--
(A) * * *
* * * * * * *
(F) Funding for indian tribes.--1 percent of
the amount specified in subparagraph (I) for
fiscal year 1998 and [$1,500,000] $15,000,000
of the amount so specified for fiscal year 1999
shall be reserved for grants to Indian tribes
under section 412(a)(3).
(G) Funding for evaluations of welfare-to-
work programs.--0.6 percent of the amount
specified in subparagraph (I) for fiscal year
1998 and [$900,000] $9,000,000 of the amount so
specified for fiscal year 1999 shall be
reserved for use by the Secretary to carry out
section 413(j).
(H) Funding for evaluation of abstinence
education programs.--
(i) In general.--0.2 percent of the
amount specified in subparagraph (I)
for fiscal year 1998 and [$300,000]
$3,000,000 of the amount so specified
for fiscal year 1999 shall be reserved
for use by the Secretary to evaluate
programs under section 510, directly or
through grants, contracts, or
interagency agreements.
* * * * * * *
------
PUBLIC LAW 105-277
* * * * * * *
DIVISION B--EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
* * * * * * *
TITLE III--YEAR 2000 CONVERSION OF FEDERAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SYSTEMS
FISCAL YEAR 1999 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
Funds Appropriated to the President
Information Technology Systems and Related Expenses
(including transfer of funds)
For an additional amount for emergency expenses related to
Year 2000 conversion of Federal information technology systems
and related expenses, [$2,250,000,000] $2,015,000,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2001, of which $5,500,000
shall be transferred to the Legislative Branch. * * *
* * * * * * *
DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT,
INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000--PUBLIC LAW 106-74
* * * * * * *
HOMELESS ASSISTANCE GRANTS
For the emergency shelter grants program (as authorized
under subtitle B of title IV of the Stewart B. McKinney
Homeless Assistance Act, as amended);
* * * * * * *
Provided further, That up to 1 percent of the funds
appropriated under this heading may be used for technical
assistance and management and information systems: Provided
further, That all balances previously appropriated in the
``Emergency Shelter Grants'', ``Supportive Housing'',
``Supplemental Assistance for Facilities to Assist the
Homeless'', ``Shelter Plus Care'', ``Section 8 Moderate
Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy'', and ``Innovative
Homeless Initiatives Demonstration'' accounts shall be
transferred to and merged with this account, to be available
for any authorized purpose under this heading.
* * * * * * *
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General
in carrying out the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended,
$83,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2001 of
which $22,343,000 shall be provided from the various funds of
the Federal Housing Administration and $10,000,000 shall be
provided from the amount earmarked for Operation Safe Home in
the appropriation for ``Drug elimination grants for low-income
housing'': Provided, That of the amounts provided herein,
$6,000,000 shall become available on October 1, 2000: Provided
further, That the Inspector General shall have independent
authority over all personnel issues within the Office of
Inspector General.
* * * * * * *
TITLE V--PRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING
* * * * * * *
SUBTITLE C--RENEWAL OF EXPIRING RENTAL ASSISTANCE CONTRACTS AND
PROTECTION OF RESIDENTS
* * * * * * *
SEC. 538. UNIFIED ENHANCED VOUCHER AUTHORITY
(a) * * *
``(t) Enhanced vouchers.--
``(1) In General.--* * *
``(A) * * *
``(B) [during any period that the assisted
family continues residing in the same project
in which the family was residing on the date of
the eligibility event for the project, if] the
assisted family may elect to remain in the same
project in which the family was residing on the
date of the eligibility event for the project,
and if, during any period the family makes such
and election and continues to so reside, the
rent for the dwelling unit of the family in
such project exceeds the applicable payment
standard established pursuant to subsection (o)
for the unit, the amount of rental assistance
provided on behalf of the family shall be
determined using a payment standard that is
equal to the rent for the dwelling unit (as
such rent may be increased from time to time),
subject to paragraph (10)(A) of subsection (o);
* * * * * * *
------
PUBLIC LAW 106-113, APPENDIX E--H.R. 3425
* * * * * * *
TITLE III--FISCAL YEAR 2000 OFFSETS AND RESCISSIONS
* * * * * * *
[Sec. 305. Notwithstanding section 3324 of title 31, United
States Code, and section 1006(h) of title 37, United States
Code, the basic pay and allowances that accrues to members of
the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force for the pay period
ending on September 30, 2000, shall be paid, whether by
electronic transfer of funds or otherwise, no earlier than
October 1, 2000.]
[Sec. 306. The pay of any Federal officer or employee that
would be payable on September 29, 2000, or September 30, 2000,
for the preceding applicable pay period (if not for this
section) shall be paid, whether by electronic transfer of funds
or otherwise, on October 1, 2000.]
------
SECTION 1001 OF PUBLIC LAW 106-113
Sec. 1001. Paygo Adjustments.--(a) Notwithstanding Rule 3
of the Budget Scorekeeping Guidelines set forth in the joint
explanatory statement of the committee of conference
accompanying Conference Report No. 105-217, legislation enacted
in this division by reference in the paragraphs after
[paragraph 4 of subsection 1000(a)] paragraph (5) of section
1000(a), and the provisions of titles V, VI, and VII of the
legislation enacted in this division by reference in such
paragraph (5), that would have been estimated by the Office of
Management and Budget as changing direct spending or receipts
under section 252 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act of 1985 were it included in an Act other than an
appropriations Act shall be treated as direct spending or
receipts legislation as appropriate, under section 252 of the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, but
shall be subject to subsection (b).
(b) * * *
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
Rollcall No. 1
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Mr. Obey.
Description of Motion: To reduce funding for equipping and
training Colombian army forces for counternarcotics efforts and
to provide expedited procedures for restoring this assistance
by July 15, 2000, if the House has not already done so.
Results: Rejected 20 yeas to 36 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Mr. Boyd Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Cramer Mr. Bonilla
Mr. Cunningham Mr. Callahan
Mr. Hinchey Ms. DeLauro
Mr. Hoyer Mr. Dickey
Ms. Kaptur Mr. Dicks
Ms. Kilpatrick Mr. Edwards
Mrs. Lowey Mrs. Emerson
Mrs. Meek Mr. Farr
Mr. Obey Mr. Forbes
Mr. Olver Mr. Frelinghuysen
Mr. Pastor Mr. Goode
Ms. Pelosi Mr. Hobson
Mr. Porter Mr. Istook
Mr. Price Mr. Kingston
Ms. Roybal-Allard Mr. Knollenberg
Mr. Sabo Mr. Kolbe
Mr. Serrano Mr. Latham
Mr. Visclosky Mr. Lewis
Mr. Wicker Mr. Miller
Mr. Mollohan
Mr. Moran
Mr. Murtha
Mr. Nethercutt
Mrs. Northup
Mr. Packard
Mr. Peterson
Mr. Regula
Mr. Rogers
Mr. Skeen
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
Rollcall No. 2
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Ms. Pelosi.
Description of Motion: To provide $1.3 billion for
substance abuse treatment and prevention.
Results: Rejected 23 yeas to 31 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Ms. DeLauro Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Dicks Mr. Bonilla
Mr. Edwards Mr. Boyd
Mr. Farr Mr. Callahan
Mr. Forbes Mr. Cramer
Mr. Hinchey Mr. Cunningham
Mr. Hoyer Mrs. Emerson
Mr. Jackson Mr. Frelinghuysen
Ms. Kaptur Mr. Goode
Ms. Kilpatrick Mr. Hobson
Mrs. Lowey Mr. Kingston
Mrs. Meek Mr. Knollenberg
Mr. Mollohan Mr. Kolbe
Mr. Murtha Mr. Latham
Mr. Obey Mr. Lewis
Mr. Olver Mr. Miller
Mr. Pastor Mr. Nethercutt
Ms. Pelosi Mr. Packard
Mr. Price Mr. Peterson
Ms. Roybal-Allard Mr. Porter
Mr. Sabo Mr. Regula
Mr. Serrano Mr. Rogers
Mr. Visclosky Mr. Skeen
Mr. Sununu
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wicker
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
Rollcall No. 3
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Mr. Edwards.
Description of Motion: To provide $400 million for
veterans' substance abuse dependency prevention and treatment.
Results: Rejected 23 yeas to 30 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Mr. Boyd Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Cramer Mr. Bonilla
Ms. DeLauro Mr. Callahan
Mr. Dicks Mr. Cunningham
Mr. Edwards Mr. Dickey
Mr. Farr Mrs. Emerson
Mr. Forbes Mr. Frelinghuysen
Mr. Hoyer Mr. Goode
Ms. Kaptur Mr. Hobson
Ms. Kilpatrick Mr. Kingston
Mrs. Lowey Mr. Kolbe
Mrs. Meek Mr. Latham
Mr. Mollohan Mr. Lewis
Mr. Moran Mr. Miller
Mr. Murtha Mr. Nethercutt
Mr. Obey Mrs. Northup
Mr. Olver Mr. Packard
Ms. Pelosi Mr. Peterson
Mr. Price Mr. Porter
Ms. Roybal-Allard Mr. Regula
Mr. Sabo Mr. Rogers
Mr. Serrano Mr. Skeen
Mr. Visclosky Mr. Sununu
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wicker
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
rollcall no. 4
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Mr. Visclosky.
Description of Motion: To provide $6.6 million to complete
preconstruction and engineering and design of an emergency
outlet at Devils Lake, North Dakota.
Results: Rejected 24 yeas to 30 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Mr. Boyd Mr. Aderholt
Mr. Cramer Mr. Bonilla
Ms. DeLauro Mr. Callahan
Mr. Dicks Mr. Cunningham
Mr. Edwards Mr. Dickey
Mr. Farr Mrs. Emerson
Mr. Forbes Mr. Frelinghuysen
Mr. Hinchey Mr. Goode
Mr. Hoyer Mr. Hobson
Ms. Kaptur Mr. Kingston
Ms. Kilpatrick Mr. Knollenberg
Mrs. Lowey Mr. Kolbe
Mrs. Meek Mr. Latham
Mr. Mollohan Mr. Lewis
Mr. Moran Mr. Miller
Mr. Obey Mr. Nethercutt
Mr. Olver Mrs. Northup
Mr. Pastor Mr. Packard
Ms. Pelosi Mr. Peterson
Mr. Price Mr. Porter
Ms. Roybal-Allard Mr. Regula
Mr. Sabo Mr. Rogers
Mr. Serrano Mr. Skeen
Mr. Visclosky Mr. Taylor
Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wicker
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
rollcall no. 5
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Ms. Kaptur.
Description of Motion: To provide $130 million for grants
and loans for equity capital to establish farmer-owned
cooperatives for processing agricultural commodities (including
livestock).
Results: Rejected 19 yeas to 27 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Mr. Boyd Mr. Bonilla
Mr. Cramer Mr. Callahan
Ms. DeLauro Mr. Cunningham
Mr. Edwards Mr. Dickey
Mrs. Emerson Mr. Frelinghuysen
Mr. Farr Mr. Goode
Mr. Hinchey Mr. Hobson
Ms. Kaptur Mr. Kingston
Ms. Kilpatrick Mr. Knollenberg
Mrs. Lowey Mr. Kolbe
Mrs. Meek Mr. Latham
Mr. Obey Mr. Lewis
Mr. Olver Mr. Miller
Mr. Pastor Mr. Moran
Mr. Price Mr. Nethercutt
Ms. Roybal-Allard Mrs. Northup
Mr. Sabo Mr. Packard
Mr. Serrano Mr. Peterson
Mr. Visclosky Mr. Regula
Mr. Rogers
Mr. Skeen
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
Full Committee Votes
Pursuant to the provisions of clause 3(a)(1)(b) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives, the results of each roll
call vote on an amendment or on the motion to report, together
with the names of those voting for and those voting against,
are printed below:
rollcall no. 6
Date: March 9, 2000.
Measure: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, FY
2000.
Motion by: Mr. Regula.
Description of Motion: To report the bill, to authorize the
Chairman to seek a rule for consideration of the bill, and to
authorize the Chairman to move that the House disagree to the
amendments of the Senate and agree to a conference requested by
the Senate.
Results: Adopted 33 yeas to 13 nays.
Members Voting Yea Members Voting Nay
Mr. Bonilla Mr. Cunningham
Mr. Boyd Mr. Farr
Mr. Callahan Mr. Hinchey
Mr. Cramer Ms. Kaptur
Ms. DeLauro Ms. Kilpatrick
Mr. Dickey Mrs. Meek
Mr. Edwards Mr. Obey
Mrs. Emerson Mr. Olver
Mr. Frelinghuysen Mr. Pastor
Mr. Goode Mr. Sabo
Mr. Hobson Mr. Serrano
Mr. Kingston Mr. Tiahrt
Mr. Knollenberg Mr. Visclosky
Mr. Kolbe
Mr. Latham
Mr. Lewis
Mrs. Lowey
Mr. Miller
Mr. Moran
Mr. Nethercutt
Mrs. Northup
Mr. Packard
Mr. Peterson
Mr. Price
Mr. Regula
Mr. Rogers
Ms. Roybal-Allard
Mr. Skeen
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Walsh
Mr. Wamp
Mr. Wolf
Mr. Young
DISSENTING VIEWS
Most Americans know that Colombia is a major exporter of
illegal drugs. But many do not know that illegal drug
trafficking is only one of the serious problems facing that
country. Colombia has suffered for more than 50 years from
periods of political chaos and extreme violence. It has by far
the highest murder rate in the world and military conflicts
account for only a portion of the murders. It has not one but
two major leftist guerrilla movements that control major
portions of the nation's land area. It has armed terrorist
right-wing para-militaries that like the guerrillas derive
significant funds from drug trafficking, kidnapping and other
illegal activities. It has a population deeply divided along
racial, social and economic lines. Adding greatly to the
complexity of Colombia's difficulties is the fact that all of
these problems are deeply intertwined with one another.
There are a number of things that the United States can do
to reduce drug trafficking in Colombia and increase the
opportunities for Colombians to build a safer and more lawful
society that do not inject the United States into the middle of
the long standing social and economic conflicts in that country
and do not risk an ever widening U.S. commitment. Some of those
things are contained in this package. The approximately $200
million for monitoring and interdiction of narco-air traffic
offers by far the greatest hope for reducing the flow of drugs
to the United States and Europe and reducing revenues to the
guerrilla movements, the para-militaries and various other
criminal elements. It turns the difficult terrain of that
country to the advantage of those wishing to stop the sale of
drugs rather than to the advantage of those who wish to sell
them.
But the $522 million appropriated in this bill for the
creation and support of three elite infantry battalions in the
Colombian Army could have exactly the opposite effect. It is
unlikely to have significant impact on drug trafficking, and it
will inject the United States into a whole range of internal
Colombian issues, which we as a nation neither fully understand
nor have the ability, on our own, to control. Furthermore, the
executive branch and the House Republican leadership are asking
the Congress to place the country on this course without full
hearings or an informed and deliberate debate. Neither the
Armed Services, the Foreign Relations, the Intelligence nor the
Appropriations Committees have had the opportunity to hold the
type of hearings that would in my opinion represent minimum due
diligence for a decision of this magnitude.
It is true that Colombia is an important country. Its
peace, stability and prosperity have an important effect on all
of Central and South America and they are important to U.S.
national interests. Colombia now has a President who is saying
and apparently trying to do the right things after years of
governments in that country that did mostly the wrong things.
But it would be a grave mistake for us to fail to differentiate
between the national leader and the country he is attempting to
lead. An alliance between President Pastrana and the United
States cannot defeat the FARC, cannot stop the drug traffic,
cannot stop the violence by paramilitaries and other criminal
organizations and cannot bring peace, security and prosperity
to Colombia. Only the Colombian people can do that.
I do not know whether the people of that country are ready
to do all or any of the things we envisage for them. The true
level of resolve among the bankers, businessmen, landowners,
middle class professionals, or peasants in Colombia to
undertake this battle is not easy to determine. If they are
fully committed there would be excellent prospects for success.
But if this is a situation where we are training and supplying
a military force that in the end receives more support from us
than the country it represents, we are crossing a line today
that will be remembered for many years. It is a line we have
crossed before and almost always with deep regret.
While I do not know the degree to which Colombians are
committed to the course that this appropriation presumes they
should take, there are some troubling signs. Ralph Peters, a
retired U.S. Army Officer who served in the Andes and in the
Office of National Drug Control Policy wrote in the Washington
Post recently:
Does the Colombian government--feckless, corrupt and
inconstant--deserve our help to survive * * * Plenty of
Colombians profit from the disorder and do not really
want the rule of law. They only want a little more room
to maneuver. Expatriate Colombians, lolling on Florida
beaches or shopping in Madrid, would be perfectly
willing to fight to the last American G.I.
I don't know how to square the argument that Colombia is
ready to shoulder this burden with the fact that they have
recently signed an agreement with the IMF to cut back on
military expenditures. I don't knowhow to square that argument
with the fact that neither the elites of Colombia nor their upper-
middle class counterparts will be represented in either the officer or
enlisted ranks of these new battalions. I certainly don't understand
how to square it with the fact that more than half of the Colombian
Army is exempt by law from serving in a combat situation by virtue of
the fact that they hold a high school diploma.
There are some in the administration and in the Speaker's
Office who would say that we have no choice but to move forward
with this package at this time. President Pastrana has taken
risks. He is in a precarious situation. He must have our
support. If that is true, then it immediately raises a second
question. What if we go forward with this package, train and
equip these 3,000 Colombian troops and they get the devil
beaten out them by the 15,000 FARC running around in the same
jungle in Eastern and Southern Colombia to which they are being
deployed? What will be the options before the Congress and the
American people then?
If we have a difficult choice today how much difficult will
it be after a military defeat of the force we have trained and
equipped. Will we drop President Pastrana or his successor like
a hot potato. Will we train another brigade to take the place
of the one that was lost and let it face the possibility of the
same fate? Or will we up the ante? Pastrana or his successor
will at that point have taken even greater risks at our urging
and direction, and will be even more politically vulnerable as
a result. The dilemma we face today is a relatively simple one
compared to the one we would face, if our new units are less
successful than the optimists who favor this policy are
predicting. If you don't wish to face the dilemma you might
want to vote to take a little more time in providing this money
because the prospects for one or more of these units being
mauled appears to be significant.
The FARC are by all accounts the best-armed and equipped
guerilla force in modern history. They have better uniforms,
better weapons and better pay than the Colombian army. An
article published in Janes Intelligence Review a little more
than a year ago described an encounter between the 52nd
Counter-Guerilla Battalion and two FARC units in Caqueta during
the spring of 1998. As the Colombian Army units approached the
FARC they:
* * * determined their speed and direction and set up
a ``U''-shaped trap around an opening in the jungle and
occupied all of the high ground and crestlines. They
drew the army battalion into the mouth of the `U' and
then sealed the open end. * * * Outside this ring the
guerillas set up a second echelon consisting of
ambushes against both aircraft and ground forces.
Between Sunday March 1 and Tuesday March 3, the
guerillas launched vicious assaults against the army
troops in the trap. Using mortars, machine guns, rocket
launchers and small arms, the guerillas pounded the
army unit until it effectively ceased to exist.
Jane's concluded that the FARC have rapidly developed new
operational capabilities. These include:
The capability to attack and overrun small
and medium garrisons.
The ability to directly confront and defeat
army units in open combat.
The capability to simultaneously mass large
units against multiple targets around the country.
They are a long way from being capable of
overthrowing the government. They are, however, in a
position of strength in terms of demanding favorable
political terms. Some degree of territorial autonomy
seems to be prominent in both the FARC and the ELN's
thinking.
Before we provide these funds we need to decide exactly
what we want the three hundred men we are going to train to do
with respect to the 15,000 to 25,000 rebels in the FARC and the
ELN. According to the best information we have available, they
will be assigned to patrol two of the ten provinces that lie in
Colombia's portion of the Amazon Jungle Basin. Those two
provinces alone occupy and area of more than 40,000 square
miles, an area almost the size of Pennsylvania, an area that is
virtually without roads, an area that in covered with a dense
jungle canopy.
If we succeeded in driving the FARC out of those two
provinces, what would we have accomplished, politically in
behalf of Colombia, or in terms of reducing drug supplies?
There will be 150,000 to 200,000 square miles of Colombian
Jungle left--an area about the size of California. And that
entire area is merely a fraction of the entire Amazon Jungle
Basin that covers significant portions of not only Columbia but
Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia as well. What we may
actually be doing is forcing a massive deforestation of
successive sectors of the rain forest as we push coca growers
from one region to the next.
Currently, neither the FARC nor the ELN have a strong base
among the peasants they claim to represent in most of the
populated areas of Colombia. But, we may very well change that
with a counter insurgency operation run out of Washington, D.C.
If the Colombians truly want to shoulder the burden of forcing
these organizations to the table, we should help them. But we
will make a terrible and tragic mistake to get out in front of
the people of Colombia in solving this problem.
Finally I would point out that Plan Colombia is a six-year
plan. Only last week the Pentagon laid out their understanding
of the military aspects of the plan. Phase I will take the
first two years and will be concentrated in Putamayo and
Caqueta. Phase II will be during years three and four and will
focus on the rest of the South Eastern Colombia and in the
Central Jungle Areas. Phase III will be focused on the
Northwestern Provinces where the overwhelming portion of the
population resides. We may or may not know the price tag for
the first year, but as far as I know there are no estimates for
the cost for the whole six years. To assume that it will take
only six years is to assume that everything will go as planned.
Does anybody think they have a responsibility to have at least
some ballpark estimate of how much we are going to have to
spend over the next decade if we obligate ourselves to this
course of action?
There are good pieces in this package. The air interdiction
can and I believe will be quite effective both in reducing FARC
revenues and reducing drug traffic. The assistance in
institution building can be very positive if it is effectively
executed. Efforts to make the Colombians realize that a nation
of ``haves'' and total ``have-nots'' will never produce a truly
stable society or reach its economic potential are extremely
important. Also efforts to provide education, nutrition,
housing and medical care to that nation's poor are essential to
any real or lasting change. But we should think very carefully
about the path that calls for us to train and equip a counter-
guerrilla military brigade. It certainly should not be decided
in a bum's rush to act first and ask questions later.
It is not enough to say that Madeline Albright, or Thomas
Pickering, or General McCaffery is convinced that this is the
right thing to do--or that the Speaker favors this. The
Constitution requires that each member of Congress must make
that judgement, and if you feel that you do not have the
information to make the right judgement, you should demand that
this decision be delayed until you have sufficient information
to make that judgement.
The amendment I offered in Committee would have deferred
consideration of this matter until we bring the regular bills
to the floor--hopefully in June. (See Committee Rollcall Vote
No. 1 on page 63 of the Report) If no action is taken by the
House on this matter by July 15, my amendment would have
brought the matter immediately to the floor under an expedited
procedure. Whether we resolve this in April or July will not in
my judgement materially affect President Pastrana's ability to
move the peace process forward. It will on the other hand
greatly affect our ability to understand exactly what
obligations we are making on behalf of the American people
before we make them.
Dave Obey.
DISSENTING VIEWS OF HON. NANCY PELOSI AND HON. DAVID OBEY
Along party lines, the Committee voted 23-31 (rollcall vote
No. 2) in rejecting an amendment offered by Ms. Pelosi that
would have invested $1.3 billion for domestic drug demand
reduction services. This amount equals the amount included in
this bill for international source-country cocaine supply
reduction. The Pelosi amendment would have provided an
additional $1,300,000,000 over four years for state and local
substance abuse prevention and treatment services funded
through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Majority has included funds in this bill to support a
``comprehensive strategy to combat the flow of drugs from
Colombia and the region into the United States.'' However, it
is not a comprehensive strategy to reduce overall cocaine and
other illegal drug consumption in the United States, which is
the ultimate policy objective of our national war on drugs. By
rejecting the Pelosi amendment, the Committee failed to
recognize that our national drug control strategy must focus on
demand reduction, as well as supply reduction--especially since
a large portion of illegal drugs consumed in the United States
is domestically produced.
Substance abuse is a critical and persistent public health
problem facing the Nation's major cities and smallest
communities. The impact of substance abuse on families, public
safety, employment and productivity is deep and well
documented. While drug treatment is proven to work, cities and
towns still have waiting lists for treatment services. In fact,
there is a large ``treatment gap'' identified by public surveys
and acknowledged by the Office of National Drug Control Policy
in its reports. Our public treatment systems are able to serve
only 2.1 million out of an estimated 5.7 million people in need
of treatment--leaving 3.6 million people in severe need of
substance abuse treatment. As a result, people working to
overcome their addictions cannot get into treatment. While
Federal funding for these programs has increased in recent
years, it has not come close to covering the need.
A Rand Corporation study on reducing cocaine consumption,
sponsored by the U.S. Army and the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, found that achieving a one percent reduction
would cost $723 million for source-country control, or $366
million for interdiction, or $246 million for domestic
enforcement, or $34 million for treatment. In other words,
funds spent on domestic drug treatment were 23 times more
effective than source-country control, 11 times more effective
than interdiction, and 7 times more effective than law
enforcement.
An even greater crisis awaits us if we fail to reach
millions of today's youth experimenting with drugs or reaching
a vulnerable age with effective substance abuse prevention
services. Effective model prevention programs have been
identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse within the
NIH, and other agencies. For every dollar invested in
prevention, communities can save four to five dollars in costs
for drug treatment and counseling; and estimated treatment
needs are projected to increase by 57% by 2015 if current
initiation rates continue without prevention intervention.
The Pelosi amendment would have provided treatment for an
additional 303,000 addicted individuals and proven prevention
services to an estimated 2.4 million youth. It would provide
help to those who need it most, by establishing a priority for
high-need populations such as youth, minority and rural
communities, pregnant and postpartum women, and individuals who
are homeless, at-risk for HIV infection, or have co-occurring
mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
The amendment would have increased the Substance Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Block Grant by $650,000 over the next
years, and guaranteed that all states receive at least a 6.25%
increase this year over the current allotments. An additional
$650,000 would have been awarded competitively to local
providers in three-year grants to implement or expand proven
drugs treatment and prevention programs at the community level.
Most of these funds would be dedicated to Targeted Capacity
Expansion grants to boost local treatment capacity. Some of the
additional funds, when combined with current funding, would
also allow SAMHSA to support State Incentive Grants in all
states to fill gaps and improve quality through the development
of comprehensive, state-wide plans to coordinate all prevention
services and funding streams within the state. A portion of the
funds would also be competitively awarded to local providers
under the research-based Knowledge Development and Application
program to develop and test new strategies for providing opioid
treatments for injection drug users, and support the existing
Family Strengthening Initiative to provide parenting skills to
high-risk parents such as those addicted to drugs whose
children are at greater risk of substance abuse.
We are facing a true public health crisis in this country.
Illicit drugs make their way into our communities, our schools,
our places of work. While rates of drug use among teens have
leveled off after a rapid increase since 1992, over half of all
high schools seniors are still using illicit drugs; and rates
among young adults age 18-25 have continued to rise. Regular
abuse of illicit drugs is rising among certain minority
populations. Drug use has increased 40% in the past five years
among African-Americans and 17% among Hispanics. Substance
abuse costs the nation about $246 billion a year. These figures
do not even capture the lost potential, wrecked families and
other human costs resulting from substance abuse.
While cocaine is a prevalent drug among adults, and
deserving of special eradication efforts, it is worth noting
that it is used far less frequently by our nation's youth than
other drugs. Fifty percent of the nation's high school seniors
have used marijuana, 15% have used inhalants, and 14% have used
hallucinogens, while 10% have used cocaine and 5% have used
crack. Even if were to succeed at reducing the foreign supply
of drugs, drugs with rising popularity are often produced here
at home. Cocaine consumption peaked in 1993 and has leveled
off, while abuse of other drugs such as methamphetamines and
marijuana has been rising. In many communities,
methamphetamines have risen to epidemic proportions. According
to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, methamphetamines
are rampant in the Western and Midwestern states. In 1998 in
San Diego, California, one in every three arrestees tested
positive for methamphetamines. Production and trafficking have
risen in the Northeast and Southeast regions as well. The point
of considering these usage statistics is that a balanced
approach must take measure of the entirety of our national drug
problems.
The Majority's refusal to support an equivalent increase
for domestic drug abuse treatment and prevention ignores the
reality that these are the most effective tools available to
reduce the burden of drug abuse on our society. A five-year
evaluation of SAMHSA substance abuse treatment services found
treatment has significant and lasting benefits. Patients
receiving treatment reported 50% decrease in drug and alcohol
use 1 year after completing treatment, 53% decrease in alcohol/
drug related medical visits, 43% decrease in criminal activity,
56% decrease in sexual encounters for money or drugs, 51%
decrease in sexual encounters with an injection drug user, 43%
decrease in homelessness, and a 19% increase in employment. A
$1 investment in drug abuse prevention will likely save $15 in
reduced health, justice, and other costs to society, according
to a SAMHSA-sponsored study that used findings from the
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
Stopping imported drugs like cocaine and heroin before they
reach our borders is an important and difficult endeavor. But
it is only a part of what is needed to prevent and control the
human and economic cost of substance abuse. The Pelosi
amendment would have addressed the abuse of all drugs,
including those abused most by our nation's youth, with proven
effective prevention and treatment services. The Majority's
refusal to support this amendment means that, even if the
Colombia strategy proves effective, we will continue to ignore
the needs of millions of Americans and get far less return for
our investment.
Nancy Pelosi.
Dave Obey.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
As the ranking minority member of the Energy and Water
Development Subcommittee, I submit these additional views on
the bill as reported by the Committee on Appropriations. The
bill includes substantial new funding requested by the
President for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pay for
emergency flood control and disaster assistance projects around
the country, which I strongly support. However, I strongly
object to the majority's refusal to include $6.6 million in
funding to complete engineering and design work on the proposed
Devil's Lake flood control project in North Dakota. This was a
decision that could result in continued flooding in and around
the communities located near Devil's Lake.
The problem of flooding in Devil's Lake is an emergency
that must be addressed. The lake has expanded westward seven
miles since 1992 and is, among other things, about to possibly
swamp a local high school. The lake has risen twenty-five
vertical feet since 1992 and has completely submerged several
roads leading to and from the lake. The town of Devil's Lake
(pop. 9,000) is temporarily protected by newly-constructed
levees, but this is not a permanent solution to the problem of
the lake's continued expansion and almost certain uncontrolled
overflow into the Sheyenne River. To date, the Federal
Government has expended approximately $300 million in the
Devil's Lake region for levee construction, road raisings,
relocation assistance, commodity relief, and public assistance
payments. None of these expenditures represent a permanent fix.
The solution that the Corps is proposing is to cut an
outlet from the Western side of the lake to relieve the
pressure of rising water and allow the purest lake water to be
released in a controlled manner to the Sheyenne River. The
Corps is convinced that the outlet will work, and the problem
would be permanently solved. The funding requested was simply
to complete the study, design, engineering and environmental
impact statement so that informed decisions could be made as
soon as possible on whether to proceed with the overall
project. During full committee consideration of the bill, I
offered an amendment (Roll Call No. 4), to include $6.6 million
in funding for Devil's Lake. While I support this process and
regret the majority's decision to not include funding to help
the people of North Dakota, I am hopeful that some funding for
Devil's Lake will be included in the final version of this
supplemental appropriations bill.
Peter J. Visclosky.