[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 137 (Tuesday, September 27, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 27, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION AND 
      RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1995--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
proceed to the consideration of the conference report on H.R. 4606, 
which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     4606) making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, 
     Health and Human Services, and Education, and related 
     agencies, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1995, and 
     for other purposes, having met, after full and free 
     conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to 
     their respective Houses this report, signed by all of the 
     conferences.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of September 20. 1994.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to report to the Members of 
the Senate that we have a very successful--and an extremely short--
conference with the House. Not only were we able to preserve all the 
important funding initiatives of the Senate, as well as those of the 
administration, but we completed action on all 157 Senate amendments to 
the House bill in less than 10 minutes. In fact, I think the time was 8 
minutes total for our conference. We set a new record. So there really 
is not much contention in the this bill.
  The conference agreement now before us is within our subcommittee's 
602(b) ceiling and is well below the level requested by the President. 
The conference agreement totals $252.9 billion. That is $6.6 billion 
less than last year's level. Of that total, $69.9 billion is for 
discretionary budget authority under the direct control of the 
subcommittee.
  Our bill also includes $38 million for two programs in the Crime 
Trust Fund allocated to our subcommittee. The remaining $182.8 billion 
is for mandatory programs funded by our subcommittee.
  I am particularly proud that this agreement does not impose an 
across-the-board cut of programs within our bill.
  Mr. President, there are many important features of this bill, but 
for the sake of time, I would like to mention just a few highlights.
  The conference approves the Senate's initiatives to root out wasteful 
spending and abusive practices in the Departments of Labor, Health and 
Human Services, and Education.
  Some of the waste, fraud and abuse initiatives include: an increase 
over the President's budget for payment safeguards to curtail 
overcharges in the Medicare Program; a pilot program designed to help 
investigators detect potential Medicaid fraud; prevention of payment of 
Federal workers' compensation benefits to convicted felons; and 
increased monitoring by the Social Security Administration to identify 
and suspend SSI benefits to those who do not comply with drug or 
alcohol treatment requirements.

  The conference agreement includes $1.319 billion for the Low-Income 
Home Energy Program, which is $94 million more than the House 
recommendation and $589 million more than the President's budget 
request. This also includes advance funding for program year 1996 at 
the fiscal 1995 level.
  Overall, the conference agreement provided 46 percent of the 
President's request for his investment programs in our bill, including 
initiatives in worker retraining, education reform, and children's 
programs.
  For Head Start, the conference agreement includes a $210 million 
increase over fiscal year 1994. This report includes a $396 million 
increase for the National Institutes of Health, reflecting the 
conference's strong belief that the NIH is a vital investment program 
for our Nation.
  I am also pleased that the conference recommends a $67 million 
increase for the substance abuse block grant, for a total of $1.234 
billion.
  For the Department of Labor, the conference report provides an 
additional $178 million for dislocated worker assistance, and $120 
million for one-stop career shopping. In addition, the conferees 
recommended $250 million for the joint Department of Labor and 
Department of Education school-to-work transition initiative.
  The conference report also provides a total of $528 million for the 
administration's education reform initiatives, including a $298 million 
increase for Goals 2000. For title I, the conferees recommended a $328 
million increase over fiscal year 1994 levels.
  The report also includes $2.25 billion, or $174 billion over the 
President's request, for 13 key health prevention programs at the 
Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resource 
Services Administration. Specifically, our agreement provides $616 
million for community health centers, $100 million for breast cancer 
screening, and a $12.5 million increase for family planning programs.
  And for the first year, our subcommittee has been allocated $38 
million from the Crime Trust Funds to fund two crime bill programs. 
Specifically, this bill provides $37 million for the Community Schools 
Program and $1 million for the Domestic Violence Hotline.
  I also publicly thank Chairman Smith, my House counterpart, and his 
ranking member, Congressman Porter, for their excellent cooperation 
this year. I want to commend the new chairman of the House 
subcommittee, Congressman Smith, for his cooperation, hard work, and 
his leadership on these issues. The House's assistance was essential to 
completing this year's conference in record time.
  I also want to publicly thank Senator Specter, our ranking member on 
our subcommittee, and his staff, for all of their excellent advice and 
assistance throughout this process. Senator Specter's counsel and input 
is reflected throughout the process, beginning with hearings earlier 
this year, committee markup and now conference, and I am most grateful 
for all of his help and assistance in bringing this bill to the floor.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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