[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 18, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S7873]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COST ESTIMATE ON S. 180

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, on July 12, the Committee on Foreign 
Relations reported S. 180, the Sudan Peace Act. At the time the bill 
was reported, the cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office 
was not available.
  I ask unanimous consent that the CBO estimate be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

        CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE, JULY 17, 2001

                        S. 180: Sudan Peace Act

 [As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 
                             July 12, 2001]

       S. 180 would condemn slavery and human rights abuses in 
     Sudan, authorize the Secretary of State to support the peace 
     process in Sudan, and require the President to devise a 
     contingency plan for delivering aid to Sudan. CBO estimates 
     that enacting S. 180 would have no significant budgetary 
     impact. The act would not affect direct spending or revenues; 
     therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply. S. 180 
     contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as 
     defined by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would 
     not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
     governments.
       Each year the United States provides nearly $190 million in 
     assistance to the people of Sudan through various emergency 
     food-aid, disaster assistance, refugee assistance, and 
     development assistance programs. The provisions of S. 180 
     would not substantially expand the Administration's authority 
     to provide such assistance. CBO estimates that spending on 
     those emergency and humanitarian programs would continue at 
     current levels.
       The bill contains several reporting and contingency 
     planning requirements that would not affect the State 
     Department's or the U.S. Agency for international 
     Development's (USAID) workload significantly. Based on 
     information from the department and USAID, CBO estimates that 
     enacting S. 180 would increase the agency's spending by less 
     than $500,000 annually, assuming the availability of 
     appropriated funds.
       On June 7, 2001, CBO prepared an estimate for a similar 
     bill, H.R. 2052, as ordered reported by the House Committee 
     on International Relations, on June 6, 2001. Like S. 180, 
     H.R. 2052 would not significantly affect discretionary 
     spending. That bill would require disclosure of business 
     activities in Sudan prior to an entity trading its securities 
     in any capital market in the United States. That provision 
     constitutes a private-sector mandate, as defined in UMRA, but 
     the cost of the mandate would fall below the annual threshold 
     established in UMRA ($113 million in 2001, adjusted annually 
     for inflation).
       The CBO staff contact is Joseph C. Whitehill, who can be 
     reached at 226-2840. This estimate was approved by Peter H. 
     Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

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