[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 77 (Monday, June 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 15, 2000

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4578) making 
     appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001, and 
     for other purposes:

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Chairman, I wish to comment on the Department 
of Energy's (DOE) Fossil Energy and Energy Conservation Research and 
Development (R&D), and Clean Coal Technology provisions in H.R. 4578, 
the Department of Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 
Fiscal Year 2001. H.R. 4578 represents the hard work of Mr. Regula and 
the members of the Appropriations Subcommittee and Committee and I 
appreciate their diligence.
  The Science Committee has responsibility for setting authorization 
levels for funding civilian research at the DOE. The Committee has 
passed two authorization bills which address DOE fiscal year 2001 
funding: (1) H.R. 1655, the DOE Research, Development, and 
Demonstration Authorization Act of 1999; and (2) H.R. 1656, the DOE 
Commercial Application of Energy Technology Authorization Act of 1999. 
H.R. 4578 appropriates $535.6 million for Energy Conservation R&D 
programs, while H.R. 1655 and H.R. 1656 provide a combined $623.2 
million for similar programs. Furthermore, H.R. 1655 and H.R. 1656 
provide $442.4 million for Fossil Energy R&D, and H.R. 4578 provides 
$410.4 million for similar accounts. Although H.R. 4578 does not fully 
fund these accounts to their authorized levels, Chairman Regula has 
made a serious effort to fund R&D in a tight fiscal framework. Despite 
the shortfall in R&D funding, I am pleased the bill does provide $11.7 
million for the Science Committee's Energy Efficiency Science 
Initiative.
  I am also pleased to see that section 330 of H.R. 4578 contains the 
Knollenberg amendment that prohibits the use of funds to propose or 
issue rules, regulations, decrees or orders for implementing the Kyoto 
Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change prior to 
Senate ratification. Mr. Knollenberg's language assures taxpayers that 
Senate ratification must precede actions to implement the Kyoto 
Protocol. Given the glaring problems with this unfunded, unsigned, and 
unratified Protocol, such a limitation is proper and necessary and I 
commend the Appropriations Committee for including it in H.R. 4578.

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