[House Document 108-197]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





108th Congress 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 108-197

 
                 REQUESTS FOR FY 2005 BUDGET AMENDMENTS

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

REQUESTS FOR FY 2005 BUDGET AMENDMENTS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, 
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, JUSTICE, STATE, AND TRANSPORTATION; AS WELL 
    AS THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, THE ELECTION ASSISTANCE 
         COMMISSION, AND THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




June 25, 2004.--Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered 
                             to be printed
                                           The White House,
                                         Washington, June 25, 2004.
Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC
    Dear Mr. Speaker: I ask the Congress to consider the 
enclosed FY 2005 budget amendments for the Departments of 
Commerce, Health and Human Services, Justice, State, and 
Transportation; as well as the General Services Administration, 
the Election Assistance Commission, and the Federal 
Communications Commission. In total, these amendments would not 
increase the discretionary budget authority proposed in my FY 
2005 Budget.
    The details of these proposals are set forth in the 
enclosed letter from the Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget.
            Sincerely,
                                                    George W. Bush.
    Enclosure.
                [Estimate No. 6, 108th Cong., 2d Sess.]

                 Executive Office of the President,
                           Office of Management and Budget,
                                     Washington, DC, June 24, 2004.
The President,
The White House.
    Submitted for your consideration are requests for FY 2005 
budget amendments for the Departments of Commerce, Health and 
Human Services, Justice, State, and Transportation; as well as 
the General Services Administration, the Election Assistance 
Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission.
    The discretionary budget authority proposed in your FY 2005 
Budget would not be increased by these amendments.
    As described below and in more detail in the enclosures, 
the requests include the following:
Department of Health and Human Services
     $15 million is proposed for a new HIV Vaccine 
Research and Development Center in the United States to support 
the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, which you announced at the 
recent G-8 Summit. The increase in budget authority would be 
fully offset within the Department.
Department of State
     Appropriations language is proposed, consistent 
with the FY 2005 Budget, which would permit initiation of a 
surcharge on passports and immigration visa application fees.
General Services Administration
     Language is proposed that would transfer the 
authority to oversee the Panama Canal Revolving Fund from the 
Panama Canal Commission to the General Services Administration.
Election Assistance Commission
     An additional $10 million is proposed to enable 
the Commission to proceed with important studies mandated by 
the Help America Vote Act. This increase in budget authority 
would be fully offset within the Commission.
Other FY 2005 Amendments
     Several other amendments to your FY 2005 Budget 
are included in this transmittal for the Department of 
Commerce, the Department of Justice, the Department of 
Transportation, and the Federal Communications Commission.
Recommendation
    I have carefully reviewed these proposals and am satisfied 
that they are necessary at this time. Therefore, I join the 
heads of the affected Departments and agencies in recommending 
that you transmit these amendments to the Congress.
            Sincerely,
                                          Joshua B. Bolten,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosures.

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


                   International Trade Administration


                     OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 214
FY 2005 Pending Request: $393,513,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $393,513,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading, 
delete the second proviso.)
    This proposal would delete language that was inadvertently 
included in the FY 2005 Budget Appendix, which is inconsistent 
with Administration policy.
    This amendment would not affect the Department of 
Commerce's pending FY 2005 budget authority request.

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


            National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


                    PACIFIC COASTAL SALMON RECOVERY

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 221
FY 2005 Pending Request: $100,000,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $100,000,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading, 
after ``Pacific salmon populations'' insert including grants to 
the State of Idaho,)
    This proposal would clarify that Idaho is an authorized 
recipient of grant funds for salmon habitat restoration, salmon 
stock enhancement, and salmon research.
    This amendment would not affect the Department of 
Commerce's pending FY 2005 budget authority request.

                DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


                     National Institutes of Health

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Pages: 436-437
FY 2005 Pending Request: $28,607,357,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $28,607,357,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading, 
the following sections are amended:)
          (1) Under the ``National Institute of Allergy and 
        Infectious Diseases'' section, delete 
        ``$4,425,507,000'' and substitute $4,440,007,000;
          (2) under the ``National Institute on Drug Abuse'' 
        section, delete ``$1,019,060,000'' and substitute 
        $1,012,760,000: Provided, That in addition to amounts 
        provided herein, $6,300,000 shall be available from 
        amounts under section 241 of the Act to carry out 
        national surveys on drug abuse and related analysis; 
        and
          (3) under the ``National Library of Medicine'' 
        section, delete ``$325,147,000'' and substitute 
        $316,947,000; and insert the following before the 
        period, : Provided further, That in addition to amounts 
        provided herein, $8,200,000 shall be available from 
        amounts under section 241 of the Act to carry out 
        National Information Center on Health Services Research 
        and Health Care Technology and related health services.
    This proposal would increase HIV vaccine research funding 
in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 
(NIAID) by $14.5 million, by reallocating $6.3 million in 
budget authority from the National Institute on Drug Abuse 
(NIDA) and $8.2 million in budget authority from the National 
Library of Medicine (NLM) to the NIAID.
    The increase in NIAID would support the Global HIV Vaccine 
Enterprise, which was announced by President Bush during the 
June 2004, G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia. The Vaccine 
Enterprise concept is a virtual consortium to accelerate HIV 
vaccine development by enhancing coordination, information 
sharing, and collaboration globally. The U.S. commitment of 
$14.5 million would fund a new HIV Vaccine Research and 
Development Center in the United States and is intended to 
encourage other countries to make their own commitments to 
establish virtual centers and better coordinate vaccine 
research efforts.
    The funds reallocated by NIDA and NLM would be restored 
within the overall request for the National Institutes of 
Health (NIH) for evaluation activities through the use of the 
Secretary's authority under Section 241 of the Public Health 
Service Act, which allows the allocation of a portion of total 
amounts appropriated for programs under the Act to be use for 
evaluation activities. Therefore, total discretionary budget 
authority proposed for NIH in FY 2005 would not be affected by 
this amendment.

                         DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


                    Drug Enforcement Administration


                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 685
FY 2005 Pending Request: $1,661,503,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $1,661,503,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading, 
delete ``$5,000,000'' before the phrase ``for construction'' 
and substitute $13,100,000.)
    This proposal would increase by $8.1 million the allocation 
of funding within the Salaries and Expenses account available 
for construction of a training facility for detecting and 
destroying illegal clandestine drug laboratories. The lease 
recently expired for the Drug Enforcement Administration's 
current training facilities, which are located on the Quantico 
Marine Corps Base, and the Marines are expected to occupy the 
facility by December 2005.
    This amendment would not affect the Department of Justice's 
pending FY 2005 budget authority request.

                          DEPARTMENT OF STATE


                   Administration of Foreign Affairs


                    DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR PROGRAMS

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 737
FY 2005 Pending Request: $4,285,044,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $4,285,044,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading, 
insert the following after the second paragraph:)
    Beginning in fiscal year 2005 and thereafter, the Secretary 
of State is authorized to charge surcharges related to consular 
services in support of enhanced border security that are in 
addition to the passport and immigrant visa fees in effect on 
January 1, 2004. Funds collected pursuant to this authority 
shall be credited to this account, and shall be available until 
expended for the purposes of such account. Such surcharges 
shall be $10 on passport fees and $45 on immigrant visa fees. 
These amounts may be amended by the Secretary through 
administrative procedures after fiscal year 2005 as 
appropriate.
    In order to comply with the Border Security Act and other 
legislation requiring the inclusion of new information, 
including biometrics, in passports and visas, the FY 2005 
President's Budget included a proposal for later transmittal 
relating to consular fees. The appropriations language now 
proposed would permit initiation of a surcharge on passport and 
immigration visa applications and allow expenditures of the 
amounts collected for the provision of consular services under 
the Diplomatic and Consular Programs account. The amount 
collected under this proposal is estimated to be $95 million. 
An additional $5 million will be collected through 
administrative changes to the Diversity Visa program in FY 
2005.
    The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is in the midst of a 
multi-year effort to increase border security by strengthening 
the security of the passport adjudication process, the physical 
passport, the immigrant visa adjudication process, and the 
physical immigrant visa document itself. All of these changes 
impose a variety of developmental and operating costs on CA.
    With respect to passport services, improvements involving 
the use of other agency and commercial databases are underway 
to prevent identify theft and provide a more robust name check 
system for passport adjudicators. Changes to the passport book 
itself began most recently with the introduction of photo 
digitization. Changes currently underway include the redesign 
of the passport book to incorporate the most recent advances in 
document security, as well as the introduction of a contactless 
chip to store biometric information about the authorized bearer 
of the passport. The collection of a $10 security surcharge is 
directly linked to the implementation of these security-related 
improvements. In addition, the Department of State plans to 
help ensure the security of U.S. passports through an enhanced 
mail delivery system.
    The effort to enhance immigrant visa services includes 
migration of the immigrant visa to a machine-readable format 
using a secure visa template and implementation of digital 
photo and electronic fingerprint collection as required by 
recent legislative mandates. CA is also working closely with 
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in an ongoing effort 
to more fully integrate the immigrant visa process into plans 
for enhanced electronic case processing and tracking throughout 
Department of State and DHS activities. The collection of a $45 
surcharge is directly linked to implementation of these 
security-related improvements.
    This amendment would not affect the Department of State's 
pending FY 2005 budget authority request. The Department of 
State will also transmit corresponding authorization language.

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION


                        Office of the Secretary


                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 761
FY 2005 Pending Request: $102,689,000
Proposed Amendment: $5.658,000
Revised Amendment: $108,347,000

    This amendment would place the operational responsibility 
for the Office of Emergency Transportation and Crisis 
Management Center with the Office of the Secretary. An 
accompanying proposal would move it from the Research and 
Special Programs Administration.
    Taken together with the accompanying amendment, the 
discretionary budget authority total proposed in the FY 2005 
budget for the Department of Transportation would not be 
increased by this amendment.

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION


              Research and Special Programs Administration


                     RESEARCH AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Pages: 806-807
FY 2005 Pending Request $52,936,000
Proposed Amendment: -$5,658,000
Revised Request: $47,278,000

    This proposal would move the operational responsibility for 
the Office of Emergency Transportation and Crisis Management 
Center from the Research and Special Programs Administration. 
An accompanying amendment proposes that this responsibility be 
moved to the Office of the Secretary.
    Taken together with the accompanying amendment, the 
discretionary budget authority total proposed in the FY 2005 
Budget for the Department of Transportation would not be 
increased by this amendment.

                    GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION


          GENERAL PROVISIONS--GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Pages: 974-975
FY 2005 Pending Request: --
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: --

    (In the appropriations language under this heading, add the 
following new section after section 409:)
    Sec. 410. Section 3712 of title 22, U.S.C., is amended by 
adding the following new subsection at the end:
    (e) Termination; Transfer of Revolving Fund.--
          (1) The Panama Canal Commission and the Office of 
        Transition Administration (P.L. 106-65, div. C, title 
        XXXV, Sec. 3504b), (c),) shall terminate on October 1, 
        2004. To the extent that the Administrator of General 
        Services determines that any functions of the 
        Commission or the Office being performed immediately 
        prior to such termination should continue in connection 
        with winding up the affairs of the Commission or the 
        Office, such functions are transferred to the 
        Administrator.
          Upon termination pursuant to paragraph (1), the Fund 
        shall be transferred to the General Services 
        Administration (GSA). GSA shall use amounts in the Fund 
        to make payments of any outstanding liabilities of the 
        Commission, as well as any expenses required to perform 
        the transferred functions.
    This proposal would transfer the remaining functions of the 
Panama Canal Commission (PCC) Office of Transition 
Administration (OTA) to the General Services Administration 
(GSA) on October 1, 2004, the date of the Office's effective 
termination under law. The OTA and PCC are effectively 
terminated with the expiration of authorities under current 
law. However, this provision would make clear the intent to 
affirmatively terminate the agency rather than merely allowing 
its statutory authority to expire. The proposal would also 
transfer the authority to manage and make expenditures from the 
Panama Canal Revolving Fund to GSA. This proposal will have no 
budgetary effect on any other GSA program or responsibility.

                     ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION


                        ELECTION REFORM PROGRAMS

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 1115
FY 2005 Pending Request: $40,000,000
Proposed Amendment: -$10,000,000
Revised Request: $30,000,000

    This amendment would reduce by $10 million the pending FY 
2005 request for the Election Reform Programs account. 
Sufficient funding will be available from prior-year 
unobligated balances, now projected to be carried forward into 
FY 2005. This reduction would fully offset the proposed 
increase to the Commission's Salaries and Expenses account, as 
described in an accompanying amendment.

                     ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION


                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 1115
FY 2005 Pending Request: $10,000,000
Proposed Amendment: $10,000,000
Revised Request: $20,000,000

    This proposal would provide an additional $10 million to 
the Election Assistance Commission's Salaries and Expenses 
account to allow the Commission to proceed with important 
studies mandated by the Help America Vote Act. This increase in 
budget authority would be fully offset by a corresponding 
reduction to the Commission's Election Reform Programs account, 
as proposed in an accompanying amendment.

                   FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


                         SALARIES AND EXPENSES

FY 2005 Budget Appendix Page: 1125
FY 2005 Pending Request: $20,000,000
Proposed Amendment: Language
Revised Request: $20,000,000

    (In the appropriations language under the above heading 
after the last paragraph, add the following new proviso before 
the period:)

: Provided further, That not to exceed $33,200,000 may be 
transferred from the Universal Service Fund to monitor the 
Universal Service Fund program to prevent and remedy waste, 
fraud, and abuse, and to conduct audits and investigations by 
the Office of Inspector General: Provided further, That after 
notification, as provided in section 605 of this Act, 
additional sums may be transferred from such Fund for such 
purposes.
    This proposal would allow the Federal Communications 
Commission (FCC) to transfer funds from the Universal Service 
Fund (USF) to fund USF audit efforts. FCC anticipates a 
substantial increase in the number of audits conducted on the 
USF, in fulfillment of the Improper Payments Act. Senate Report 
108-144 advised the FCC to utilize funds in the USF to pay for 
costs associated with the auditing of the USF. This proposal 
would clarify the statutory language.
    This amendment would not increase the discretionary budget 
authority proposed in the FY 2005 Budget.

                                  
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