[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7912-S7914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate 
Calendar No. 169, the fiscal year 2000 Treasury and general government 
appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brownback). The clerk will report the bill 
by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1282) making appropriations for the Treasury 
     Department, the United States Postal Service, the Executive 
     office of the President, and certain Independent Agencies, 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.


                         privilege of the Floor

  Mr. CAMPBELL. I ask unanimous consent the following individuals have 
floor privileges for the duration of the consideration of S. 1282, the 
Treasury and government appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2000: 
Tammy Perrin, Lula Edwards, Dylan Pressman, and Liz Blevins.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I am now pleased to lay before the 
Senate the committee recommendation for the Treasury Department, the 
Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and various 
independent agencies. The bill was crafted by the Subcommittee on 
Treasury and General Government and contains a total of $27,737,971,000 
in new budget authority. Of that, $14,533,811,000 is for mandatory 
accounts.
  The committee recommendation is within the 302(b) allocations and 
strikes a delicate balance between congressional priorities, 
administration initiatives, and agency requirements. This would not 
have been possible without the hard work and cooperation of the new 
ranking member of the subcommittee, Senator Dorgan, and his staff.
  This bill consists of mostly salaries and expenses accounts and the 
majority of the increases for agencies is to simply allow them to 
maintain current levels. There are very few new initiatives in this 
bill.
  Title I provides a total of $12,213,529,000 for the Department of the 
Treasury. This is $162,601,000 less than the administration request. 
The committee has again placed a priority on Treasury's law enforcement 
needs as well as support for efforts by State and local law 
enforcement.
  Here are a few highlights from Title I:
  $312,400,000 to the Customs Service to retain 5,000 current Customs 
employees since the user fee proposed by the administration has not 
been enacted.
  Emphasis on the need for the Gang Resistance Education and Training 
program--called GREAT--by including $3 million more than the 
administration request for grants to State and local law enforcement.
  Expansion of the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative into 10 
additional cities, bringing the total to 37 cities. This will allow ATF 
to track and prosecute those who supply guns to our youth.
  Funding for the Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy to allow AFT 
to more comprehensively investigate NICS denials in order to make sure 
that felons do not possess guns.
  Full funding to the IRS for customer service training and to 
implement the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.
  Title II provides $93,436,000 for the United States Postal Service, 
and continues to require free mailing for overseas voters and the blind 
as well as six-day delivery, and prohibit the closing or consolidation 
of small and rural post offices.
  Title III recommends a total of $553,128,000 for the Executive Office 
of the President, $86,370,000 less than the administration request. 
This includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy, the Federal drug control programs, and 
funding for the national anti-drug media campaign.
  Of special note, the committee:
  Recommends establishing a separate account for the Counterdrug 
Technology Assessment Center, and has provided $31,100,000 for that 
program to transfer much needed technology to State and local law 
enforcement.

  Provides $188,277,000 for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas 
program which will allow continuation of existing HIDTA programs at 
their current levels. These programs highly acclaimed by local law 
enforcement.
  Recommends a total of $145,500,000 for the national anti-drug media 
campaign.
  Title IV is independent agencies such as the Federal Election 
Commission, the General Services Administration, and the National 
Archives, as well as agencies involved in Federal employment such as 
the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Merit Systems Protection 
Board, the Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Special Counsel, 
and the Office of Personnel Management. Also included in this title are 
mandatory accounts to provide for Federal retirees, health benefits, 
and life insurance. The committee recommends a total of $14,877,878,000 
for this title.
  For the third year in a row, the administration has not requested 
funding for courthouse construction. Unfortunately, due to the very 
limited funding available to the committee, we have not included any 
new courthouse construction projects in this bill.
  In order to stay within our 302(b) allocations, the subcommittee was 
forced

[[Page S7913]]

to make very difficult decisions, as were all Appropriations 
subcommittees. As a result, this bill is very tightly crafted to allow 
the agencies to continue their vital work. Very few new initiatives 
were recommended and we were not able to accommodate all of our 
colleagues' requests due to funding constraints. I remind my colleagues 
that any funding amendments must be offset and, frankly, there is very 
little fat in this bill. If amendments are offered, we would ask the 
sponsor to identify the accounts we should be reducing to accomplish 
their goal.
  Finally, I would like to again thank the ranking member, Senator 
Dorgan, for his hard work and support. This bill would not have been 
possible without his assistance, and that of his staff Barbara Retzlaff 
and Elizabeth Blevins. I also thank my staff: Pat Raymond, Tammy Perrin 
and Lula Edwards for their tireless and invaluable work on this bill. 
This bill has been a collaborative effort and it deserves the support 
of the Senate.
  I yield the floor to Senator Dorgan.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from the great State of North 
Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, in light of the hour and especially in 
light of the statement made by my colleague from Colorado, the chairman 
of this subcommittee, I will be mercifully brief. But I do want to say 
this bill, the fiscal year 2000 Treasury and general government bill, 
is one that we have worked hard to bring to the floor of the Senate in 
a manner that we think is fair and relates to the limits that were 
imposed upon us. The chairman and I believe the allocation level, 
obviously, could have been greater in order to allow us to have 
provided some additional funding to some areas of the bill, but we are 
restricted by budget rules and by the allocation that was given us.
  I would like to say working with Chairman Campbell has been a 
pleasure. He is easy to work with. His staff, Pat Raymond, Tammy 
Perrin, and Lula Edwards have worked hard to ensure this bill has been 
well crafted, as has been the work of Barbara Retzlaff and Chip 
Waldren, who have been working with me on this legislation.
  Senator Campbell has described the major highlights of this bill, so 
I will not repeat that at this hour of the evening, but I do want to 
address a couple of brief issues.
  One, the issue of courthouse construction. Members of the 
subcommittee are well aware of the judiciary's continuing need to have 
some court space available to conduct their business and to move cases 
to settlement. We know that. Regrettably, there was not enough money in 
the allocation to this subcommittee to provide for courthouse 
construction. The President did not request courthouse construction nor 
was it funded in this bill. Budgetary constraints were the major factor 
with respect to that but not the only factor. Another reason we believe 
it would be somewhat precipitous to approve funding for the design and 
construction of many new courthouses prior to the AOC's completion of 
its comprehensive review of judiciary space is we think that review 
ought to be done first.
  The committee was pleased to receive the Administrative Office of the 
Court's May 28 letter confirming the award of a contract to a 
consulting firm to analyze and evaluate the judiciary's long-range 
planning process, their courthouse design guidelines, their program 
policies and practices, and the funding mechanisms and 
responsibilities. But the committee is concerned that the completion 
date for that report will be well after the date by which the 
administration must complete action on their 2001 fiscal year budget 
request. We anticipate having that report before we would complete 
action on fiscal year 2001 budget decisions and appropriations 
decisions here in the Congress. I believe that is important because we 
have received information which indicates that 11 of the 16 courthouses 
for which the AOC requested funding in the year 2000 deviated from the 
Judicial Conference of the United States Court Design Guide.
  For example, magistrate and bankruptcy courtrooms were increased from 
1,800 usable square feet to 2,400 usable square feet, a 33-percent 
increase. Total courthouse circulation space increased from 20 percent 
to 30 percent. Individual courtrooms were routinely being provided for 
individual senior district judges for more than 10 years, and the list 
goes on.
  I believe some of those excesses in the construction program resulted 
in some of the past funding delays. None of us believe a funding 
moratorium is the best way to maintain an important Federal asset 
program, so I hope the construction review will be completed and we can 
proceed in the future with a construction program.
  Second, I want to discuss very briefly the issue of the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. 
That is a long way of talking about the media campaign that has been 
going on in this country on the issue of drugs. This is the third year 
of that funding, funding of over one-half of a billion dollars that has 
been provided for this initiative.
  I would like to say I support this initiative. I think the power of 
advertising is well recognized. Appropriate advertising and advertising 
that is well done dealing with a message to our young people in this 
country, ``do not take drugs,'' is an appropriate way to send that 
message.
  I worked with the subcommittee to ensure that adequate funds were 
provided this year for that campaign to be effective. I do not believe 
that halfway through the campaign it is time to dilute the message.
  I know there will perhaps be an amendment offered dealing with 
alcohol. No one is more concerned about the issue of alcohol 
consumption, drunk driving, and alcohol abuse in this country than I. 
But I do not want to dilute what we are doing on the antidrug campaign 
with this alcohol issue at this point. There are other venues, other 
ways, other programs with which we can confront the drunk driving and 
alcohol abuse issue, and we will.
  This year we were not able to fully fund the television campaign 
dealing with the antidrug message. We have had to cut that some. We 
would have liked to have funded all of these issues in a manner that 
fully funds the budget request, but we did not have the money to do 
that. There simply were not the available resources to accomplish that. 
We have been forced to make certain cuts.
  My hope is perhaps some of these can be in conference, perhaps some 
additional budget allocation will be made available as we proceed 
through this process.
  Again, the work done by Senator Campbell, his staff, and our staff 
has produced a good piece of legislation. I hope we can move through it 
rather quickly tomorrow and preserve the bulk of what we have done to 
fund these very important programs.


                  Amendments Nos. 1189, 1190, And 1191

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Moynihan, I send 
three amendments to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Dorgan], for Mr. 
     Moynihan, proposes amendments numbered 1189, 1190, and 1191.

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendments be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendments are as follows:


                           amendment no. 1189

(Purpose: To ensure the expeditious construction of a new United States 
                     Mission to the United Nations)

       On page 56, line 3, after ``and'', insert the following: 
     ``$44,300,000 shall be available for demolition of the United 
     States Mission to the United Nations at 755 United Nations 
     Plaza (First Avenue and 45th Street), New York, New York, 
     and''.
                                  ____



                           amendment no. 1190

   (Purpose: To ensure that the General Services Administration has 
            adequate funds available for programmatic needs)

       Beginning on page 52, line 25, strike the colon and all 
     that follows through ``rescinded'' on page 53, line 2.
                                  ____



                           amendment no. 1191

  (Purpose: To ensure that health and safety concerns at the Federal 
  Courthouse at 40 Centre Street in New York, New York are alleviated)

       On page 56, line 6, after ``;'', insert the following: 
     ``$5,870,000 shall be made available for the repairs and 
     alterations of the Federal Courthouse at 40 Centre Street, 
     New York, New York;''.


[[Page S7914]]


  Mr. DORGAN. I ask unanimous consent that the amendments be set aside.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 1192

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on 
behalf of myself and Senator Dorgan.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell], for himself and 
     Mr. Dorgan, proposes an amendment numbered 1192.

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       On page 51, line 15 and on page 57, line 14 strike 
     ``5,140,000,000'' and insert in lieu thereof 
     ``$5,261,478,000''.
       On page 53 line 2 after ``are rescinded'' insert ``and 
     shall remain in the Fund''.

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment is a technical correction 
to the GSA Federal buildings fund.


                      Unanimous Consent Agreement

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all first-
degree amendments to the Treasury and general government appropriations 
bill must be offered by 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, July 1.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object, and I will not object, my 
understanding is that has been cleared with our side and Members of the 
Senate have been notified this evening that will be the case on this 
bill. I do not object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. I just asked unanimous consent that all first-degree 
amendments to the Treasury and general government appropriations bill 
be offered by 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, July 1.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That has been agreed to.

                          ____________________