[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 87 (Thursday, June 21, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3361-H3363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2217, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 174 and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 174
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. 2217) making appropriations for the Department
of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2002, and for other purposes. The first
reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of
order against consideration of the bill are waived. 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 Appropriations.
After general debate the bill shall be considered for
amendment under the five-minute rule. Points of order against
provisions in the bill for failure to comply with clause 2 of
rule XXI are waived except as follows: beginning with
``Provided further,'' on page 89, line 13, through
``participant:'' on line 18. Where points of order are waived
against part of a paragraph, points of order against a
provision in another part of such paragraph may be made only
against such provision and not against the entire paragraph.
During consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chairman
of the Committee of the Whole may accord priority in
recognition on the basis of whether the Member offering an
amendment has caused it to be
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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. During consideration of
the bill, points of order against amendments for failure to
comply with clause 2(e) of rule XXI are waived. 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings)
is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, for the 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 is yielded
for the purpose of debate only.
(Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked and was given permission to revise
and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 174 is an
open rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 2217, the Department
of Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The rule provides
for 1 hour of general debate, equally divided and controlled by the
chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations. The
rule waives all points of order against the bill and waives points of
order against provisions in the bill for failure to comply with clause
2 of Rule XXI, prohibiting unauthorized or legislative provisions in an
appropriations bill, except as specified in the rule.
The rule provides that the bill shall be considered for amendment by
paragraph; it waives points of order during consideration of the bill
against amendments for failure to comply with clause 2(e) of Rule XXI,
prohibiting nonemergency designated amendments to be offered on an
appropriations bill containing an emergency designation.
Finally, the rule authorizes the Chair to accord priority and
recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the
Congressional Record and provides one motion to recommit with or
without instructions.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2217 provides regular annual appropriations for the
Department of the Interior, except for the Bureau of Reclamation, and
for other related agencies, including the Forest Service, the
Department of Energy, the Indian Health Service, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the National Foundation for the Arts and the
Humanities.
President Bush requested $18.1 billion for the fiscal year, $700
million less than last year's enacted level. The Subcommittee on
Interior has allocated $18.9 billion.
I am particularly pleased that the bill includes $200 million for the
payment in lieu of taxes, the same level as last year, and $50 million
above the President's request. I am also pleased that the committee has
increased the level of funding for maintenance and operation of
existing Federal facilities, an effort that should receive at least as
high a priority as the acquisition of land; at least that is from this
Member's perspective.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2217 was reported by a voice vote on June 13, 2001,
and the Committee on Rules is pleased to report an open rule requested
by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations. I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and the
underlying bill, H.R. 2217.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington
(Mr. Hastings) for yielding me the customary half-hour, and 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, this is an open rule that I will not
oppose. The underlying bill has the support of many from both sides of
the aisle and, moreover, the minority was consulted throughout the
process of developing this legislation, something all too rare in much
of the legislation moving through this body.
I strongly commend the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Skeen), the
chairman of the subcommittee, and the gentleman from Washington (Mr.
Dicks), the ranking member, for their success in funding of the new
Conservation Trust Fund created last year. By including the $1.3
billion authorized for conservation, Congress has kept a promise to
expand funding for land acquisition, wildlife protection, and other
preservation and conservation programs. My constituents in upstate New
York will also be pleased by the committee's inclusion of a $120
million increase for weatherization and State energy programs to
insulate homes, schools, and hospitals, money that is sorely needed.
But yesterday, the Committee on Rules, in what is becoming an annual
act of hubris, failed to allow for restoration of some of the unwise
cuts made 6 years ago in funding for the agencies responsible for the
country's small but critically important arts and humanities education
and preservation efforts.
The bill funds the National Endowment for the Arts at $105 million, a
level still 40 percent below the 1995 funding level. The National
Endowment for the Humanities, NEH, is funded at $120 million, 30
percent below the level of 1995, and these levels fundamentally ignore
the successful efforts by both NEA and NEH to broaden the reach of
their programs and eliminate controversial programs, the two
``reforms'' that were requested by the majority when they reduced
funding in 1995. It is time to recognize the success of these reforms
and give these agencies the resources they need to meet this critical
need.
This is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The National Endowment for the
Arts is essential as part of the important link between education and
the arts. The economic benefits we receive are enormous compared to our
small investment in the NEA.
{time} 1015
Moreover, the public supports continued funding for the NEA because
NEA grants affect every congressional district. The NEA's budget
represents less than one-hundredth of one percent of the Federal
budget, and returns $3.4 billion annually to the Federal treasury.
The arts support at least 1.3 million jobs, and the nonprofit arts
industry alone generates $36.8 billion annually in economic activity, a
large return for our small investment, not what we usually get. In
addition, the arts produce $790 million in local government revenue,
and $1.2 billion in State revenue.
Members may recall our efforts last year on the floor to increase
funding for the arts and humanities. Members voted to increase the
funding for the arts, but a few minutes later the vote was essentially
overturned when the savings were diverted to another account which came
up earlier in the reading of the bill.
Yesterday, the Committee on Rules could easily have prevented similar
gamesmanship by allowing me to move forward with these amendments under
an en bloc procedure. This would have provided Members with an up-or-
down vote on arts funding. Instead, I will be compelled to offer
offsets and amendments that run the risk of procedural attacks by
opponents of the arts and humanities.
The minority members of the Committee on Rules, as well as my
colleagues and the majority of the American people who support funding
for the arts and humanities, deserve far better.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
I would like to enter into a colloquy with the distinguished chairman
of the subcommittee.
First, let me thank the chairman for his attention and detail to
salmon recovery efforts and hatchery reform efforts included in the
fiscal year 2002 appropriations bill.
While these items are terribly important for the entire Pacific
Northwest, there are a couple of additional items important to central
Washington in my district, and I hope to see them addressed in the
conference. One issue involves noxious weed funding in the Forest
Service budget, and the other is related to ground water research in
the
[[Page H3363]]
USGS agency in regards to the Methow Valley.
Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico.
Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's kind words, and
recognize his support for the projects in the legislation.
I assure the gentleman that the subcommittee will work to address his
concerns regarding these projects in conference.
Mr. HASTINGS. Again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman for
his efforts on this in his very first Interior appropriations bill. I
will certainly provide any assistance I can give and additional
information necessary to help him in conference on these two projects.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Washington (Mr. Dicks).
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill and
rule.
I want to say to my colleague, the gentleman from Washington, I will
help him in the conference on the measures that he just mentioned.
I also want to say that I want to applaud the chairman of this
committee and the majority and the minority for working to keep the
commitment last year in our substitute for CARA. This bill carries with
it $1,320 million in conservation spending. I think it is a dramatic
step in the right direction.
If Members will remember, last year over 300 House Members voted for
CARA, which would have been a 15-year $3 billion program. I offered an
amendment with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) that was
accepted by the majority that would keep this within the purview of the
Committee on Appropriations, and to create a trust fund to make sure
that they important programs were funded. The majority is working with
the minority. We have funded it in the Interior bill, and we hope it
will be also funded in the State, Justice, and Commerce bill.
I agree with the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter) that we
would have hoped that the Committee on Rules might have helped us on a
couple of these amendments, but I want to say to my colleagues, we are
going to offer an amendment to increase funding for the cultural
institutions, $10 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $3
million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $2 million
for museum services.
We are taking the money out of administrative expenses. I am
confident that if the amendment is approved, we will be able to protect
that in conference. So I am enthusiastically supporting this bill. I
think we should move ahead and pass the rule on a voice vote and get to
the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule providing for
consideration of the Fiscal Year 2002 Appropriations bill for the
Department of Interior and Related Agencies, despite a denied request
to make two amendments in order that were proposed yesterday to the
Committee on Rules.
The Minority has been consulted throughout the process of developing
this legislation and we believe our views are reflected in many aspects
of the bill. While we do not agree with every recommendation and
continue to work for improvements in several areas, in balance we
believe that this Interior bill is one which Members from both parties
can support.
The Minority is particularly pleased with the recommendation for
funding of the new Conservation Trust Fund created last year. By
including the full $1,320 million authorized for conservation, Congress
has kept faith with last year's commitment to significantly expand
funding for land acquisition, wildlife protection and other
preservation and conservation programs. We are also pleased by the
Committee's inclusion of a $120 million increase for weatherization and
State energy programs to insulate homes, schools and hospitals. These
funds are critical to low income families.
We applaud the Committee's decision to restore many of the unwise
cuts proposed by the President in a number of critical areas. This
includes approximately $300 million to the Energy Conservation and
Fossil Energy research accounts. These funds can significantly
ameliorate the energy crisis identified in the President's National
Energy Policy. It made no sense to cut these programs when current
gasoline prices and electricity problems remind us daily of the need
for energy conservation and alternative energy programs.
Although the Committee did not make in order the amendment proposed
yesterday, Congresswoman Slaughter and I plan to offer a new amendment
today to increase funding for our cultural agencies. The amendment
would provide $10 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $3
million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $2 million
for the Institute for Museum and Library Services offset by small
reductions in administrative costs at the Department of the Interior
and the Department of Agriculture. We had originally planned to offset
these amounts through a deferral of excess clean coal funds as we did
last year. Unfortunately the Rules Committee did not waive the rule to
allow this. Instead this amendment makes a very small reduction of less
than .3 percent in administrative costs.
Mr. Speaker, I support the rule protecting the bill as reported. It
is a clean bill which I intend to support.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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