[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H121-H122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2003

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 15, I 
call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 2) making continuing 
appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2003, and for 
other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
  The text of H.J. Res. 2 is as follows:

                              H.J. Res. 2

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That Public 
     Law 107-229 is further amended by striking the date specified 
     in section 107(e) and inserting in lieu thereof ``January 31, 
     2003''.
       Sec. 2. Public Law 107-229, as amended, is further amended 
     in section 120, by striking ``and December 1, 2002,'' and 
     inserting ``December 1, 2002, January 1, 2003, and February 
     1, 2003,''.
       Sec. 3. Section 613 of the Treasury and General Government 
     Appropriations Act, 2002, is amended (1) by striking ``2001'' 
     and ``2002'' each place it appears and subsection (a)(1), as 
     so amended, by inserting ``(as in effect on September 30, 
     2002)'' after ``Act, 2002'' and after ``such section 613'': 
     Provided, That such section, as so amended, shall be 
     effective through September 30, 2003, notwithstanding section 
     107 of this joint resolution.
       Sec. 4. Public Law 107-229, as amended, is further amended 
     by striking section 137 and inserting the following new 
     section:
       ``Sec. 137. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     joint resolution, in addition to amounts made available in 
     section 101, and subject to sections 107(c) and 108, such 
     sums as may be necessary shall be available to the Securities 
     and Exchange Commission for the Secretary of the Treasury to 
     advance start-up expenses to the Public Company Accounting 
     Oversight Board pursuant to section 109(j) of the Sarbanes-
     Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-204).
       ``(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint 
     resolution, upon the collection of fees authorized in section 
     109(d) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-204), 
     the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board shall reimburse 
     the Securities and Exchange Commission for any Commission 
     appropriations advanced to the Board for start-up expenses 
     pursuant to section 109(j) of such Act or subsection (a) of 
     this section, so as to result in no net effect of such 
     advances on appropriations available to the Commission in 
     fiscal year 2003.''.
       Sec. 5. Section 8005 of the Department of Defense 
     Appropriations Act, 2003 (Pub. L. 107-248) is amended by 
     inserting before the period at the end the following: ``: 
     Provided further, That in addition to the transfer authority 
     provided in this section, and subject to the terms and 
     conditions of this section except the limitation in the 
     fourth proviso, only to meet unforeseen requirements 
     associated with the global war on terrorism, the Secretary of 
     Defense may transfer an additional $2,500,000,000 of working 
     capital funds of the Department of Defense or funds made 
     available in titles I through VII of this Act to the 
     Department of Defense for military functions (except military 
     construction), including programs and activities of the 
     National Foreign Intelligence Program (with the concurrence 
     of the Director of Central Intelligence) and the United 
     States Special Operations Command, between such 
     appropriations or funds or any subdivision thereof, to be 
     merged with and to be available for the same purposes, and 
     for the same time period, as the appropriation or fund to 
     which transferred''.
       Sec. 6. (a) Approval of Prospectus.--For purposes of 
     section 3307(a) of title 40, United States Code, the 
     prospectus of General Services Administration 
     entitled ``Prospectus--Lease, Department of Homeland 
     Security, Washington, DC Metropolitan Area'', prospectus 
     number PDC-08W03, as submitted on December 24, 2002, is 
     deemed approved by the Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation 
     and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives on the 
     date of enactment of this Act.
       (b) Prohibition on Delegation.--The authority of the 
     General Services Administration to lease space under this 
     section may not be delegated to another department or agency.
       (c) Modifications.--Any modification to the prospectus 
     referred to in subsection (a) that is subject to approval 
     under section 3307 of title 40, United States Code, shall be 
     approved in accordance with the requirements of such section.
       Sec. 7. Section 126 of Public Law 107-229, as added by 
     Public Law 107-240, is amended to read as follows:
       ``Sec. 126. Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     joint resolution, except section 107, the District of 
     Columbia may expend local funds for programs and activities 
     under the heading `District of Columbia Funds--Operating 
     Expenses' at the rate set forth for such programs and 
     activities in the revised financial plan and budget for the 
     District Government for fiscal year 2003 submitted to 
     Congress by the District of Columbia pursuant to section 138 
     of H.R. 5521 of the 107th Congress, as reported by the 
     Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 15, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Obey) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
might consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution, H.J. Res. 2, is identical to H.J. Res. 
1 except for one thing, and that is the provision that allows the 
Defense Department the authority to transfer within their own accounts, 
they cannot go outside of their accounts, but to transfer up to $2.5 
billion within their accounts to fight the war on terrorism, to pay for 
Enduring Freedom and to do the necessary things to make the security of 
our Nation happen.
  Other than that, it would also become the vehicle, we hope the 
vehicle, for the final appropriations bill for last year. We plan to 
conclude all of last year's appropriations bills using this as a 
vehicle that we will send to the Senate. We hope that they will do the 
right thing and send it back to us and we will either vote on it or go 
to conference.
  Anyway, that is how we are going to conclude our 107th Congress 
appropriations business.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Let me simply say that in Wisconsin only cows chew cuds twice, and so 
we have the same concerns about the consideration of this resolution, 
but we have already made those concerns quite clear. I see no point in 
dragging it out.
  Let me simply say that with respect to the one difference between 
this resolution and the previous resolution, on this side of the aisle 
we agree with the provision that the gentleman is providing. I think it 
is a constructive provision.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the distinguished 
gentleman, and I am going to

[[Page H122]]

rush through my comments, and to the chairman of the committee.
  I, too, just want to associate myself with the remarks of the earlier 
debate, but I do want to express the fact that the running of 
government impacts on the lives of individuals, particularly those who 
are facing stress, economic stress, and we dealt with this in the 
unemployment legislation that we passed, but here is my concern as it 
relates to my particular congressional district.
  My concern is public hospitals and the lack of increased funding for 
Medicaid. I believe it is important to put on the Record that we are 
seeing increased numbers of individuals going to our public hospitals 
because they have no insurance, they have no alternatives. They are 
utilizing Medicaid. Some of that obviously has an enormous shortfall, 
and so the burden is falling upon my local county government.
  The longer we stay in this condition, without the actual passing of 
appropriations bills, the longer we put the burden on the States, the 
longer we put the burden on local government.
  So I just argue that we can pass this CR to the 31st, we passed the 
other one to the 31st, but all the issues we are concerned about, 
funding for HIV-AIDS, increased funding for Medicaid, funding Leave No 
Child Behind, all of that falls, if you will, around our feet and 
people are suffering. I am just hoping that we will have an opportunity 
to work in a bipartisan manner on the crisis that is going on in our 
districts, and we will come to a point where we recognize that we have 
got to address the needs of working people, but we have also got to 
address the needs of uninsured and impoverished who need this 
government to work on their behalf.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) very 
kindly for his time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just ask for a yes vote on this 
resolution, and I yield back my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  The joint resolution is considered read for amendment, and pursuant 
to House Resolution 15, the previous question is ordered.
  The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint 
resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third 
time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider 
was laid on the table.

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