[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 120 (Thursday, September 5, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9873-S9874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous report, the Senate will now 
proceed to the consideration of the conference report accompanying H.R. 
3845, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     3845) making appropriations for the government of the 
     District of Columbia and other activities chargeable in whole 
     or in part against revenues of said District for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1997, 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 a majority of the conferees.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of August 1, 1996.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There shall now be 10 minutes for debate on 
the conference report equally divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring before this body 
the conference report on the District of Columbia appropriations. 
Needless to say, the city is having difficult times, and it is 
important that we expeditiously dispense with the conference report.
  This report does not reflect my own views in each instance, nor the 
individual views of the Senate conferees. It is the result of true 
compromise with our colleagues in the House. The conference report 
provides for Federal funding of slightly less than $719 million and 
overall spending of $5.1 billion within the District of Columbia.
  I regret that, again, this year the conference report dictates to the 
city how it will spend its own funds on controversial social issues. 
The conference report continues current law on subjects of both 
abortion and the District's domestic partners legislation.
  Unlike the Senate-passed appropriations bill, the conference report 
provides that no funds, Federal or local, may be used to fund abortion 
except in the case of rape, incest or when the life of the mother would 
be endangered. Likewise, no funds may be used to implement the domestic 
partners legislation adopted by the District 4 years ago.
  I am pleased, however, that these were the only divisive issues in 
the conference this year and that we are bringing the conference report 
before the Senate in early September rather than the following April, 
as last year.
  The major budget differences between the House and Senate bills was 
the inclusion in the House bill of a deficit cap of $40 million. Under 
the consensus budget submitted to the Congress by the council, the 
financial authority and the Mayor, the deficit was projected to be some 
$99 million out of total spending of $5.108 billion in fiscal year 
1997.
  The House bill permitted a deficit of only $40 million, leaving it to 
the city to determine where the additional savings would be found. The 
conference report adopts a modification of the House proposal with a 
deficit cap of $74 million for fiscal year 1997. This figure is roughly 
halfway between the House and Senate versions and represents the 
substantial progress toward a balanced budget that was called for in 
last year's legislation, establishing both the financial authority and 
the District's current budget process.
  While not explicitly addressed in this legislation, let me state my 
own view that the budget which will be developed for fiscal year 1998 
should also show substantial progress towards fiscal balance. While I 
can only speak for myself, I believe the budget deficit for fiscal year 
1998 should be in the $30 million to $40 million range, not the over 
$90 million deficit projected in the current financial plan.
  Let me briefly touch on two other issues. First, the conference 
report largely adopts the city's consensus budget, and the architects 
of that budget--the council, the financial authority and the mayor--
must be commended for working together to draft it. That budget process 
was sometimes bumpy, but no more so than our own.
  Second, while we need to achieve a balance of this budget by fiscal 
year 1999, that fiscal balance will be very tenuous until we provide 
the District with help on issues outside the jurisdiction of the 
Appropriations Committee. My colleagues know that we cannot balance the 
Federal budget in the Appropriations Committee. That committee cannot 
balance the District's budget for very long either.
  Once we have worked with the city's elected officials and the 
financial authority to squeeze every last penny out of the budget, I 
believe we will be faced with problems in entitlements programs, such 
as Medicaid and pensions, that will require Federal assistance to 
solve.

  I thank my colleagues on the committee for their cooperation. Senator 
Kohl, my ranking member, has been of great assistance, a great 
cooperator, as has Senator Campbell. I deeply appreciate the guidance 
and support from Senator Byrd and Chairman Hatfield. I am deeply sorry 
that this marks the last appropriations bill I will manage during 
Chairman Hatfield's tenure. I will miss his leadership. It has been 
extraordinary working with him, and he has been a comfort to me when I 
have faced difficult issues.
  Finally, I wish to recognize the excellent work of the staff of the 
subcommittee: Terry Sauvain of the minority and Tim Leeth of the 
majority. Had Tim delayed his departure to the control board a few 
weeks, he would have sat here and had all kinds of praise heaped upon 
him for his almost two decades of service to Members of both sides of 
the aisle. Instead, he will have to accept our thanks from afar.
  Mr. President, before I conclude, let me move on to the District of 
Columbia and its problems. The headlines have been speaking to us daily 
about the difficulties. Before we recessed for August, we already 
recognized that the city had water problems, and we appropriated in 
this bill a million dollars to try to help solve that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I yield another 2 minutes to Senator 
Jeffords.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. I thank my friend. Also, I would like to mention the 
problems of the schools. We are well aware of them. The Senate tried to 
accommodate the problems with respect to the opening of schools, but we 
were unable to do so by the close of this last session. We are working 
very hard now, working with Senator Kohl and the House, to provide ways 
to fund the repairs to the schools without using Federal funds.
  But I will also say, it is obvious we need to have the management of 
the school system looked at and dealt with, as we have with the city 
itself. Second, we have to keep them separate from school reform, which 
is also essential and necessary. We have set up a process for doing 
that. So I am hopeful by next year we will not have to stand here and 
defend the serious problems that we have in the D.C. school system 
today.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I request 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Mr. KOHL. I thank you.

[[Page S9874]]

  Mr. President, I rise today in support of the conference report for 
the fiscal year 1997 District of Columbia appropriations bill.
  Mr. President, the conference report for the fiscal year 1997 
District of Columbia appropriations bill includes $718 million in 
Federal funds and $5.02 billion in District of Columbia funds. This 
figure is $1 million more in Federal funds and $29 million less in 
District of Columbia funds than in the original Senate version of this 
bill.
  This conference report has my signature and my vote for final 
passage. The District's financial situation demands as much. But I do 
have reservations: in particular, the inclusion of the Hose of 
Representatives' position on abortions and domestic partners. As you 
may know the Senate version of the District of Columbia Appropriations 
bill, which passed unanimously, contained language allowing the city to 
use non-Federal dollars to fund certain abortion services and domestic 
partner benefits. Use of Federal moneys to provide these services was 
prohibited, but the District could use its own money. For its part, the 
House of Representatives; version of the bill prohibited the use of all 
funds, including District Funds, in support of these services.
  We have been here before. This is not a new debate. In fact, the 
House position represents current law. But as a proponent of a woman's 
right to choose, I oppose that position both on substantive grounds and 
because it is too broad an incursion into home rule. On the issue of 
domestic partners, again we should show some measure of restraint when 
it comes to an issue on which the local electorate--through its duly 
elected officials--has spoken.
  Mr. President, I compliment the chairman of the subcommittee, Senator 
Jeffords, and thank him for his hard work in representing the views of 
the Senate in conference. The House conferees were tough, but fair, 
negotiators. They, too, deserve thanks for their cooperation.
  I urge my Senate colleagues to adopt the conference report on behalf 
of all those who visit, live, and work in the Nation's Capital.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.

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