[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 122 (Wednesday, September 19, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9494-S9497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002--Continued
Amendment No. 1583
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I send to the desk, on behalf of my
colleagues Senator Clinton, Senator Schumer, Senator Dorgan, Senator
Warner, and others, an amendment and ask for its immediate
consideration.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Dorgan], for Mrs.
Clinton, for herself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Edwards,
Mr. Biden, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Shelby, Ms.
Stabenow, Mr. Cleland, Mr. Breaux, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Crapo,
Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Helms, Mr. Allard, Mr.
Chafee, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kerry, Mr. McCain, Mr.
Feingold, Mr. Murkowski, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Snowe, and Mr.
Warner, proposes an amendment numbered 1583.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of
the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S9495]]
The amendment is as follows:
At the appropriate place in the bill, insert the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Heroes Stamp Act of
2001''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT A SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE
STAMP BE DESIGNED AND ISSUED.
(a) In General.--In order to afford the public a direct and
tangible way to provide assistance to the families of
emergency relief personnel killed or permanently disabled in
the line of duty in connection with the terrorist attacks
against the United States on September 11, 2001, the United
States Postal Service shall issue a semipostal in accordance
with sub-section (b).
(b) Requirements.--The provisions of section 416 of title
39, United States Code, shall apply as practicable with
respect to the semipostal described in subsection (a),
subject to the following:
(c) Rate of Postage.--Section 414(b) of title 39, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``of not to exceed 25
percent'' and inserting ``of not less than 15 percent''; and
(2) by adding after the sentence following paragraph (3)
the following: ``The special rate of postage of an individual
stamp under this section shall be an amount that is evenly
divisible by 5.''.
(2) Disposition of amounts becoming available.--All amounts
becoming available from the sale of the semipostal (as
determined under such section) shall be transferred to the
Federal Emergency Management Agency under such arrangements
as the Postal Service shall be mutual agreement with such
agency establish in order to carry out the purposes of this
Act.
(3) Commencement and termination dates.--Stamps under this
section shall be issued--
(A) beginning on the earliest date practicable; and
(B) for such period of time as the Postal Service considers
necessary and appropriate, but in no event less than 2 years.
``(g) For purposes of section 416 (including any regulation
prescribed under subsection (e)(1)(C) of that section), the
special postage stamp issued under this section shall not
apply to any limitation relating to whether more than 1
semipostal may be offered for sale at the same time.''
(c) Design.--It is the sense of the Congress that the
semipostal issued under this section should depict, by such
design as the Postal Service considers to be most
appropriate, the efforts of emergency relief personnel at the
site of the World Trade Center in New York City and the
Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act--
(1) the term ``emergency relief personnel'' means
firefighters, law enforcement officers, paramedics, emergency
medical technicians, members of the clergy, and other
individuals (including employees of legally organized and
recognized volunteer organizations, whether compensated or
not) who, in the course of professional duties, respond to
fire, medical, hazardous material, or other similar
emergencies; and
(2) the term ``semipostal'' has the meaning given such term
by section 416 of title 39, United States Code.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared by myself
and our side. Also, I understand it has been cleared by the Republican
side. I ask the amendment be agreed to.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the adoption of the
amendment?
Mr. CAMPBELL. We have no objection.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Hearing no objection, the amendment is
agreed to.
The amendment (No. 1583) was agreed to.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, my understanding is we are waiting for
Senator Hatch who will be offering an amendment. That amendment is on
the way to the floor. We have discussed that amendment. We will be
accepting it. I expect it will take just a few moments. And when that
amendment is accepted, I think at this point we are ready to go to
third reading of the bill. We will see at that point whether we need a
recorded vote on the bill. It would be nice to be able to finish this
appropriations bill this evening.
As soon as we receive the amendment, it is our intention to accept
the amendment and move to third reading.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I concur with the chairman. If we can
finish this last amendment, I don't know if there are any other
outstanding issues. If not, we are now checking with the leadership to
see if it will be accepted to move this bill tonight.
Mr. DORGAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Amendment No. 1584
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, Senator Campbell and I, on behalf of our
colleague, Senator Hatch, send an amendment to the desk and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will state the amendment.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Dorgan], for Mr. Hatch,
proposes an amendment numbered 1584.
Mr. DORGAN. 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:
(Purpose: To designate the State of Utah as a High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area)
On page 36, line 7, after the semicolon insert the
following: ``of which $2,500,000 shall be used for a newly
designated HIDTA in the State of Utah.''
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on adoption of the
amendment.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, we have reviewed the amendment and have no
objection on this side.
Mr. CAMPBELL. We have no objection on our side.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. There being no objection to the immediate
consideration of the amendment, the amendment is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 1584) was agreed to.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The absence of a quorum has been
suggested. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I believe the amendment we just considered
by Senator Hatch is the last amendment to be offered to this bill. I
believe on our side there are no further amendments. I believe that is
the case on the Republican side.
issuance of semipostal stamps
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I would like to enter into a colloquy with
the chairman of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Subcommittee. First, I would like to commend the Chairman for his good
work on this bill. I appreciate his leadership and commitment.
I would like to confirm with the chairman my understanding of an
amendment offered by the chairman and Senators Clinton and Schumer. The
amendment proposes that a special commemorative semipostal stamp be
issued to recognize the efforts of the brave emergency relief personnel
who were killed in connection with last week's terrorist attacks.
Existing Postal Service regulations state that the Postal Service
will offer only one semipostal stamp for sale at any given time. It is
my understanding that it would be consistent with these regulations for
the Postal Service to designate the commemorative stamp created by the
amendment as the one semipostal stamp to be offered, pursuant to the
said regulations, for the period specified in the amendment, with the
exception of the Breast Cancer Research Stamp previously exempted by
law.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, the Senator is correct. The Postal Service
could choose to designate the emergency relief semipostal as the one
semipostal stamp to be offered for the period specified in the
amendment, pursuant to Postal Service regulations.
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today in support of contraceptive
coverage for almost 9 million Federal employees and their dependents
who receive their health care coverage through the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program. At a negligible cost, this coverage has been
included in the past three Treasury-Postal appropriations bills and is
in the House passed bill and as well as the legislation before us
today.
This provision enjoys broad bipartisan support among members of the
Senate as demonstrated by a letter
[[Page S9496]]
sent by over half of the Members of the Senate to the chairman and the
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and
General Government.
This contraceptive coverage provision was adapted from legislation I
originally authored back in 1997, the bipartisan Equity in Prescription
Contraceptive Coverage Act, or EPICC, which currently has 42
cosponsors, and which was the subject of a hearing in the Senate
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on September 10.
Throughout this effort, I have had the good fortune of being joined by
Senator Reid who has been a partner with me in this effort, and I thank
him for his ongoing leadership on this issue. We both agree this is
commonsense public policy whose time has long since come.
The facts are not in dispute, contraceptives are an essential part of
not only a woman's health, but that of her children and her future
children. The lack of equitable coverage of prescription contraceptives
has a very real impact on the lives of America's women and, therefore,
our society as a whole. We took a strong first step towards ending this
inequity when, in 1998, we guaranteed access to prescription
contraceptive coverage for federal employees.
The inclusion of this coverage in FEHBP has saved female enrollees
over $1,000 over the past three years, according to the Alan Guttmacher
Institute. Not only has the inclusion of this coverage saved our female
employees about $350 a year, it has not cost the Federal government
anything either. A January 2001 OPM statement on the cost of this
coverage for federal employees under the FEHBP found no effect on
premiums whatsoever since implementation in 1998. Since it's not often
that we can say that, let me repeat it, it has had no effect on costs
of health care.
In fact, some, like the Alan Guttmacher Institute, argue that
improved access to and use of contraception nationwide saves insurers
and society money by preventing unintended pregnancies, as insurers
generally pay pregnancy-related medical costs, which can range anywhere
from $5,000 to almost $9,000. Improved access to contraception would
eliminate these costs and would reduce the costs to both employers and
insurers.
Whenever we talk about contraceptive coverage, the issue of a
``conscience clause'' has continually been raised. I would remind my
colleagues that this is a concern we effectively addressed in 1998 and
that standard has remained unchanged ever since. I agree that this is a
legitimate concern, which is why we found a compromise in order to
assuage the concerns of our colleagues who felt that there needed to be
a ``conscience clause'' to allow religious plans to opt out of this
coverage if their beliefs and tenets are not consistent with this
coverage. Originally, we specifically named five health plans that were
excluded from having to provide this coverage and allowed ``any other
existing or future religious based plans whose religious tenets are in
conflict with the requirements'' of this coverage. Three years later,
there are only two plans remaining in the FEHB program which do not
provide this coverage. That's two out of over 245 participating health
plans.
While many of my colleagues and I would prefer to have this coverage
expanded for all women nationwide, it is essential that we do not
rescind this critical health care benefit for women in the FEHB
program. And the proponents of the larger legislation, EPICC, are not
alone.
As recently as June, the U.S. District Court for the Western District
of Washington ruled in Erickson v. Bartell Drug Company that an
employer's failure to cover prescription contraceptives in its
otherwise comprehensive prescription drug plan constitutes gender
discrimination, in violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. This case was the first of its kind, setting a legal precedent as
well as bolstering the case for our broader legislation.
In turn, the foundation for the district court decision was a ruling
by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, or EEOC, last
December that an employer's decision to exclude coverage of
contraceptives in a health plan that covered other prescription drugs,
devices and preventive health care services violated title VII of the
Civil Rights Act regarding gender discrimination.
Together, these two decisions form a ``one-two'' punch in favor of
the approach we advocate today, an approach that's already been
endorsed by a total of 16 States, including my home State of Maine--
that have passed similar laws since 1998. Today, another twenty States
have contraceptive coverage legislation pending. That's a start, but
it's not enough. Not only are these laws limited to state regulated
plans, but this piecemeal approach to fairness leaves many American
women at the mercy of geography when it comes to the coverage they
deserve. Unfortunately, until we can get EPICC passed on its own, you
either have to be a member of Congress, a Senator, a Federal employee,
or living in one of these states to receive this guaranteed benefit.
We believe that contraceptive coverage not only makes sense in terms
of the cost of contraceptives for women, but also as a means bridging,
at least in some small way, the pro-choice pro-life chasm by helping
prevent unintended pregnancies and thereby also prevent abortions. The
fact of the matter is, we know that there are three million unintended
pregnancies every year in the United States. We also know that almost
half of those pregnancies result from just three million women who do
not use contraceptives, while 39 million contraceptive users account
for the other 53 percent of unintended pregnancies, most of which
resulted from inconsistent or incorrect use. In other words, when used
properly, contraceptives work. We know that they prevent unintended
pregnancies and when we have fewer unintended pregnancies, we will have
a reduced need for abortions, and that is a goal each of us can
support.
I ask my colleagues to continue to support the inclusion of this
provision in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program as contained
in the Fiscal Year 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill. It is an
important benefit and it is in the best interests of women's overall
health, their children and their future children's health.
Mr. Conrad. Mr. President, I rise to offer for the Record the Budget
Committee's official scoring for S. 1398, the Treasury, Postal Service,
and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2002.
The Senate bill provides $17.118 billion in discretionary budget
authority, which will result in new outlays in 2002 of $12.528 billion.
When outlays from prior-year budget authority are taken into account,
discretionary outlays for the Senate bill total $16.183 billion in
2002. The Senate bill is within its Section 302(b) allocation for
budget authority and outlays. Once again, the committee has met its
target without the use of any emergency designations.
I again commend Chairman Byrd and Senator Stevens, as well as
Senators Dorgan and Campbell, for their bipartisan effort in moving
this and other appropriations bills quickly to make up for the late
start in this year's appropriations process. The tragic events of
September 11 demand that this bipartisanship continue and that the
Congress expeditiously complete work on the 13 regular appropriation
bills for 2002.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table displaying the
budget committee scoring of this bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
S. 1398, TREASURY, POSTAL SERVICE, AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATION,
2002
[Spending comparisons--Senate-reported bill (in millions of dollars)]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General
purpose Mandatory Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate-reported bill:
Budget Authority..................... 17,118 15,478 32,596
Outlays.............................. 16,183 15,475 31,658
Senate 302(b) allocation \1\:
Budget Authority..................... 17,118 15,478 32,596
Outlays.............................. 16,183 15,475 31,658
House-passed:
Budget Authority..................... 17,022 15,478 32,500
Outlays.............................. 16,261 15,475 31,736
President's request:
Budget Authority..................... 16,614 15,478 32,092
Outlays.............................. 15,974 15,475 31,449
SENATE-REPORTED BILL COMPARED TO:
Senate 302(b) allocation \1\:
Budget Authority..................... ......... ......... .........
Outlays.............................. ......... ......... .........
House-passed:
Budget Authority..................... 96 ......... 96
Outlays.............................. (78) ......... (78)
President's request:
Budget Authority..................... 504 ......... 504
[[Page S9497]]
Outlays.............................. 209 ......... 209
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ For enforcement purposes, the budget committee compares the Senate-
reported bill to the Senate 302(b) allocation.
NOTES: Details may not add to totals due to rounding. Totals adjusted
for consistency with scorekeeping conventions.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any further amendments? If not,
the question is on the engrossment of the amendments and third reading
of the bill.
The amendments were ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read
a third time.
The bill was read the third time.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill having been read the third time,
the question is, shall the bill pass?
The bill (H.R. 2590) was passed.
(The bill will be printed in a future edition of the Record.)
Mr. DORGAN. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the order previously entered, the
Senate insists on its amendment, requests a conference with the House
on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair is authorized
to appoint the following conferees.
The President pro tempore appointed Mr. Dorgan, Ms. Mikulski, Ms.
Landrieu, Mr. Reed, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Shelby, Mr. DeWine, and
Mr. Stevens.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this bill must have gone through in
record fashion. I note for the record this is the first year Senator
Dorgan has been chairman of the subcommittee. I have really enjoyed
working with him, and I am continually awed by his skills in the
Chamber of this great body and his ability to get this bill together in
a timely fashion. I thank him and his staff for working so well with
us. From my staff, Pat Raymond and Lula Edwards worked hard on our
side. I thank them, too, for the record.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me say again what a pleasure it is to
work with Senator Campbell, his staff and my staff who I named
previously today. They have done an excellent job. We passed this bill
in fairly short order. As I said when we started today, I hope we could
perhaps show the American people that we are back at work and trying to
do things in a way that allows all of us to work together for the
interest of this country, and I believe the passage of this bill in the
manner we have done tonight is a demonstration of that.
Again, I thank my colleague and all of our Senate colleagues for
cooperating and allowing us to get to the point of passing this
important legislation this evening. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, while the chairman of the full committee is
here and two managers of the bill, I congratulate them and you. The
appropriations process is moving along, and we should all feel very
good about that.
Senator Dorgan and Senator Campbell have done a tremendous job on a
very difficult bill that will go a long way toward solving many
problems of this country.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Dorgan). Who seeks recognition?
Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________