[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11159-S11162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT AGREEMENT--CONFERENCE REPORT TO ACCOMPANY VA-HUD 
                          APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that once the Senate 
receives from the House the conference report to accompany the VA-HUD 
appropriations bill that the conference report be considered and agreed 
to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements 
in connection with the conference report be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, it is my pleasure to present to the Senate 
the conference agreement on the VA, HUD, and independent agencies 
appropriations bill for fiscal year 1997. I'm especially pleased that 
this final step in congressional consideration of this measure is 
occurring prior to start of the fiscal year. Furthermore, we anticipate 
this measure will be separately signed into law and not become part of 
another continuing resolution, which has become quite a distinction for 
a major appropriations bill in this Congress.
  I would note that it is especially critical that we enact this bill 
immediately to avoid potential delays in processing of veterans 
disability compensation and pension checks. In addition, prompt 
enactment is necessary to prevent potential disruption in other 
critical governmental functions such as the sale and processing of 
Federal flood insurance policies and financing of VA and FHA mortgages.
  Mr. President, much of the recent attention paid to this bill has 
been over disposition of the three major health issues riders added 
during Senate floor debate: the Domenici-Wellstone mental health parity 
provision; the Bradley-Frist maternity health care amendment; and the 
spina bifida VA entitlement. While our appropriations conferees can't 
take credit for it, we are

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nonetheless pleased that at our urging the House and Senate legislative 
committees of jurisdiction, on a bipartisan basis, worked out 
agreements on these very substantial policy issues which are 
incorporated in our conference agreement. Moreover, at our urging, each 
of these legislative proposals now have delayed effective dates which 
permit a final legislative review in the next session of Congress, 
prior to implementation.
  Mr. President, beyond serving as a vehicle for these major health 
policy provisions, the underlying measure is itself the largest non-
defense discretionary appropriations bill, with nearly a third of the 
Government-wide total. Its critical role in establishing program levels 
and direction for the environment, housing and community development, 
veterans health programs, and science and technology is the reason why 
Congress and the White House took so long to reconcile our differences 
during this past year.
  These are major funding issues which reflect profound policy 
disagreements. None of us, however, want to repeat the long delays and 
frustrations we experienced during the past year of being unable to 
enact this critical funding measure. We have attempted to avoid 
reopening past disagreements and controversies which blocked this bill 
last year.
  Our effort to facilitate this measure has meant that this bill, in a 
number of respects, reflects funding levels and policies which are 
compromises between very different viewpoints. One example is the 
inclusion of funds at the 1996 enacted level for the Corporation for 
National and Community Service. I, and many others, continue to have 
strong reservations about this program, but there is no doubt that 
failure to fund it would result in a Presidential veto. So despite our 
misgivings, this conference agreement maintains the current level of 
funding for this program, which continues to be more than I believe 
warranted, but less than what is requested by the White House. The 
House agreed with this position of the Senate, despite their previous 
opposition to providing any funding for continuing this program.

  With respect to other agencies funded in this bill, the conference 
agreement attempts to balance a wide variety of competing interests 
within a very constrained budget allocation.
  The conference agreement provides $17.013 billion for veterans 
medical care--an increase of $5 million above the President's request 
and $450 million above the 1996 level. This account received the 
highest priority in the legislation, and hence the largest increase. 
The amount provided will ensure that VA will continue to provide care 
to the 2.8 million veterans currently receiving VA medical services.
  The conference agreement also includes $100 million in 1996 
supplemental appropriations for veterans compensations and pensions. If 
the Senate passes this critical legislation no later than today, 
September 25, these additional funds will ensure that veterans will 
receive their September checks on time. Delays may result in veterans 
checks being late.
  For EPA, a total of $6.7 billion is included--$184 million more than 
the fiscal year 1996 amount. This includes approximately $2.9 billion 
in funds for the States--of which $1.9 billion is for State revolving 
funds for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure--fully funded at 
the President's request level. It also provides the President's full 
request of $1.394 billion for Superfund, to ensure site cleanups are 
not slowed despite the need to reform the program.
  Despite the very compelling arguments made by some members, the 
conference agreement does not include so-called riders in EPA in view 
of our desire to keep this legislation as free of controversy as 
possible.
  For FEMA disaster relief, the conference agreement provides $1.32 
billion--all of which would become available immediately--to meet the 
needs arising from hurricanes Fran and Hortense, and other disasters 
currently on the books. These funds, in addition to the $3.7 billion in 
previously appropriated disaster relief funds currently available for 
obligation, obviate the need for a supplemental appropriation for 
disaster relief at this time.
  The conference agreement includes a 1-year extension for FEMA's flood 
insurance program--so that there is no lapse in FEMA's ability to write 
flood insurance policies and carry out the flood mapping program. After 
the recent hurricane disasters, many homeowners are only too familiar 
with how critical this program is.
  For the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the conference 
recommendation continues the policies and programmatic reforms enacted 
last year. It was a major disappointment that Congress was unable to 
enact a comprehensive public and assisted housing reform authorization 
bill. This appropriations bill, however, contains temporary extensions 
of provisions needed to halt the ever-increasing cost of housing 
subsidy commitments and to continue progress in reforming wasteful and 
ineffective housing and community development programs. Equally 
important, this bill restructures funding of Department of Housing and 
Urban Development to eliminate bureaucratic overlap and promote local 
flexibility and decision making. I hope that the authorizing process 
will pickup where they left off this year and expeditiously enact these 
reforms as permanent legislative changes.

  Similarly, this appropriations bill contains multifamily housing 
restructuring proposals which were under consideration by the 
authorizing committee. We cannot afford to continue the excessive 
subsidies currently being paid to sustain this inventory of nearly a 
million apartments for low-income families. Unless Congress acts to 
reduce the excessive debt of this housing inventory, along with 
implementing other management improvements, there could be massive 
defaults and widespread resident displacement.
  The complexity and difficulty of developing a consensus on these 
issues are substantial. Project owners, including limited and general 
partners, project managers, residents, State housing finance agencies, 
local community development organizations, bond holders, and municipal 
governments are among those with significant interests in how we 
address this issue. These interests, however, frequently are divergent 
and competing. Of course, we must also be mindful of the billions of 
taxpayers dollars previously invested in this multifamily housing 
inventory, and the billions more which are at risk over the next 
several years depending on which policies and financing mechanisms we 
select to deal with these issues.
  The conference agreement reflects our attempt at finding a reasonable 
balance between these sometimes conflicting concerns. We cannot afford 
continuing to pay excessive subsidies for these multifamily housing 
projects, even those which provide very good housing for low income 
families. And some portions of this inventory are little more than the 
slums they were intended to replace. The conference recommendation is 
not a comprehensive solution. It simply is an attempt to deal with 
these issues in that fraction of the multifamily inventory that have 
section 8 contracts which expire during fiscal year 1997. We are acting 
solely because affirmative action is required to prevent defaults and 
potential resident displacement during the fiscal year.
  I want to thank the Senator from Oregon, chairman of our full 
Appropriations Committee, for his support and assistance during our 
consideration of this bill. Changes in our budget allocation, made on 
his recommendation, enabled us to provide funding to reduce the 
potential for displacement of low-income families from currently 
subsidized housing. With this allocation we were also able to restore 
funding for the Community Development Block Grants program [CDBG] at 
the full current fiscal year 1996 funding level of $4.6 billion, and 
not withhold $300 million from obligation as was proposed in the House-
passed bill.
  Mr. President, it is very unfortunate that the Senator from Oregon is 
retiring from the Senate since the funding requirements necessary to 
maintain subsidized housing are expected to grow even larger over the 
next several years, and his appreciation of the importance of this 
investment will be sorely missed. I would note, however, that with his 
help we have been able to begin weaning this inventory of housing from 
its continued dependence on heavy Federal subsidies.

  The conference agreement for NASA totals $13.7 billion, an increase 
of $100

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million over the House--and adopts the Senate-passed restoration of 
funds for the Mission to Planet Earth program to study global climate 
change. The conference agreement also incorporates buyout legislation 
necessary to facilitate reductions in staffing without resorting to 
very disruptive reductions-in-force [RIF's]. Also included is transfer 
authority, similar to that enacted last year, which provides NASA the 
flexibility to redirect funding within the $2.1 billion total provided 
for the space station in order to avoid costly delays or schedule 
slips.
  Mr. President, after making adjustments for the necessary 
replenishment of the FEMA disaster relief account and for enactment of 
housing legislative savings, the net increase in actual appropriated 
program levels is only $84 million, or just one-tenth of one percent 
over the previous year. While an aggregate freeze, the total reflects 
some substantial increases offset by commensurate decreases for several 
of our agencies. The biggest increase, $569 million, was provided for 
discretionary programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The only 
other agencies to receive significant increases were the Environmental 
Protection Agency, with an $184 million increase, and the National 
Science Foundation which received $50 million more than last year. 
These increases were offset by cuts of $625 million in HUD, and $200 
million in NASA.
  Finally, I want to express my appreciation to the Senator from 
Maryland for her assistance and cooperation in putting together this 
bill. We confronted major challenges, not only due to the complexity of 
some of the programmatic and budgetary issues within our jurisdiction, 
but also in dealing with some very sensitive policy concerns of a 
legislative nature. And, as has become an annual concern, we have had 
to deal with daunting budgetary constraints. She has been invaluable in 
guiding this difficult bill through some contentious points in the 
Senate and in conference. Amid the wide ranging issues and concerns we 
have dealt with in consideration of this bill, she has been steadfast 
in her determination to get our task accomplished. I am very grateful 
for all her help.
  Mr. President, I would also like to thank the many staff members who 
also have made a major contribution to consideration of this bill: 
Sally Chadbourne, Catherine Corson, David Bowers, and Liz Blevins on 
the minority side; and Stephen Kohashi, Carrie Apostolou, Julie 
Dammann, Jon Kamarck, and Lashawnda Leftwich on our side.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am happy to join my distinguished 
colleague, the Senator from Missouri, to offer for Senate consideration 
the fiscal year 1997 conference report for the VA-HUD and independent 
agencies appropriations bill. With $84.7 billion in spending--$20.3 
billion in mandatory spending and $64.3 in discretionary budget 
authority, this is one of the largest and most diverse appropriations 
measures we must consider.
  I am particularly pleased by our ability to achieve compromise on 
many complicated issues as we worked out this agreement with our 
colleagues in the House. This bill funds a tremendous diversity of 
agencies and programs. It is a challenge every year to develop a 
passable, signable bill that addresses a variety of concerns from all 
Members of Congress and the American people. By accepting our 
differences on many of the issues that plagued the VA-HUD and 
independent agencies appropriations bill last year, and prohibiting 
environmental riders, we have avoided being included in an omnibus 
continuing resolution, and Mr. President, to the credit of all 
involved, we have a signable bill.
  Mr. President, I would like to second the urging of Chairman Bond 
that we move forward with this bill immediately. We need to avoid 
potential delays in processing of veterans disability compensation and 
pension checks as well as Federal flood insurance policies. Both 
matters are addressed in supplemental legislation included in the 
fiscal year 1997 VA-HUD appropriations bill.
  Mr. President, as you know, this bill contains funding for a diverse 
group of Federal agencies and programs. Yet it also contains three 
important health care provisions first proposed by the Senate and 
agreed to by the conference.
  I am a proud cosponsor of a measure introduced by Senator Daschle to 
extend benefits to children of Vietnam veterans exposed to agent orange 
who have spina bifida. This will provide needed support for our 
veterans' children and their families. I would note to Senator's 
Daschle's credit, that this provision passed overwhelmingly in the 
Senate, as did the motion to accept it in the House.

  Second, our bill includes Senator Bradley's newborns health 
provision, which prevents ``drive-through'' baby deliveries. Because of 
this bill, developed with Senator Frist, insurance companies will no 
longer be able to force mothers out of the hospital in less than 48 
hours after delivery. This is an important measure impacting every 
American family.
  Third, Senators Wellstone and Domenici's mental health provision 
prevents discrimination against people with mental illness. When this 
bill passes, insurance companies that provide coverage for mental 
health will have to offer the same lifetime cap as they do for other 
illnesses. We have heard here on the Senate floor stories from Senators 
about families devastated by insurance discrimination.
  Mr. President, the three provisions provide real answers to real 
problems faced by the American public. They are important components of 
the health care initiatives that this administration has worked so hard 
to carry out.
  As you can see, this bill is about more than just agencies and 
programs and budget authority: it is about real people. The bill 
provides $39.2 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
including $17.3 billion for veterans health care, and $20.4 billion for 
veterans benefits. It ensures that promises made are promises kept to 
our Nation's veterans.
  The bill provides HUD with $19.5 billion, including full funding, at 
$4.6 billion, for community development block grants. This money is 
used to provide real economic opportunities for people trying to help 
themselves--in places like Baltimore, Houston, and Charleston, SC. It 
funds the President's request for housing for people with AID's, 
providing desperately needed housing for people living with AID's.
  The bill continues a significant FHA multifamily housing mark-to-
market demonstration program. While taking on such an 
ambitious authorization effort for reforming the assisted housing 
program may be beyond the call of duty for the Appropriations 
Committee, this provision is the necessary first step toward reducing 
the excessive debt of the assisted housing inventory while avoiding 
putting families out on the street. This bill creates opportunities for 
the poor--but not hollow opportunities. Instead it reaffirms proper 
oversight of our Nation's housing programs, while avoiding new and 
expanded liabilities for the taxpayer.

  In addition, the bill continues to streamline the management of the 
Environmental Protection Agency and encourages EPA to prioritize, 
focusing its resources on those problems that pose the highest risk to 
human health and the environment. The EPA is provided $6.7 billion, 
which is $185 million more than last year. The money will be used to 
ensure that people across this Nation breathe clean air and drink clean 
water. Unfortunately, due to limited resources, the bill does not 
provide the President's full request for environmental programs. In 
particular, I am concerned about reductions in programs like Boston 
Harbor, Montreal Protocol, Climate Change, and the Environmental 
Technologies Initiative. But we did the best we could with the 
resources we had available.
  The bill restores the fiscal year 1996 $1 billion recision from the 
FEMA disaster relief fund and makes the funds available immediately. 
This will help families and communities devastated by hurricanes, 
floods, and other disasters. This is real help for real people, from 
North Carolina to Maryland to California.
  I am particularly pleased that this bill maintains funding for the 
Corporation for Community and National Service at $402.5 million. 
National service creates an opportunity structure--community service in 
exchange for a college education. It encourages volunteerism and 
rekindles habits of the heart. It fosters the spirit of neighbor 
helping neighbor that made our country great. National service is about

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real people offering real help to real communities.
  This bill also provides additional funding for the consumer agencies, 
including $42.5 million for the Consumer Product Safety Commission and 
$2.3 million for the Consumer Information Center. This is $200,000 more 
than the President's request.
  Mr. President, I am concerned that funding for NASA is $100 million 
below the President's request. I am concerned that space programs are 
taking a beating. Reductions in our space budget and our uncertainty 
about NASA outyear numbers jeopardize ongoing commitments, as well as 
our ability to fund new and innovative space science programs.
  Together with the administration, I plan to discuss the future of our 
space programs at a national space summit, to be held in December. I 
urge my colleagues to join the discussions that will take a critical 
look at how to maintain our preeminent space program, despite huge 
cutbacks in the overall budget.
  Fortunately Mission to Planet Earth was spared the cut it took in the 
original House bill. Mission to Planet Earth data will be used to help 
prepare our communities to deal with natural disasters, such as the 
recent Hurricane Fran which negatively affected thousands of people's 
lives. Mission to Planet Earth will also give our fishermen better 
tools to sustain their livelihood and help our farmers decide what and 
when to plant their crops.
  This bill also helps NASA employees and their families. It provides 
NASA employees buyout authority. We expect the buyout authority to 
reduce the impact of downsizing on people's lives. Furthermore, the 
bill protects the jobs for the eastern shore of Maryland at Wallops 
Island.
  Mr. President, this bill is about more than just programs and budget 
authority. This bill streamlines the Federal Government, yet it 
protects jobs. This bill provides important health benefits for mothers 
and babies, new benefits for veterans, and housing for low-income 
families. It maintains our global scientific leadership, and 
prioritizes our environmental programs. It protects our drinking water 
and teaches our children the art of community service. From children 
born with spina bifida to the Nobel laureates who help prevent birth 
defects, this bill provides real help for real people.
  Mr. President. The diversity or programs funded by this bill reflect 
the diversity of this country. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to 
support this conference report.
  Finally, I would like to thank Senator Bond, Congressman Lewis and 
Congressman Stokes for all the hard work they've done to get this bill 
to conference and to keep this bill from ending up in a continuing 
resolution. I would personally like to thank my appropriations staff, 
Sally Chadbourne, Catherine Corson, David Bowers, and Liz Blevins, as 
well as the majority staff, Stephen Kohashi, Carrie Apostolou, and 
Lashawnda Leftwich. I would also like to thank the members of my 
personal office staff and those on Senator Bond's staff who worked so 
hard to help us get through this conference.

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