[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 46 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3204-H3206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 1996

  Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House, I 
call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 170) making further continuing 
appropriations for the fiscal year 1996, and for other purposes, and 
ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The text of the joint resolution is as follows:

                             H.J. Res. 170

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That Public 
     Law 104-99 is further amended by striking out ``March 29, 
     1996'' in sections 106(c), 112, 126(c), 202(c) and 214 and 
     inserting in lieu thereof ``April 24, 1996''; and that Public 
     Law 104-92 is further amended by striking out ``April 3, 
     1996'' in section 106(c) and inserting in lieu thereof 
     ``April 24, 1996'' and by inserting in Title IV in the matter 
     before section 401 ``out of any money in the Treasury not 
     otherwise appropriated, and'' before ``out of the general 
     fund''; and that section 347(b)(3) of Public Law 104-50 is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(3) chapter 71, relating to labor-management relations;'; 
     and that section 204(a) of the Auburn Indian Restoration Act 
     (25 U.S.C. 1300l-2(a)) is amended by striking ``shall'' in 
     the first sentence and inserting in lieu thereof ``may''.
       Sec. 2. That the following sums are appropriated, out of 
     any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, and for other 
     purposes, namely:

       Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs


     funds appropriated to the president, agency for international 
                              development

          Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States

                     (Including Transfers of Funds)

       For an additional amount for ``Assistance for Eastern 
     Europe and the Baltic States'' for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
     including demining assistance, $198,000,000: Provided,

[[Page H3205]]

     That of the funds appropriated under this heading by this Act 
     that are made available for the economic revitalization 
     program in Bosnia and Herzegovina, not less than 87.5 percent 
     shall be obligated and expended for programs, projects, and 
     activities, within the sector assigned to American forces of 
     the military Implementation Force (IFOR) established by the 
     North Atlantic Council pursuant to the General Framework 
     Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and within the 
     Sarajevo area: Provided further, That the preceding proviso 
     shall not apply to any project that involves activities in 
     both the American IFOR sector and other contiguous sectors: 
     Provided further, That priority consideration should be given 
     to projects and activities designated in the IFOR ``Task 
     Force Eagle civil military project list'' in making available 
     funds for the economic revitalization program: Provided 
     further, That none of the funds appropriated under this 
     heading by this Act shall be made available for the 
     construction of new housing or residences in Bosnia and 
     Herzegovina: Provided further, That none of the funds 
     appropriated under this heading by this Act or under this 
     heading in Public Law 104-107 may be made available for the 
     purposes of repairing housing in areas where refugees or 
     displaced persons are refused, by Federation or local 
     authorities, the right of return due to ethnicity or 
     political party affiliation: Provided further, That not to 
     exceed $5,000,000 may be transferred to ``Debt 
     Restructuring'' to be made available only for the cost, as 
     defined in section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
     1974, of modifying direct loans and loan guarantees, 
     notwithstanding any other provision of law: Provided further, 
     That $3,000,000 shall be transferred to ``Operating Expenses 
     of the Agency for International Development'' for 
     administrative expenses: Provided further, That the 
     additional amount appropriated or otherwise made available 
     herein is designated by Congress as an emergency requirement 
     pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(D)(i) of the Balanced Budget 
     and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended: 
     Provided further, That the provisions of section 515 of 
     Public Law 104-107, and any similar provision of law 
     requiring advance notification to the Congress, shall be 
     applicable to funds appropriated under this heading, except 
     that the requirements of those provisions shall be satisfied 
     by notification five days in advance of the obligation of 
     such funds: Provided further, That, effective ninety days 
     after the date of enactment of this Act, none of the funds 
     appropriated under this heading by this Act may be made 
     available for the purposes of economic revitalization in 
     Bosnia and Herzegovina unless the President determines and 
     certifies in writing to the Committees on Appropriations that 
     the aggregate bilateral contributions pledged by non-United 
     States donors for economic revitalization are at least 
     equivalent to the United States bilateral contributions for 
     economic revitalization made by this Act and in Public Law 
     104-107: Provided further, That 50 percent of the funds 
     appropriated under this heading by this Act that are made 
     available for economic revitalization shall not be available 
     for obligation unless the President determines and certifies 
     to the Committees on Appropriations that the Federation of 
     Bosnia and Herzegovina has complied with article III of 
     Annex 1-A of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in 
     Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the withdrawal of 
     foreign forces, and that intelligence cooperation on 
     training, investigations, and related activities between 
     Iranian officials and Bosnian officials has been 
     terminated: Provided further, That funds withheld from 
     obligation pursuant to the previous proviso may be made 
     available for obligation and expenditure after June 15, 
     1996, notwithstanding the previous proviso if the 
     President determines and reports to the Committees on 
     Appropriations that it is important to the national 
     security interest of the United States to do so: Provided 
     further, That the authority contained in the previous 
     proviso to make such a determination may be exercised by 
     the President only and may not be delegated: Provided 
     further, That with regard to funds appropriated under this 
     heading by this Act (and local currencies generated by 
     such funds) that are made available for economic 
     revitalization, the Administrator of the Agency for 
     International Development shall provide written approval 
     for grants and loans prior to the obligation and 
     expenditure of funds for such purposes, and the 
     Administrator shall receive the agreement of grantees that 
     such funds shall be subject to audits by the Inspector 
     General of the Agency for International Development: 
     Provided further, That with regard to funds appropriated 
     under this heading by this Act (and local currencies 
     generated by such funds) that are made available for 
     economic revitalization, the Administrator of the Agency 
     for International Development shall provide written 
     approval for the use of funds that have been returned or 
     repaid to any lending facility and grantee under the 
     economic revitalization program prior to the use of such 
     returned or repaid funds: Provided further, That, 
     notwithstanding any provision of law under this heading in 
     Public Law 104-107, the provisions of section 532 of that 
     Act shall be applicable to funds appropriated under this 
     heading that are used under the economic revitalization 
     program and to local currencies generated by such funds: 
     Provided further, That such local currencies may be used 
     only for program purposes: Provided further, That for the 
     purposes of this Act, local currency generations under the 
     economic revitalization program shall include the 
     conversion of funds appropriated under this heading into 
     currency used by Bosnia and Herzegovina as local currency 
     and local currency returned or repaid under such program.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gutknecht). Pursuant to the order of the 
House today, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston] and the 
gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey] will each control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston].


                             general leave

  Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on House Joint Resolution 170, and that I may include tabular and 
extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Louisiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  (Mr. LIVINGSTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I had hoped to stand before the House 
today and ask for the opportunity to present the final solution, if you 
will, for fiscal year 1996, the wrap-up bill, the omnibus bill, the 
bill that has plagued this House for the last 6 months. Unfortunately, 
that was not to be the case.
  However, I am very pleased to tell the Speaker and our colleagues 
that we are really within hours of presenting that solution. 
Unfortunately, we cannot complete it before we go on break for the 
district work period. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, we have to come back in a 
few days after the recess and complete our business. In fact, I really 
do not think it will take very long. Assuming our leadership continues 
to work with the White House, and we get cooperation from all parties, 
we should be able to conclude the mighty bill.
  The fact is most of the issues in the remaining appropriations bills 
have been resolved, but there are still a few of them that are 
uncompleted. We also have not quite resolved both the payment of the 
funding level for those bills and the ``paid fors'' anything that 
exceeds the House budget levels.
  We are still working on offsets; we are still working on such 
problems as the HIV issue within the national security bill; the 
abortion issue within the foreign operations bill, ergonomics, and 
various other isolated issues. I want to compliment all of the 
conferees in both House and Senate, Republican and Democrat, Mr. 
Speaker, for pitching in, shoulder to shoulder, over the last few days 
and working diligently in the hopes that we could finalize our 
negotiations by this time today. It was not to be, but it was not for 
lack of a conscientious bipartisan effort. I am deeply grateful to all 
of the Members for pitching in.
  Since that is the case, Mr. Speaker, I am compelled and pleased to 
present to the House the current bill, which extends all of the current 
continuing resolutions and all of the appropriations bills that are 
contained within those continuing resolutions, through April 24.
  Tomorrow, Members will go back to their districts to hold town 
meetings, make appearances, and spend time with their families. This 
may be a change from the last few weeks, but the fact is that by the 
time they return, there will only be 6 legislative days before the end 
of the this current continuing resolution we're presenting to the House 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill also provides four separate items which we 
feel are of such an emergency status that we must address them. The 
first provides a full year Federal payment to the District of Columbia, 
of without which the District of Columbia would collapse and cease to 
function. Second, it appropriates $198 million for Bosnia and 
Herzegovina for economic revitalization, money that is needed today. It 
is needed with most urgency in order to help our troops complete their 
tasks and pull out of that troubled region. These funds would have been 
included in the conference agreement on H.R. 3019, but because of the 
urgent need, they are being advanced in this resolution.
  Then, really, there are only two technical provisions. One amends the 
fiscal

[[Page H3206]]

year 1996 Transportation Appropriation Act to clarify FAA personnel 
reforms, and the other simply amends the Auburn Indian Restoration Act 
to create discretionary authority for the Secretary of the Interior to 
accept lands into trust status on behalf of the tribe. These two items 
are technical in nature, and meet bipartisan consensus, and there is no 
objection to them.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me simply say that I am extremely disappointed that 
once again we are having to fund government on a stop-and-go basis, 
with yet, I believe, the 12th or 13th, maybe it is lucky 13, 13th CR or 
continuing resolution for this fiscal year.
  I am extremely disappointed that more progress was not made this week 
in finishing action on the entire set of appropriation matters for the 
remainder of the fiscal year. What the situation is, is basically this: 
The Senate, in a constructive move, moved this process much closer to a 
possible White House signature by the changes that they made in the 
House appropriation bills when they were before the Senate, but as the 
White House has made quite clear, much as they welcome that movement in 
the Senate, they still require some additional movement in order to 
achieve a bipartisan compromise.
  It is not just enough for the Members of the House to reach agreement 
with the Members of the Senate, or for Members of one party in the 
House to reach  agreement  with the Members of their party in the 
Senate. We also have to reach agreement between the leadership of the 
Congress and the leadership of the executive branch, which means the 
President of the United States. He has indicated he still is 
considerably concerned about remaining insufficiencies, especially in 
the area of education, worker training, and environmental protection.
  So I think, Mr. Speaker, we will be focusing on those issues very 
firmly over the next 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the committee has again 
brought a short-term continuing resolution to the floor. This 
resolution is, regrettably, and in my view unnecessarily restrictive in 
terms of the funding levels that it provides for a number of areas, 
most especially including programs like chapter 1; and we know that we 
have some 40,000 school districts who are facing the prospect of having 
to lay off teachers if this is not resolved. That is why this must be 
resolved. But we are not quite there yet. I think we are moving a bit 
closer, but it is really going to require earnest negotiations over the 
next 2 weeks in order to put this matter to bed for the remainder of 
the fiscal year.
  Let me simply say, Mr. Speaker, I know Members what to get out of 
here. I regret very much the fact that this resolution has such a 
restricted funding level, especially in the area of education, as I 
have said, but that is what we have before us. I would simply say that 
it is my determination to pursue every possible avenue of compromise 
over the next 2 weeks, so we can get the matter resolved. I thank the 
chairman of the committee for his assistance in dealing with issues on 
which we both agree and disagree.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LIVINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I would just simply urge all our Members, Mr. Speaker, to keep the 
Government open, support this resolution, and have a happy Easter; and 
notice how I said that: Have a very happy Easter.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, 
the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider 
was laid on the table.

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