[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H738-H739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 409, FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 
                   MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1999

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 75 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                               H. Res. 75

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 409) to improve the effectiveness and 
     performance of Federal financial assistance programs, 
     simplify Federal financial assistance application and 
     reporting requirements, and improve the delivery of services 
     to the public. The first reading of the bill shall be 
     dispensed with. General debate shall be confined to the bill 
     and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled 
     by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee 
     on Government Reform. After general debate the bill shall be 
     considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. Each 
     section of the bill shall be considered as read. During 
     consideration of the bill for amendment, the chairman of the 
     Committee of the Whole may accord priority in recognition on 
     the

[[Page H739]]

     basis of whether the Member offering an amendment has caused 
     it to be printed in the portion of the Congressional Record 
     designated for that purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. 
     Amendments so printed shall be considered as read. The 
     chairman of the Committee of the Whole may: (1) postpone 
     until a time during further consideration in the Committee of 
     the Whole a request for a recorded vote on any amendment; and 
     (2) reduce to five minutes the minimum time for electronic 
     voting on any postponed question that follows another 
     electronic vote without intervening business, provided that 
     the minimum time for electronic voting on the first in any 
     series of questions shall be 15 minutes. At the conclusion of 
     consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall 
     rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as 
     may have been adopted. The previous question shall be 
     considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to 
     final passage without intervening motion except one motion to 
     recommit with or without instructions.

                              {time}  1215

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). The gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Sessions) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), 
pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During 
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose 
of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 75 is an open rule providing for 
consideration of H.R. 409, a bill to improve the effectiveness and 
performance of Federal financial assistance programs, simplify Federal 
financial assistance application and reporting requirements, and 
improve the delivery of services to the public.
  H. Res. 75 is an open rule providing 1 hour of general debate, 
divided equally between the chairman and ranking minority of the 
Committee on Government Reform.
  The rule provides that each section of the bill shall be considered 
as read. The rule authorizes the Chair to accord priority in 
recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the 
Congressional Record. This rule allows the Chairman of the Committee of 
the Whole to postpone votes during consideration of the bill and to 
reduce voting time to 5 minutes on a postponed question if the vote 
follows a 15-minute vote. Finally, the rule provides one motion to 
recommit with or without instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, I recently joined with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Armey), the majority leader, to highlight the waste from overlapping 
and duplication in our Federal Government. We used one simple example 
to illustrate the billions of dollars that are wasted each year, what 
we call the pizza example. Currently, if a company produces pizza with 
meat toppings, the USDA is responsible for inspecting the plant. If, 
however, a company produces cheese pizza, it is the FDA's 
responsibility.
  As amazing as it seems to have two different bureaucracies for each 
topping on pizza in your refrigerator, consider the fact that there are 
12 different Federal agencies that oversee food safety in this country. 
Does that sound like an efficient system to you? We think not. It 
sounds like to me, on the one hand, the right hand does not know what 
the left hand is doing and, consequently, taxpayers are left holding 
the bag for this inefficiency.
  Unfortunately, it does not end just with pizzas. There are currently 
over 600 different Federal financial assistance programs to implement 
domestic policy. Report after report has shown that the Federal 
administrative requirements are duplicative, burdensome or conflicting, 
which impedes the cost-effective delivery of services at the local 
level. Every dollar wasted complying with this bureaucratic red tape 
removes precious funds and resources from those programs' noble goals 
of feeding the poor or providing health care or other services to 
American citizens.
  H.R. 409, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act 
of 1999, aims to improve the delivery of much-needed services by 
streamlining and simplifying the Federal financial assistance 
administrative procedures and reporting requirements. Identical 
legislation, S. 1642, passed the Senate in the 105th Congress.
  The bill is simple and straightforward. It requires Federal agencies 
to develop plans within 18 months that do the following: streamline 
application, administrative and reporting requirements; develop a 
uniform grant application for related programs; develop and expand the 
use of electronic grant applications and reporting via the Internet; 
demonstrate interagency coordination in simplifying requirements for 
cross- cutting programs; and set annual goals to further the purposes 
of this act.
  Agencies would consult with outside parties in the development of 
such plans. Plans and follow-up annual reports would be submitted to 
Congress and could be included as part of other managed reports as 
required by law.
  In addition to overseeing and coordinating agency activities, the 
Office of Management and Budget, known as OMB, would be responsible for 
developing common rules that cut across program and agency lines by 
creating a release form that allows grant information to be shared by 
programs.
  The bill sunsets in 5 years, and the National Academy for Public 
Administrators would submit an evaluation just prior to its sunsetting.
  The bill has been endorsed by the major State and local governing 
organizations, such as the National Governors Association, the National 
Council of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, 
the Council of State Governments, the National League of Cities, the 
International City and County Management Association and the U.S. 
Conference of Mayors.
  This legislation, we believe, is on the right track. I urge my 
colleagues to pass this fair, open rule and the underlying things that 
it will accomplish in this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
her remarks.)
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Sessions), for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this rule that allows Members to offer all 
germane amendments to the underlying bill, the Federal Financial 
Assistance Management Improvement Act.
  Our legislative process works best when bills are first considered 
and perfected through our committee system. While this bill has not had 
the full benefit of the committee process, I know of no opposition to 
the bill.
  I would like to congratulate the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Horn), the chairman, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner), the 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Government Management, 
Information and Technology, for working together to craft the bill and 
possible manager's amendments.
  H.R. 409 seeks to streamline the process of delivering Federal 
assistance to individuals and localities. It is designed to simplify 
the grant application and reporting process by eliminating duplicative 
or conflicting administrative requirements.
  Like all my colleagues, I support efforts to reduce unnecessary 
paperwork requirements and endorse both legislative and executive 
efforts to streamline regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this open rule that will allow full and fair 
debate on H.R. 409.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I 
move the previous question on the resolution.
  The previous questioned was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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