[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 16, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H6950-H6984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2004

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 319 and rule 
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, 
H.R. 2691.

                              {time}  1725


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 2691) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior 
and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and 
for other purposes, with Mr. LaTourette in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having 
been read the first time.
  Under the rule, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) and 
the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor).
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, today we bring before the House for fiscal year 2004 
appropriations a bill for the Department of the Interior and related 
agencies. This is a good bill that balances many competing needs and 
stays within the 302(b) allocations for budget authority.
  Mr. Chairman, this bill is fiscally responsible, providing about $100 
million more than the budget request but nearly $200 million less than 
the fiscal year 2003 level. The bill takes care of our public lands, 
the national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and lands managed by the 
Bureau of Land Management. It has been increased not as much as some 
would like; and I pledge that in conference, we will try to increase 
that as much as possible.
  The bill focuses on conservation initiatives, including operation and 
maintenance of Federal lands, stateside grants for land preservation 
and recreation, State wildlife grants, habitat improvements on both 
public and private lands, eradication of invasive species, and 
protection of endangered species.
  We hear arguments that we are not doing enough for the conservation 
program in this bill. I disagree. There is nearly $1 billion in the 
bill for programs in the conservation spending category. But more to 
the point, there are a great number of critically important 
conservation programs in this bill that have never been included in the 
conservation spending category but are equally important.

                              {time}  1730

  We provide increases of $73 million for national parks, $30 million 
for national wildlife refuges, and $93 million for wildlife restoration 
and forest health. I would argue that most of the funding in this bill 
is for conservation activities.
  Some Members will argue that we need to buy more Federal lands. What 
we really need is to do a better job of taking care of lands we have 
and this bill does that.
  Fire fighting needs are addressed in this bill. In addition to 
providing the necessary funding for suppressing wildfires, we continue 
support for the National Fire Plan with the investment of $2.5 billion. 
We support preparedness activities so that we have the people and 
equipment in place to handle wildfires. We provide funding increases 
for hazardous fuels reduction, State fire assistance, and forest health 
programs. I am proud of the balance we have achieved in these critical 
programs that are important to all Americans.
  The bill ensures that energy research programs are adequately funded 
and that we maintain a proper mix between research on improvements to 
existing technologies and longer-term higher-risk research on new 
technologies. We need to keep all of our options open and not fall into 
the trap of picking winners and losers.
  When it comes to energy research, ultimately the consumer and not the 
government will determine what energy technologies will be successful 
in the marketplace.
  The bill provides for the continued construction of critically needed 
schools and hospitals for the American Indians and Alaskan Natives. It 
is included in a resolution to the contentious litigation between the 
United States and the American Indians dealing with the individual 
Indian trust monies. This bill provides prompt, fair, and reasonable 
resolution of those long-standing claims. This lawsuit has been 
diverting scarce resources away from critical programs that benefit the 
Indian people. We need to stop spending hundreds of millions of 
dollars, if not billions, on litigation support and redirect those 
funds to Indian education, health, wildlife, law enforcement and other 
important Indian programs.
  My good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo), chairman 
of the Committee on Resources, will move to strike this provision on 
jurisdictional grounds. He has committed to resolving this conflict 
through the authorizing process. Mr. Chairman, if we do not do this, we 
will literally be spending perhaps $2.4 billion in continuous 
accounting measures that will do nothing to solve this problem. It will 
be taken away from Indian health and education.
  Finally, the bill takes care of our cultural agencies and provides 
the funding needed to ensure that the Smithsonian Institution maintains 
its responsibility for providing quality visitor services and world-
renowned research. It provides the administration's request for the 
National Gallery of Art and for the National Endowment for the Arts.
  The Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal year 
2004 is a bill that I believe strikes an appropriate balance among 
competing funding needs, and I ask for support for the bill.

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[[Page H6956]]

  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Mr. Chairman, I want to again thank our new chairman, the gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor), for the way he has approached the 
process this year. He and the staff have worked with us and tried to 
craft a balanced bill within a limited allocation. And I want to also 
commend the staff of the committee, Debbie Weatherly, Chris Topic, 
Loretta Bowman, Joel Kaplan, Greg Kanadle, Mike Stevens and Lesley 
Turner. We have a very collegial working relationship, and it is 
something that, I think, the House would be proud of.
  During committee consideration, I offered two important amendments 
that I felt would have significantly improved this bill. The first 
amendment sought to add money for wildland fire accounts in an attempt 
to lessen the massive borrowing to fight forest fires. I was extremely 
pleased that the administration came forward last week with a $289 
million request as part of an emergency supplemental, and I plan to 
strongly support those funds being provided as quickly as possible.
  The second amendment that I offered related to the conservation 
funding and the shortfall in the Conservation Trust Fund. The amendment 
was not adopted, and the Committee on Rules would not allow a similar 
amendment to be offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) on 
the House floor today. I find that unfortunate because the issue of the 
Conservation Trust Fund is enormously important to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I, as co-authors of the trust fund with the 
former chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula).
  We reached a deal in 2000 as a compromise to the CARA legislation 
that would have created a new $3 billion mandatory program and instead 
created this trust fund to elevate funding levels for critical programs 
without a new entitlement.
  The new trust fund raised conservation spending for key programs in 
this bill from $514 million up to $1.2 billion and added built-in 
increases that would have brought conservation spending in this bill to 
$2 billion in 2006. I was pleased that the committee stuck to its word 
for the first 2 years of the agreement.
  This year, however, the interior bill falls $569 million short. The 
shortfall impacts each and every program under the trust fund: both 
Federal and State programs under Land and Water Conservation Fund; the 
Forest Legacy Program; Cooperative Endangered Species; the North 
American Wetlands Conservation Fund; State Wildlife Grants, Historic 
Preservation, Payments in Lieu of Taxes; and the Urban Parks Program.
  Most of these programs are either below the President's request or 
below last year, despite the fact that the trust funds provided for 
increases. And while I am deeply disappointed in the funding levels for 
conservation programs, there are other aspects of this bill that I 
strongly support.
  The bill provides $115 million above the President's request for the 
National Fire Plan, which I strongly support. It includes money to 
continue two national environmental restoration projects by the 
National Park Service, the Everglades Restoration Project in Florida 
and the Elwha River Recovery Project in the State of Washington.
  Additionally, the bill contains important language related to the 
Everglades that protects the Federal interest and ensures that the 
State of Florida is meeting its obligations to improve the quality of 
water entering the Everglades.
  The bill also contains language relating to competitive sourcing that 
I believe is necessary to ensure that Congress has a clear 
understanding of what the administration's intentions are in this area. 
This committee recently learned that both the National Park Service and 
the U.S. Forest Service had plans to spend several million dollars on 
these activities without following standard reprogramming guidelines 
and without clear direction from Congress.
  I consider this bill a work in progress and am hopeful that we can 
work together on areas of this bill that I believe still need 
improvement.
  At the appropriate time, I intend to offer an amendment with my 
colleague, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), to increase 
money for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National 
Endowment for the Humanities. We were successful with a similar 
amendment last year, and I hope this year we can again come together 
and show the full support of the House for the two endowments.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood), a valued member of the 
committee.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the interior 
appropriations bill, and I want to commend the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Chairman Taylor) for putting together a balanced and fiscally 
responsible bill that meets the natural resources, recreational, energy 
and cultural needs of all Americans.
  This bill does its part to contain Federal spending in that it 
adheres to the 302(b) budget allocation and provides nearly $200 
million less than what was contained in the FY 2003 bill. At the same 
time, it sets priorities with increases in national parks operations 
and backlog maintenance, the national wildlife refuges and the national 
forest system. It provides funds for the weatherization program and 
increases the administration's request for the abandoned landmines 
program that is so important to Pennsylvania.
  The bill provides $2.5 billion, with a B, for the National Fire Plan 
and includes substantial increases for fire fighting readiness, 
hazardous fuels reduction and State and community assistance.
  I am particularly pleased that the bill provides $33 million dollars 
for Forest Service forest health initiatives, including funds to 
control and manage adelgids in the East.
  The bill also contains language I support regarding the operation of 
the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve. I feel that the reserve has not 
been responsive enough to winter heating needs in the Northeast and may 
too narrowly define supply disruptions. The bill's report language will 
direct the committee on the circumstances and the various scenarios on 
which the reserve will be used.
  To those who say the bill does not contain enough money for 
conservation and land acquisition, I would point out that the bill 
contains $1 billion for programs funded under the conservation spending 
category as well as other programs in the National Parks Wildlife 
Refuges, Federal forests and other areas that are important 
conservation efforts but do not technically fall under the conservation 
category.
  In regard to land acquisition, we already own one-third of the United 
States. We need to manage that better before we buy new things. This is 
a balanced and responsible bill, and I commend the chairman for his 
leadership and urge my colleagues to give it their full support.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking Democratic member of the full 
committee.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Chairman, I am simply going to repeat most of what I said about 
40 minutes ago with the sure understanding that almost nobody was 
listening the first time and perhaps I might catch some more ears this 
time.
  I would very much like to vote for this bill. It has, through the 
years, been one of my favorite bills in this place; but I am not able 
to and still keep my word to this institution.
  As I said earlier to the House, in 1964 when the country decided that 
we were going to begin offshore oil drilling, an agreement was made to 
put about $900 million dollars a year of that revenue into preservation 
of key pieces of land around the country with the Federal Government 
and the States both participating in protecting that land.
  The problem is over the years that commitment was not kept and 
gradually about a $13 billion surplus was built up in that funds. That 
is why 3 years ago 315 Members of this House passed what was known as 
the CARA legislation. And what that was was an attempt to make that 
prior understanding finally a reality by turning

[[Page H6957]]

funding for a number of those conservation programs into entitlements.
  I opposed that. I thought we ought to be able to make conservation a 
high priority without turning it into an entitlement superior on claims 
to the Treasury on items like education or health care for that matter. 
I did not think they were superior. I thought they should be considered 
equal. And folks who had those beliefs, folks who had my beliefs 
essentially won the debate or at least we won the argument, and we 
shook hands on an agreement. And under that agreement, the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. Dicks), myself, and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Regula) on the minority side of the aisle, at that time serving as 
chairman of this subcommittee, agreed that we would double funding for 
those conservation programs and then over time have increments that 
would raise funding to $2.4 billion.
  We did that in order to stave off an entitlement; and for the first 2 
years this committee stuck to the agreement. But in the omnibus 
appropriations bill last year, the committee backed away from that 
agreement; and this bill takes us some $570 million below that 
agreement; and that is why I cannot support the bill as it stands.
  We tried in the rule to have the rule defeated so that we would have 
an opportunity to add that $570 million to the bill and to pay for it 
by reducing by $3,000 the tax cut that is scheduled to go to people who 
make over a million dollars a year in this country. We would have 
reduced that tax cut from $88,000 to $85,000, making hardly a dent in 
it. I think most people in that bracket would have gladly said, look, 
the national parks and national forests are a high priority. By all 
means, make those changes. But the House did not do it; and so in my 
view at this point, this bill cannot be repaired as far as I am 
concerned because I believe, above all else, in keeping my word.

                              {time}  1745

  I promised people on the other side of the debate 3 years ago that if 
the Committee on Appropriations did not stick to the deal that I would 
change my position and instead support making these programs an 
entitlement, and so from this point on that is where I stand on this 
issue.
  I must say I am deeply distressed that my committee saw fit not to 
keep the agreement they entered into 3 years ago. That was not an 
authorization agreement that was entered into 3 years ago. That was an 
appropriations agreement. And the Committee on Appropriations, as one 
of the great committees of this House, ought to keep its word. It has 
not on this bill, and that is why, regardless of other changes in the 
bill, I cannot vote for this bill as it presently stands.
  I recognize some people have other considerations, but I believe it 
is important that we keep our word to each other and that we keep our 
word to the American people. This bill is going to be seriously short; 
and, as a result, we will lose our ability to preserve and set aside 
forever key pieces of land in places such as Yellowstone, Grand Teton, 
nine key acres in Valley Forge. It is a shame, but that is what this 
House has come to on this issue.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert).
  (Mr. BOEHLERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill. Overall, 
this is a reasonable bill, given the budgetary constraints. It could 
have been an even better bill if my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle had not decided that it was more important to make a political 
statement, to score political points than to make progress.
  As was mentioned earlier in the debate on the rule, I was prepared to 
offer an amendment that would have moved $95 million from fossil fuel 
research and development, money that the administration did not 
request, into a range of conservation accounts.
  The impact of my amendment would have been to free up more money for 
such popular and important programs as the Federal and State Land and 
Water Conservation Fund, State wildlife conservation programs, historic 
preservation, forest legacy, and urban parks and recreation. This money 
is desperately needed for these important programs, and the amendment 
was backed by just about every single environmental and sportsmen's 
group. So this was an amendment that would have done some real good for 
the American people, real people.
  But my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decided they did not 
want the amendment to pass. Why not? Was it because they opposed 
putting more money into conservation programs? No. Was it because they 
thought the amendment would cause any harm to the public? No. Was it 
because they thought the amendment was bad for the environment? No.
  The only reason this amendment was being vociferously opposed is 
because that seemed like a way to score political points. They did not 
want anything to pass that would demonstrate Republican support for 
conservation and the environment. What a sad commentary on the state of 
American politics.
  So, instead of a good debate on conservation that would have led to 
an increase in spending for programs that benefit the American people, 
we are going to have a pathetic and pointless debate about a make-
believe proposal that would reduce the tax cut. My colleagues know and 
I know that is going nowhere.
  I hasten to remind my friends on the other side of the aisle that the 
tax cut battle is over. The bill was passed by the Congress, signed by 
the President.
  Here are the choices we face. Either go with the Boehlert amendment, 
adding $95 million to very important programs in the area of 
conservation and protecting the environment, or do nothing. The other 
side opted to do nothing because they wanted to have a political 
advertisement. We all know about the obscene cost of political 
advertising, but $95 million per statement is pretty darn expensive, 
and the American people are the losers. Sad day.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Hinchey), a member of the subcommittee.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Chairman, I am a bit mystified by the statement that 
was just made by my friend and colleague from New York. The Democrat 
party is not in the majority in this House. We do not control the 
agenda. That is controlled by the Republican party, and there is no 
reason why an amendment that a Republican Member wants to bring forward 
should not be brought forward and everybody has an opportunity to vote 
on it. I am sure I would have voted for it if the gentleman had brought 
it out here.
  It is not too late. Let us bring the amendment out here, discuss it. 
If the amendment has merit, then it will pass. I do not see any reason 
why it is not going to be brought forward. It is your amendment. You 
are in control of the House. You bring it forward.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), the 
ranking member, for yielding me the time; and I appreciate his 
leadership and hard work on this bill.
  I also want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Taylor), our chairman, for his hard work. I have enjoyed 
working with our chairman on the process that put this bill together. 
We had a good series of hearings earlier this year that led to some 
spirited discussions among the members of the subcommittee, and I want 
to thank the professional staff on both sides for all the good work 
that they have done.
  There are some very good initiatives in this bill. Very importantly, 
the subcommittee's vigorous oversight of Everglades restoration is 
reflected here.
  Despite admonishments from me and several subcommittee members, 
including the chairman and the chairman of the full committee, the 
State of Florida enacted legislation earlier this year that casts 
considerable doubt on the commitment to Everglades restoration. The 
provisions contained in this bill will ensure that the Federal interest 
in restoration is maintained by protecting the water quality that is 
crucial to the healthy functioning of the Everglades ecosystem.
  The increased funding for Indian health and education in the bill is 
commendable, as is the subcommittee's concern with the administration's 
rush to contract out jobs within the Park Service and the Forest 
Service. A good job was done there.

[[Page H6958]]

  Again, to the gentleman from North Carolina's (Mr. Taylor) credit, 
the bill restores some of the most egregious cuts proposed by the 
administration, such as those that would have crippled the important 
scientific research at both the Forest Service and the Geological 
Survey.
  I recognize that the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) is 
working with an insufficient allocation that is the direct result of 
the Republican tax cuts, and that is a problem that has devilled this 
process throughout. My colleagues cannot take $3 trillion out of the 
Treasury and then expect to have enough money to meet the needs of the 
country, and this is what we are facing throughout this appropriations 
process, and it is unfortunately reflected in this bill as well.
  Arts funding is still frozen at 30 percent below what it was 10 years 
ago, and energy research lacks the necessary resource and vision to put 
us on a path to energy independence. But beyond the low allocation, 
even more troubling is the ideologically driven opposition to 
conservation funding that permeates the bill, particularly land 
acquisition. This bill completely walks away from our responsibilities 
to protect and conserve lands.
  The tilt of this bill towards the notion that the Federal Government 
somehow owns too much land runs counter to the desire of the American 
people to preserve open space and natural resources. While I certainly 
agree that we should take care of what we already own, we have got an 
obligation to protect the best of what remains, sensitive and 
threatened forests, coastal lands, mountains, plains and wetlands that 
provide ecological, scenic and recreational values of national 
significance.
  Federal land acquisition programs in this bill are funded at $100 
million. This is $213 million below last year's level, more than a 50 
percent cut, and even $87 million below the President's request. The 
lack of land acquisition funding in this bill means lands that could 
otherwise be protected may now be lost forever.
  These cuts are incredibly shortsighted. The demand for open space and 
protected areas will only continue to grow as our population swells and 
land development pressures increase.
  So the bill contains a number of important provisions, but so far as 
the land acquisition and conservation measures are concerned it is 
inadequate.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert).
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman in the aisle makes a good 
point. We have worked well together across the center aisle, 
Republicans and Democrats. We have to work across the center aisle. We 
have worked well over the years. This time that cooperation stopped at 
the center aisle because a conscious decision was made not to go 
forward with a $95 million add-on which we could embrace warmly but 
rather to go forward with nothing because they want a partisan 
statement.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman would yield, that would 
be a mistake; and I urge my colleague to bring that amendment out here 
so we could debate it. Bring it out.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) former chairman and valued member of 
the subcommittee.
  (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman of the subcommittee 
for yielding me the time.
  I want to express my strong support for the fiscal year 2004 Interior 
appropriations bill. As a member of the Subcommittee on Interior and 
Related Agencies, I believe this is a balanced bill that addresses many 
of our most urgent needs. I want to express my appreciation to the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) and his staff for their hard 
work in putting together a good bill under very tight budget 
constraints.
  Mr. Chairman, this bill addresses a number of important national 
priorities. It provides funding increases for our four land management 
agencies, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the 
Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which provide 
wonderful recreation opportunities for the American people.
  To improve the visitor experience, the bill provides focused funding 
to address the continuing backlog of maintenance on these public lands, 
including $682 million for our national parks and a restoration of $47 
million for our national forests.
  During my past tenure as chairman of the committee, I made reducing 
of the maintenance backlog a top priority. We created the Recreational 
Fee Demonstration Program, which allows the land management agencies to 
raise additional revenues to further address their maintenance needs. 
Most of the fee stays at the site where it is collected and is used for 
maintenance and other enhancements to the visitor's experience.
  This demo program, which would be extended under this bill, continues 
to be a success. We have collected over $1 billion thus far, which was 
put most largely into maintenance and enhancing the visitor's 
experience. It has provided a real benefit for those Americans who have 
visited our parks, forests and other public lands.
  The bill restores deep cuts made in the President's budget to the 
U.S. Geological Survey and further provides a $16 million increase over 
the fiscal year 2003 level. This funding will enable USGS scientists to 
better understand the Earth's processes and allow them to provide 
first-rate scientific data to those responsible for managing and 
conserving our natural resources.
  In particular, I want to highlight funding included for the America 
View program which allows universities to collect remote sensing data 
and analyze it for both educational and land planning purposes.
  This bill continues our strong support in Congress for the 
restoration of the Everglades, providing $68 million toward this 
project. However, I remain concerned that recent actions taken by the 
Florida legislature undermine the Federal-State commitment, and it is a 
Federal-State commitment, to restoration. It is my understanding that 
we will consider an amendment to condition Federal funding on 
assurances that the State of Florida is meeting its prior commitments 
to improve water quality. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment 
when it is considered.
  I am pleased that the committee has worked to restore a number of 
serious cuts in the President's budget for important programs at the 
Department of Energy. The bill specifically restores funding for fuel 
cell research in fossil energy to current enacted levels. This will 
allow the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance initiative, which is 
developing standardized fuel cell components that would be used in many 
different types of fuel cell applications, to continue to move forward.
  I also appreciate the committee's efforts to restore cuts in the 
President's budget to the Industries of the Future program within 
Energy Conservation, particularly those relating to steel and metal-
casting.

                              {time}  1800

  These programs support technological advances that make our domestic 
industries more energy efficient and, as a result, more competitive in 
the global marketplace.
  The bill continues our commitment in Congress to implement the 
National Fire Plan, which is very timely given the serious situation in 
the West. It provides $115 million above the President's request, 
including substantive increases for readiness, hazard fuels reduction 
and forest health. These are commonsense measures that will help us 
both prevent and more adequately contain wildfires.
  Lastly, I am encouraged by the committee's work to develop a 
coordinated national plan for the acquisition of Federal lands. I 
believe the Federal Government needs to focus less on acquiring new 
lands and more on taking care of the property and facilities it already 
has. Under this bill, the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture would 
develop a plan outlining clear acreage goals and conservation 
objectives for lands acquisition. I believe this reevaluation will 
provide for better and more focused use of limited funding resources.
  Mr. Chairman, this is a very balanced bill that Chairman Taylor has 
produced in the subcommittee, and it

[[Page H6959]]

funds many important national priorities. I urge its expeditious 
consideration and passage.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), a valued member of the House and a person who 
is very interested in environmental issues in the Pacific Northwest.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding 
me this time. I have great sympathy for the hard work that the 
subcommittee has done, both the chairman and ranking member; but I 
appreciate also what the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) said 
about this being a work in progress, and I sincerely hope that it will 
be.
  I heard the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) talk about his 
concern that there was not great enthusiasm for an amendment that would 
restore approximately $90 million for Conservation Trust Fund 
activities. Mr. Chairman, I can understand the reticence on behalf of a 
number of Members of this Chamber to embrace that, but we had an 
agreement.
  A bill passed overwhelmingly under the leadership of the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George 
Miller) that passed by a veto-proof margin through the House and had 
tremendous momentum in the Senate. There was an agreement. The 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), I was pleased to see here, was part 
of this artful effort to put together an agreement that solved the 
problem in the short term. Now we have seen this agreement shattered.
  Because of the continuing resolution and what is in the bill that is 
before us today, we would shortchange what that agreement was 
overwhelmingly supported by this Chamber by almost $1 billion. I do not 
think that there are very many people here who are going to embrace 
with great enthusiasm a 10 percent solution when we have massive 
unfunded commitments to the state-side portion of that.
  In my community, where the committee has visited the Columbia River 
Gorge, there is priceless land in a conservation area where there are 
willing sellers that want to complete the deal, but there is not money 
available. There is underfunding in the arts. And I am convinced that 
there will be action in this work in progress that will bring people 
together and the will of this body will be heard, I think in a 
bipartisan majority, that hopefully will restore that funding for the 
arts.
  Mr. Chairman, it is not any lack of interest in true bipartisanship. 
I think the agreement that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Young), and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) were a part of was 
a classic example of that bipartisanship. It is time to reach back, 
restore it in this work in progress.
  Now, one specific that I would make reference to. I will be offering 
in the course of the debate on this bill an amendment that would reduce 
water-intensive agriculture in the one wildlife refuge in the United 
States where there is unregulated agriculture practicing on leased land 
dealing with the Klamath basin. I hope we will be able as a Chamber to 
come forward to solve that problem. But in the meantime, I commend the 
subcommittee for its hard work and look forward to this work in 
progress solving the CARA problem.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute 
to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. I yield to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Chairman, regarding funding for the U.S. Geological 
Survey's Minerals Assessment Team, there was confusion regarding 
whether this important activity was included in the bill. I have been 
informed that when the gentleman restored the mineral program, it also 
included the restoration of the Mineral Information Team Commodity 
reports.
  Minerals and mineral products accounted for over $370 billion to the 
economy in 2002. This survey is the only institution, either public or 
private, that provides these important resource assessments, and I 
would ask the chairman if this is his understanding regarding the 
restoration of this important program.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, the 
gentleman, as usual, is correct in his assessment of the situation. It 
has been restored.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Rothman), a valued member of the Committee on 
Appropriations to engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the 
subcommittee.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me 
this time, and I would like to address my remarks to the distinguished 
chairman of the subcommittee.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise to discuss an important issue regarding the Fish 
and Wildlife Service's ongoing work in the Hackensack Meadowlands area 
of New Jersey. The Fish and Wildlife Service has termed the 8,400-acre 
Hackensack Meadowlands an ``aquatic resource of national importance,'' 
an area 10 times the size of Central Park in New York City, located in 
the most densely populated area of the most densely populated State in 
the Nation, New Jersey, just a handful of miles from the Empire State 
Building. The Meadowlands is home to 65 species of nesting birds and 50 
species of fish and shellfish.
  During the last 2 fiscal years, Mr. Chairman, Congress has directed 
the service to assist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its ongoing 
feasibility study of preparing alternative approaches to preserving the 
meadowlands. In fiscal year 2003, the committee provided $180,000 for 
the service's New Jersey field office for such purposes. I want to 
thank both Chairman Taylor and Ranking Member Dicks for their past and 
continuing support of this important project.
  To continue the service's coordination with the Army Corps as well as 
its development of a comprehensive restoration plan that will recommend 
long-term management options for the Hackensack Meadowlands, an 
additional $50,000 is needed in fiscal year 2004 so that the New Jersey 
field office can complete the hiring of a field biologist and an 
environmental toxicologist.
  As the interior bill moves to conference with the Senate, I ask that 
the distinguished chairman consider the funding requirement for this 
important effort.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROTHMAN. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman 
from New Jersey for his leadership on this program. The Hackensack 
Meadowlands are indeed an important resource and a reasonable priority 
for the service.
  I am advised that the unanticipated budgetary delays have hindered 
the prompt hiring of the personnel the gentleman mentioned. I will look 
forward to working with the gentleman as we move forward towards 
conference to ensure that the service has the resources it needs to 
continue its consultative role on the Army Corps' meadowlands ecosystem 
restoration study.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) and my distinguished ranking 
member for all their help on this issue and look forward to their 
continuing support on this issue.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Kentucky (Mrs. Northup).
  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Chairman, I want to enter into a colloquy with the 
chairman of the subcommittee.
  Mr. Chairman, UPS's primary hub is located in my district. The United 
Parcel Service, known as UPS around the world, employs 22,000 people in 
my district. It just completed a $1 billion expansion and is the 
largest taxpayer in the State of Kentucky. In 2001, UPS supported 
approximately 7.1 million packages from overseas and exported 11.4 
million packages going overseas. A significant portion of this volume 
is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  Considering the volume of products under their jurisdiction, it is 
only logical to designate Louisville, Kentucky, as the port of entry 
for international trade in Fish and Wildlife resources in the coming 
year. That designation only

[[Page H6960]]

reflects the fact that in modern day Fish and Wildlife jurisdiction has 
to be not only at our ports but also at the primary designations at our 
airports.
  Mr. Chairman, I know that right now there is $700,000 in the budget 
that is for Atlanta; but I am eager to see that moved, as the Senate 
has done, to Louisville.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman 
yield?
  Mrs. NORTHUP. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I would say to the 
gentlewoman from Kentucky that I know she has worked long and hard on 
this project, and it will be my intent to see that it is funded, 
working with her and the Senate.
  Mrs. NORTHUP. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman 
very much.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Pallone).
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the ranking member for 
yielding me this time, and I rise to engage the chairman of the 
subcommittee in a colloquy regarding American Indians and homeland 
security.
  Mr. Chairman, I am concerned that as we move forward with the 
interior appropriations bill it is important to highlight the fact that 
no funds have been appropriated for tribal homeland security 
initiatives. Since the September 11 attacks, we have had allocated 
significant funds to secure the homeland against future terrorist 
attacks; however, Indian country has been excluded from all homeland 
security plans.
  I would ask that my colleagues recognize that tribes need to be 
included in the national strategy for homeland security. This is of 
particular importance for those tribes that are required to help 
protect the Nation's borders.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I wish to assure the 
gentleman that I agree with his assessment of the situation. I am not 
sure that the interior bill is the appropriate place to provide this 
funding, but I will work with the gentleman to address these needs in 
future appropriations bills.
  Mr. PALLONE. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the 
chairman for his consideration.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Olver), our distinguished colleague and member of 
the Committee on Appropriations.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  First of all, I want to thank the chairman, the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Taylor), and the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Dicks), for their very hard work in bringing forward 
this bill. And I particularly thank both the staffs, the majority led 
by Deb Weatherly and the minority led by Mike Stephens, because the 
work of bringing forward the bill, the difficult work, is really done 
by them.
  I appreciate very much that the bill includes important increases in 
many areas. For instance, there is a $335 million increase over the 
fiscal 2003 base funding for the National Fire Plan, which is 
critically important to the Nation's ability to both fight and prevent 
catastrophic forest fires. And I think it is very commendable that we 
have a $240-some million increase for Indian health education and trust 
reform, while that still is probably a good deal less than is needed.
  Unfortunately, despite the positive aspects, and those are only a 
couple of them, the 2004 appropriations bill remains flawed in key 
areas. These failings include, first, a continuing policy of freezing 
funding for the National Endowment for the Arts at levels 30 percent 
less than provided a decade ago, despite repeated votes on the floor of 
the House in support of increased funding. Second, the rejection of the 
President's request to increase funding for the Department of Energy's 
weatherization program, which is critical in helping poor families 
reduce their energy costs and is funded at a level $63 million below 
the President's request.

                              {time}  1815

  But most particularly, I regret the retreat from the committee's 
previous commitment to adequately fund conservation programs to protect 
public lands and cultural artifacts, to preserve endangered and 
threatened species, and to assist States in their own conservation and 
recreation programs.
  These conservation programs are funded at a level which is $208 
million below the current year and $569 million below the level 
authorized in the Conservation Trust Agreement reached less than 3 
years ago. These conservation programs include, and I will just mention 
a couple, the Forest Legacy Program, where 93 Members of the House 
wrote the committee in support of the Forest Legacy Program. These 93 
Members asked for an increase from $68 million to $158 million. 
Instead, this bill funds Forest Legacy grants to the States at $45 
million, which is a level 30 percent less, lower, than last year.
  Secondly, the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund where 225 
Members of the House wrote the committee and encouraged us to increase 
funding for the Wetlands Conservation Program. Instead, that level is 
less than half the President's request. Instead of increasing the 
program modestly, we have in fact cut it by a third.
  The Stateside Assistance Program which is funded at $98 million, 
about a 40 percent reduction from the President's request, and the 
Urban Parks Program where no funding is provided. The Urban Parks 
Program has been in place for 30 years, and it was zeroed out. It was 
part of the same CARA agreement made 3 years ago which is not being 
maintained under this bill.
  I certainly hope I will be able to vote for this legislation after 
the final conference report. It is my intent to do so if some of these 
failings have been corrected along the way.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. George Miller), one of the leading environmental 
advocates in the House of Representatives.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman 
for yielding me this time, and I thank him for all of his work on this 
bill and to the chairman of the committee for all of their time and 
effort to bring this bill to the floor.
  But I do want to say how disappointed I am with this legislation in 
terms of its treatment of the conservation spending and the 
conservation accounts. As previous speakers have noted, these accounts 
were created based upon a bipartisan agreement and an agreement to fund 
them when we had under consideration the CARA legislation, which was 
really designed to redeem the promise that this government made to the 
people of this country that, in exchange for offshore oil drilling, we 
would create an account, the Land and Water Conservation Account, and 
those monies would be used for the acquisition and protection of public 
and local lands, stateside land and water conservation for State and 
local governments to acquire land and communities to acquire land, and 
the Federal account for Federal lands.
  That was the agreement. There were overwhelming votes in the 
committee on a bipartisan basis; there were overwhelming votes on the 
floor of the House. The Committee on Appropriations responded with the 
funding of these accounts, and now we see that those accounts were 
savaged. This was a promise. This was an account that was created for 
the acquisition of these lands, both federally and locally. That 
account has several billion dollars in it in surplus, and yet we see 
what happens; those accounts were taken down from $450 million on the 
Federal side and $450 million on the state side.
  It is just unacceptable, because what do these Federal dollars do at 
the local level? They attract corporate money, they attract foundation 
money, local people make contributions. The fastest-growing 
organizations in the environmental movement are land trusts where 
communities come together to try to protect the natural assets of their 
communities, to protect the values in their communities, to create open 
space so that people can enjoy a quality of life. That is what those 
Federal dollars do. They are all matched at the local level.

[[Page H6961]]

  Now we see instead of $450 million, we are going to have around $100 
million. It is breaking a promise. It is breaking a promise with the 
people of this country. We tried to offer, the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Obey) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) were going to 
offer an amendment; but it would not be made in order to restore the 
funding for those accounts. And those accounts should be restored in 
toto.
  Maybe what we should do is we should object to every suspension bill 
where a Member of the Republican Party is asking to acquire additional 
land. I sit on the Committee on Resources; and we pass bill after bill 
where Members of the other party want to acquire land, another 10 
acres, another 20 acres, move the boundary east, west, add to this 
national park, add to this wilderness area. Why do they do that? 
Because the communities they represent want this done. They are 
responding to the desires of their constituents. And now instead of 
$450 million being available, there will be $100 million. If the 
Republicans dislike the program this much, they should not put in any 
more requests. There should at least be enough money in this bill to 
fund the Republican requests for land acquisition. That ought to be the 
minimum.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield to the gentleman from 
Washington.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I ask the gentleman if it is true that the 
President of the United States when he ran for President said we were 
going to have full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, 
$450 million for Federal, $450 million for state-side, and now we are 
down at $197 million for both programs?
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, that was his promise 
during the campaign, and it was his promise after he was elected. He 
was asked by the supporters of CARA in the campaign. I hate to say 
this, but he endorsed the bill and the concept and the money before the 
Democratic nominee did. He was out there saying this is important. Why? 
Because he understands this is community-driven. This is the best in 
our Federal system. Local people have these needs; they have raised 
local money. The Federal Government provides a catalyst from an account 
that was set aside specifically for that purpose. The gentleman has 
done an incredible job on these conservation accounts over the last 
several years, but now all of a sudden it looks like they just got in 
the car and drove over the cliff on this one.
  We will see who puts in the requests for the dollars. So no more 
Federal land, and yet bill after bill is passed out of the Committee on 
Resources, and then the Committee on Appropriations is supposed to fund 
it.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I was a member of the Subcommittee on the Interior, was 
not a member of this agreement that Members are talking about being 
made. No Congress can bind another Congress to an agreement because 
each Congress changes.
  I would point out that given our funds, we have done a great deal in 
the area of conservation spending. We are putting in more than $1 
billion in this program. In addition, we have spending categories that 
were not even established in 2001, and there are many billions of 
dollars in this bill that address conservation. Neither this 
administration nor this committee has failed in our effort to address 
the question of conservation. We have, however, tried to balance the 
bill given the fact that we have a deficit this year.
  I am sure the gentleman will soon be addressing us and criticizing us 
in a few months about the deficit. This is the only time we can address 
it in our appropriations area.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Gilchrest) for a colloquy.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Chairman, I rise to engage the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Taylor), the chairman of the subcommittee, in a 
colloquy regarding the eradication and control of exotic, invasive 
nutria through a partnership of Federal and State agencies and private 
organizations in Maryland.
  I would like to thank the chairman for including funding for the 
Maryland Nutria Eradication and Control Act within the national 
wildlife refuge operations and maintenance budget. In the Chesapeake 
Bay, both the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Chesapeake 
Bay field office are partners in the Nutria Eradication and Control 
Project management team with other Federal agencies, the State of 
Maryland, and private landowners around the refuge. It covers over 
60,000 acres of marsh, and it has been a 5-year program.
  Funds made available for this project have been authorized by Public 
Laws 105-322 and 108-16, which specify that, ``In the State of 
Maryland, the Secretary shall require that the program consist of 
management, research, and public education activities carried out in 
accordance with the document published by the United States Fish and 
Wildlife Service entitled 'Eradication Strategies for Nutria in the 
Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds,''' dated March 2002.
  This strategy describes a comprehensive approach to nutria 
eradication on the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and the 
surrounding areas. We have lost over 7,000 acres of marshland up to 
this point from this invasive species.
  In the past few years, Maryland nutria eradication funds were 
appropriated and administered through the Partners for Fish and 
Wildlife Program, and this ensured that the project funding was not 
limited to use on the refuge. The refuge receives separate funds 
directly for use on the refuge system.
  The interior appropriations bill we are considering today includes 
generous funds for the current nutria project for this year, but the 
funds are entirely within the budget of the Blackwater National 
Wildlife Refuge. It is vital that funds be applied to the entire 
project so that USDA trappers can be compensated and the Fish and 
Wildlife Service can procure and maintain the necessary equipment and 
facilities on the refuge and continue to support the Nutria Eradication 
and Control Project.
  Is it the understanding of the chairman that the service, through the 
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, should continue to support the 
Nutria Eradication and Control Project in Maryland, as authorized, 
throughout the 60,000 acres impacted by nutria as well as on the refuge 
itself?
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. GILCHREST. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for 
his interest in the Chesapeake Bay and his leadership in addressing the 
threat posed by invasive species to our public. The committee intends 
that the funds appropriated for the Nutria Eradication and Control 
Project in Maryland be applied to the eradication strategy, as 
authorized, and not to be limited to activities within the boundaries 
of the refuge.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his attention 
to this issue.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Hall).
  (Mr. HALL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, with the House scheduled to consider the 
interior appropriations bill for 2004, I wanted to take a minute to 
urge my colleagues to consider for a moment the important research and 
development programs administered by the Department of Energy that are 
funded in this bill.
  R&D in areas such as clean coal technology, fuel cells, highly-
efficient gas turbines, and integrated gasification combined cycle 
power plants ensure that power plants can run cleaner and more 
efficiently, allowing us to meet ever-increasing demands on power 
generators. Equally important are enhanced recovery technologies for 
oil and natural gas which enable us to continue to fuel our cars and 
heat our homes.
  Mr. Chairman, I believe that dollar for dollar, these programs may be 
the very best investment this country can

[[Page H6962]]

make to sustain and strengthen our Nation's economy, bar none. As the 
ranking member of the Committee on Science, I congratulate the 
Subcommittee on the Interior and Related Agencies for increasing the 
fossil energy funding by $99 million over the President's request. 
However, as much as this increase is, it is still below the levels 
appropriated last year. I remain concerned about the folks at OMB. I 
urge my colleagues to support the bill as reported out of the Committee 
on Appropriations.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden).
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, I would like to engage the 
gentleman from North Carolina in a colloquy regarding the Steens 
Mountain Cooperative Management Protection Act of 2000 as it relates to 
access to private inholdings.
  Mr. Chairman, I am concerned that the Bureau of Land Management needs 
to be reminded of its responsibilities to provide for the continuation 
of normal and generally used modes of access to private inholdings. 
This is especially important now because the Bureau of Land Management 
is in the process of finalizing its land management plans for the 
Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area. I ask for 
the gentleman's assistance in this matter.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Let me assure the gentleman that I will 
convey his concerns to the Department of the Interior. I agree with his 
assessment of the situation relating to access to private inholdings.
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, I believe that management 
concerns should be addressed through acquisition exchanges and ask for 
the gentleman's help in this area as well.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Within the current budget constraints 
we will do our best to address the gentleman's concerns.
  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that and thank the 
gentleman for his work.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  We have a lot of concerns about all legislation that comes before 
Congress. There is never enough money, we feel, to spend all the money 
for all the needs that we have. This year we have a deficit. We have a 
balanced bill in this Interior bill. We think it addresses adequately 
all concerns within our ability to spend. I want to thank the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. Dicks) and the committee, both the majority and 
the minority, for the work that they have done on this.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2691, the 
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 
Fiscal Year 2004 and at this time I want to thank the Chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations and the Ranking Member for 
bringing this bill to the floor. I also want to thank Chairman Bill 
Young and Ranking Member David Obey of the full committee for their 
leadership and support.
  H.R. 2691 appropriates funding for the Department of the Interior and 
other related agencies including the Office of Insular Affairs. The 
Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) was established on August 4, 1995 
through Secretarial Order No. 3191. In part, the OIA was established to 
help the U.S. government fulfill its responsibilities to the four U.S. 
territories (American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) and the three freely 
associated states (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of 
the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau).
  Territorial assistance provided by the OIA as appropriated through 
Congress provides substantial financial resources to these governments, 
including the government of American Samoa. Once again, I am pleased 
that my colleagues have supported my efforts to make sure that American 
Samoa's funding remains in place despite the budget cuts this country 
is facing and despite our nation's need to increase funding for the war 
on terrorism.
  More than 100 years ago, the traditional leaders of American Samoa 
ceded their islands to the United States and our sons and daughters 
have served in record numbers in every U.S. military engagement from 
WWII to present operations in our war against terrorists. The people of 
American Samoa have stood by the United States in good times and bad 
and to this day American Samoa serves as a refueling point for U.S. 
naval ships and military aircraft.
  While I understand the need for budget cuts, I want to thank my 
colleagues for also understanding and supporting the needs of American 
Samoa. I thank my colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, for 
favorably supporting my efforts to keep American Samoa's funding in 
place. This funding will help American Samoa improve its infrastructure 
and address its critical education, health care and transportation 
needs. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  The CHAIRMAN. All time for general debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment 
under the 5-minute rule.
  During consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chair may accord 
priority in recognition to a Member offering an amendment that he or 
she has printed in the designated place in the Congressional Record. 
Those amendments will be considered read.
  The Clerk will read.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2691

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the 
     Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the Department of 
     the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2004, and for other purposes, namely:

                  TITLE I--DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

                       Bureau of Land Management

                   management of lands and resources

       For necessary expenses for protection, use, improvement, 
     development, disposal, cadastral surveying, classification, 
     acquisition of easements and other interests in lands, and 
     performance of other functions, including maintenance of 
     facilities, as authorized by law, in the management of lands 
     and their resources under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of 
     Land Management, including the general administration of the 
     Bureau, and assessment of mineral potential of public lands 
     pursuant to Public Law 96-487 (16 U.S.C. 3150(a)), 
     $834,088,000, to remain available until expended, of which 
     $1,000,000 is for high priority projects, to be carried out 
     by the Youth Conservation Corps; $2,222,000 is for assessment 
     of the mineral potential of public lands in Alaska pursuant 
     to section 1010 of Public Law 96-487; (16 U.S.C. 3150); and 
     of which not to exceed $1,000,000 shall be derived from the 
     special receipt account established by the Land and Water 
     Conservation Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-6a(i)); 
     and $3,000,000 shall be available in fiscal year 2004 subject 
     to a match by at least an equal amount by the National Fish 
     and Wildlife Foundation for cost-shared projects supporting 
     conservation of Bureau lands; and such funds shall be 
     advanced to the Foundation as a lump sum grant without regard 
     to when expenses are incurred; in addition, $32,696,000 is 
     for Mining Law Administration program operations, including 
     the cost of administering the mining claim fee program; to 
     remain available until expended, to be reduced by amounts 
     collected by the Bureau and credited to this appropriation 
     from annual mining claim fees so as to result in a final 
     appropriation estimated at not more than $834,088,000, and 
     $2,000,000, to remain available until expended, from 
     communication site rental fees established by the Bureau for 
     the cost of administering communication site activities: 
     Provided, That appropriations herein made shall not be 
     available for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild 
     horses and burros in the care of the Bureau or its 
     contractors.

                        wildland fire management

       For necessary expenses for fire preparedness, suppression 
     operations, fire science and research, emergency 
     rehabilitation, hazardous fuels reduction, and rural fire 
     assistance by the Department of the Interior, $698,725,000, 
     to remain available until expended, of which not to exceed 
     $12,374,000 shall be for the renovation or construction of 
     fire facilities: Provided, That such funds are also available 
     for repayment of advances to other appropriation accounts 
     from which funds were previously transferred for such 
     purposes: Provided further, That persons hired pursuant to 43 
     U.S.C. 1469 may be furnished subsistence and lodging without 
     cost from funds available from this appropriation: Provided 
     further, That notwithstanding 42 U.S.C. 1856d, sums received 
     by a bureau or office of the Department of the Interior for 
     fire protection rendered pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1856 et seq., 
     protection of United States property, may be credited to the 
     appropriation from which funds were expended to provide that 
     protection, and are available without fiscal year limitation: 
     Provided further, That using the amounts designated under 
     this title of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior may 
     enter into procurement

[[Page H6963]]

     contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements, for hazardous 
     fuels reduction activities, and for training and monitoring 
     associated with such hazardous fuels reduction activities, on 
     Federal land, or on adjacent non-Federal land for activities 
     that benefit resources on Federal land: Provided further, 
     That the costs of implementing any cooperative agreement 
     between the Federal Government and any non-Federal entity may 
     be shared, as mutually agreed on by the affected parties: 
     Provided further, That in entering into such grants or 
     cooperative agreements, the Secretary may consider the 
     enhancement of local and small business employment 
     opportunities for rural communities, and that in entering 
     into procurement contracts under this heading on a best value 
     basis, the Secretary may take into account the ability of an 
     entity to enhance local and small business employment 
     opportunities in rural communities, and that the Secretary 
     may award procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative 
     agreements under this heading to entities that include local 
     non-profit entities, Youth Conservation Corps or related 
     partnerships, or small or disadvantaged businesses: Provided 
     further, That funds appropriated under this head may be used 
     to reimburse the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and 
     the National Marine Fisheries Service for the costs of 
     carrying out their responsibilities under the Endangered 
     Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) to consult and 
     conference, as required by section 7 of such Act in 
     connection with wildland fire management activities: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary of the Interior may use wildland 
     fire appropriations to enter into non-competitive sole source 
     leases of real property with local governments, at or below 
     fair market value, to construct capitalized improvements for 
     fire facilities on such leased properties, including but not 
     limited to fire guard stations, retardant stations, and other 
     initial attack and fire support facilities, and to make 
     advance payments for any such lease or for construction 
     activity associated with the lease: Provided further, That 
     the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
     Agriculture may authorize the transfer of funds appropriated 
     for wildland fire management, in an aggregate amount not to 
     exceed $12,000,000, between the Departments when such 
     transfers would facilitate and expedite jointly funded 
     wildland fire management programs and projects: Provided 
     further, That funds provided for wildfire suppression shall 
     be available for support of Federal emergency response 
     actions.

                    central hazardous materials fund

       For necessary expenses of the Department of the Interior 
     and any of its component offices and bureaus for the remedial 
     action, including associated activities, of hazardous waste 
     substances, pollutants, or contaminants pursuant to the 
     Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
     Liability Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), 
     $9,978,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, 
     That notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, sums recovered from or 
     paid by a party in advance of or as reimbursement for 
     remedial action or response activities conducted by the 
     Department pursuant to section 107 or 113(f) of such Act, 
     shall be credited to this account, to be available until 
     expended without further appropriation: Provided further, 
     That such sums recovered from or paid by any party are not 
     limited to monetary payments and may include stocks, bonds or 
     other personal or real property, which may be retained, 
     liquidated, or otherwise disposed of by the Secretary and 
     which shall be credited to this account.

                              construction

       For construction of buildings, recreation facilities, 
     roads, trails, and appurtenant facilities, $10,976,000, to 
     remain available until expended.

                            land acquisition

       For expenses necessary to carry out sections 205, 206, and 
     318(d) of Public Law 94-579, including administrative 
     expenses and acquisition of lands or waters, or interests 
     therein, $14,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended.


                     Amendments Offered by Mr. Obey

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendments.
  The CHAIRMAN. The Chair notes that the amendments address a portion 
of the bill not yet read for amendment and appear not to invoke clause 
2(f) of rule XXI. Does the gentleman ask unanimous consent for their 
consideration at this point in the reading?
  Mr. OBEY. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the amendments.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Amendments offered by Mr. Obey:
       On page 7, line 13, strike $14,000,000 and insert 
     $49,920,000.
       On page 14, line 8, strike $23,058,000 and insert 
     $99,135,000.
       On page 25, line 24, strike $131,154,000 and insert 
     $330,117,000.
       On page 97, line 17, strike $29,288,000 and insert 
     $149,742,000.
       On page 17, line 12, strike $75,000,000 and insert 
     $100,000,000.
       On page 16, line 11, strike $24,560,000 and insert 
     $43,500,000.
       On page 91, line 3, strike $290,758,000 and insert 
     $335,272,000.
       On page 22, line 23, strike $71,000,000 and insert 
     $90,000,000.
       On page 23, line 1, strike $30,000,000 and insert 
     $34,000,000.
       On page 22, line 17, strike $305,000,000 and insert 
     $30,000,000.
       On page 90, after line 9, add a new General Provision as 
     follows:
       Sec. ______. In the case of taxpayers with adjusted gross 
     income in excess of $1,000,000 for the tax year beginning in 
     2003, the amount of tax reduction resulting from enactment of 
     the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 
     (Pub. L. 108-27) shall be reduced by 3.21 percent.

  Mr. OBEY (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent 
that the amendments be considered as read and printed in the Record.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of 
order on the amendment.
  The CHAIRMAN. Points of order are reserved.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I have already described in my previous 
remarks the content of this amendment. This amendment seeks to restore 
funding consistent with the agreement that the Congress entered into 3 
years ago with respect to the conservation programs that I cited 
earlier. The rule that was adopted for consideration of this bill did 
not protect this amendment from a point of order. Nonetheless, I would 
like to proceed.
  It is up to the majority to decide whether they want to exercise 
their ability under the rule to preclude the consideration of this 
amendment by objecting. I would hope they would not because I think 
that it is in the interest of this House to keep its word and I think 
it is in the interest of this country to fund these conservation 
programs. But if the gentleman does lodge a point of order against the 
amendment, I will have to readily concede the point of order.


                             Point of Order

  The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from North Carolina insist on his 
point of order?
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order 
against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and 
constitutes legislation in an appropriations bill and, therefore, 
violates clause 2 of rule XXI.
  I ask for a ruling from the Chair.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Wisconsin wish to be heard on 
the point of order?
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I regret that the point of order has been 
lodged because I think the committee ought to live up to its word, but 
I concede the point of order in light of the rule adopted by the House.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and, therefore, 
sustained.
  The Clerk will read.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                   oregon and california grant lands

       For expenses necessary for management, protection, and 
     development of resources and for construction, operation, and 
     maintenance of access roads, reforestation, and other 
     improvements on the revested Oregon and California Railroad 
     grant lands, on other Federal lands in the Oregon and 
     California land-grant counties of Oregon, and on adjacent 
     rights-of-way; and acquisition of lands or interests therein, 
     including existing connecting roads on or adjacent to such 
     grant lands; $106,672,000 to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That 25 percent of the aggregate of all receipts 
     during the current fiscal year from the revested Oregon and 
     California Railroad grant lands is hereby made a charge 
     against the Oregon and California land-grant fund and shall 
     be transferred to the General Fund in the Treasury in 
     accordance with the second paragraph of subsection (b) of 
     title II of the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 876).

               forest ecosystems health and recovery fund

                   (revolving fund, special account)

       In addition to the purposes authorized in Public Law 102-
     381, funds made available in the Forest Ecosystem Health and 
     Recovery Fund can be used for the purpose of planning, 
     preparing, implementing and monitoring salvage timber sales 
     and forest ecosystem health and recovery activities, such as 
     release from competing vegetation and density control 
     treatments. The Federal share of receipts (defined as the 
     portion of salvage timber receipts not paid to the counties 
     under 43 U.S.C. 1181f and 43 U.S.C. 1181f-1 et seq., and 
     Public Law 106-393) derived from treatments funded by this 
     account shall be deposited into the Forest Ecosystem Health 
     and Recovery Fund.


[[Page H6964]]


  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent 
that the remainder of the bill through page 92, line 14, be considered 
as read, printed in the Record, and open to amendment at any point.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the bill from page 8, line 23, through page 92, line 14, 
is as follows:

                           range improvements

       For rehabilitation, protection, and acquisition of lands 
     and interests therein, and improvement of Federal rangelands 
     pursuant to section 401 of the Federal Land Policy and 
     Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701), notwithstanding any 
     other Act, sums equal to 50 percent of all moneys received 
     during the prior fiscal year under sections 3 and 15 of the 
     Taylor Grazing Act (43 U.S.C. 315 et seq.) and the amount 
     designated for range improvements from grazing fees and 
     mineral leasing receipts from Bankhead-Jones lands 
     transferred to the Department of the Interior pursuant to 
     law, but not less than $10,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That not to exceed $600,000 shall be 
     available for administrative expenses.

               service charges, deposits, and forfeitures

       For administrative expenses and other costs related to 
     processing application documents and other authorizations for 
     use and disposal of public lands and resources, for costs of 
     providing copies of official public land documents, for 
     monitoring construction, operation, and termination of 
     facilities in conjunction with use authorizations, and for 
     rehabilitation of damaged property, such amounts as may be 
     collected under Public Law 94-579, as amended, and Public Law 
     93-153, to remain available until expended: Provided, That 
     notwithstanding any provision to the contrary of section 
     305(a) of Public Law 94-579 (43 U.S.C. 1735(a)), any moneys 
     that have been or will be received pursuant to that section, 
     whether as a result of forfeiture, compromise, or settlement, 
     if not appropriate for refund pursuant to section 305(c) of 
     that Act (43 U.S.C. 1735(c)), shall be available and may be 
     expended under the authority of this Act by the Secretary to 
     improve, protect, or rehabilitate any public lands 
     administered through the Bureau of Land Management which have 
     been damaged by the action of a resource developer, 
     purchaser, permittee, or any unauthorized person, without 
     regard to whether all moneys collected from each such action 
     are used on the exact lands damaged which led to the action: 
     Provided further, That any such moneys that are in excess of 
     amounts needed to repair damage to the exact land for which 
     funds were collected may be used to repair other damaged 
     public lands.

                       miscellaneous trust funds

       In addition to amounts authorized to be expended under 
     existing laws, there is hereby appropriated such amounts as 
     may be contributed under section 307 of the Act of October 
     21, 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701), and such amounts as may be 
     advanced for administrative costs, surveys, appraisals, and 
     costs of making conveyances of omitted lands under section 
     211(b) of that Act, to remain available until expended.

                       administrative provisions

       Appropriations for the Bureau of Land Management shall be 
     available for purchase, erection, and dismantlement of 
     temporary structures, and alteration and maintenance of 
     necessary buildings and appurtenant facilities to which the 
     United States has title; up to $100,000 for payments, at the 
     discretion of the Secretary, for information or evidence 
     concerning violations of laws administered by the Bureau; 
     miscellaneous and emergency expenses of enforcement 
     activities authorized or approved by the Secretary and to be 
     accounted for solely on her certificate, not to exceed 
     $10,000: Provided, That notwithstanding 44 U.S.C. 501, the 
     Bureau may, under cooperative cost-sharing and partnership 
     arrangements authorized by law, procure printing services 
     from cooperators in connection with jointly produced 
     publications for which the cooperators share the cost of 
     printing either in cash or in services, and the Bureau 
     determines the cooperator is capable of meeting accepted 
     quality standards: Provided further, That section 28 of title 
     30, United States Code, is amended: (1) in section 28f(a), by 
     striking ``for years 2002 through 2003'' and inserting in 
     lieu thereof ``for years 2004 through 2008''; and (2) in 
     section 28g, by striking ``and before September 30, 2003'' 
     and inserting in lieu thereof ``and before September 30, 
     2008''.

                United States Fish and Wildlife Service

                          resource management

       For necessary expenses of the United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service, as authorized by law, and for scientific 
     and economic studies, maintenance of the herd of long-horned 
     cattle on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, general 
     administration, and for the performance of other authorized 
     functions related to such resources by direct expenditure, 
     contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and reimbursable 
     agreements with public and private entities, $959,901,000, to 
     remain available until September 30, 2005, except as 
     otherwise provided herein: Provided, That not less than 
     $2,000,000 shall be provided to local governments in southern 
     California for planning associated with the Natural 
     Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) program and shall 
     remain available until expended: Provided further, That 
     $2,000,000 is for high priority projects, which shall be 
     carried out by the Youth Conservation Corps: Provided 
     further, That not to exceed $12,286,000 shall be used for 
     implementing subsections (a), (b), (c), and (e) of section 4 
     of the Endangered Species Act, as amended, for species that 
     are indigenous to the United States (except for processing 
     petitions, developing and issuing proposed and final 
     regulations, and taking any other steps to implement actions 
     described in subsection (c)(2)(A), (c)(2)(B)(i), or 
     (c)(2)(B)(ii)), of which not to exceed $8,900,000 shall be 
     used for any activity regarding the designation of critical 
     habitat, pursuant to subsection (a)(3), excluding litigation 
     support, for species already listed pursuant to subsection 
     (a)(1) as of the date of enactment this Act: Provided 
     further, That of the amount available for law enforcement, up 
     to $400,000 to remain available until expended, may at the 
     discretion of the Secretary be used for payment for 
     information, rewards, or evidence concerning violations of 
     laws administered by the Service, and miscellaneous and 
     emergency expenses of enforcement activity, authorized or 
     approved by the Secretary and to be accounted for solely on 
     her certificate: Provided further, That of the amount 
     provided for environmental contaminants, up to $1,000,000 may 
     remain available until expended for contaminant sample 
     analyses.

                              construction

       For construction, improvement, acquisition, or removal of 
     buildings and other facilities required in the conservation, 
     management, investigation, protection, and utilization of 
     fishery and wildlife resources, and the acquisition of lands 
     and interests therein; $52,718,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

                            land acquisition

       For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 
     through 11), including administrative expenses, and for 
     acquisition of land or waters, or interest therein, in 
     accordance with statutory authority applicable to the United 
     States Fish and Wildlife Service, $23,058,000, to be derived 
     from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and to remain 
     available until expended: Provided, That none of the funds 
     appropriated for specific land acquisition projects can be 
     used to pay for any administrative overhead, planning or 
     other management costs.

                      landowner incentive program

       For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 
     through 11), including administrative expenses, and for 
     private conservation efforts to be carried out on private 
     lands, $40,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That the amount provided herein is for a Landowner 
     Incentive Program established by the Secretary that provides 
     matching, competitively awarded grants to States, the 
     District of Columbia, Tribes, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United 
     States Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and 
     American Samoa, to establish or supplement existing landowner 
     incentive programs that provide technical and financial 
     assistance, including habitat protection and restoration, to 
     private landowners for the protection and management of 
     habitat to benefit federally listed, proposed, candidate, or 
     other at-risk species on private lands.

                           stewardship grants

       For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 
     through 11), including administrative expenses, and for 
     private conservation efforts to be carried out on private 
     lands, $10,000,000, to be derived from the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That the amount provided herein is for a 
     Stewardship Grants Program established by the Secretary to 
     provide grants and other assistance to individuals and groups 
     engaged in private conservation efforts that benefit 
     federally listed, proposed, candidate, or other at-risk 
     species.

            cooperative endangered species conservation fund

       For expenses necessary to carry out section 6 of the 
     Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1543), as 
     amended, $86,614,000, of which $36,614,000 is to be derived 
     from the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and 
     $50,000,000 is to be derived from the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund and to remain available until expended.

                     national wildlife refuge fund

       For expenses necessary to implement the Act of October 17, 
     1978 (16 U.S.C. 715s), $14,414,000.

               north american wetlands conservation fund

       For expenses necessary to carry out the provisions of the 
     North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Public Law 101-233, 
     as amended, $24,560,000, to remain available until expended.

                neotropical migratory bird conservation

       For financial assistance for projects to promote the 
     conservation of neotropical migratory birds in accordance 
     with the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation

[[Page H6965]]

     Act, Public Law 106-247 (16 U.S.C. 6101-6109), $5,000,000, to 
     remain available until expended.

                multinational species conservation fund

       For expenses necessary to carry out the African Elephant 
     Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201-4203, 4211-4213, 4221-4225, 
     4241-4245, and 1538), the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 
     1997 (Public Law 105-96; 16 U.S.C. 4261-4266), the Rhinoceros 
     and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 (16 U.S.C. 5301-5306), and 
     the Great Ape Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6301), 
     $5,000,000, to remain available until expended.

                    state and tribal wildlife grants

       For wildlife conservation grants to States and to the 
     District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States 
     Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 
     and federally recognized Indian tribes under the provisions 
     of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and 
     Wildlife Coordination Act, for the development and 
     implementation of programs for the benefit of wildlife and 
     their habitat, including species that are not hunted or 
     fished, $75,000,000 to be derived from the Land and Water 
     Conservation Fund, and to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That of the amount provided herein, $6,000,000 is 
     for a competitive grant program for Indian tribes not subject 
     to the remaining provisions of this appropriation: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary shall, after deducting said 
     $6,000,000 and administrative expenses, apportion the amount 
     provided herein in the following manner: (A) to the District 
     of Columbia and to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, each a 
     sum equal to not more than one-half of 1 percent thereof; and 
     (B) to Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin 
     Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
     Islands, each a sum equal to not more than one-fourth of 1 
     percent thereof: Provided further, That the Secretary shall 
     apportion the remaining amount in the following manner: (A) 
     one-third of which is based on the ratio to which the land 
     area of such State bears to the total land area of all such 
     States; and (B) two-thirds of which is based on the ratio to 
     which the population of such State bears to the total 
     population of all such States: Provided further, That the 
     amounts apportioned under this paragraph shall be adjusted 
     equitably so that no State shall be apportioned a sum which 
     is less than 1 percent of the amount available for 
     apportionment under this paragraph for any fiscal year or 
     more than 5 percent of such amount: Provided further, That 
     the Federal share of planning grants shall not exceed 75 
     percent of the total costs of such projects and the Federal 
     share of implementation grants shall not exceed 50 percent of 
     the total costs of such projects: Provided further, That the 
     non-Federal share of such projects may not be derived from 
     Federal grant programs: Provided further, That no State, 
     territory, or other jurisdiction shall receive a grant unless 
     it has developed, or committed to develop by October 1, 2005, 
     a comprehensive wildlife conservation plan, consistent with 
     criteria established by the Secretary of the Interior, that 
     considers the broad range of the State, territory, or other 
     jurisdiction's wildlife and associated habitats, with 
     appropriate priority placed on those species with the 
     greatest conservation need and taking into consideration the 
     relative level of funding available for the conservation of 
     those species: Provided further, That any amount apportioned 
     in 2004 to any State, territory, or other jurisdiction that 
     remains unobligated as of September 30, 2005, shall be 
     reapportioned, together with funds appropriated in 2006, in 
     the manner provided herein: Provided further, That balances 
     from amounts previously appropriated under the heading 
     ``State Wildlife Grants'' shall be transferred to and merged 
     with this appropriation and shall remain available until 
     expended.

                       administrative provisions

       Appropriations and funds available to the United States 
     Fish and Wildlife Service shall be available for purchase of 
     not to exceed 157 passenger motor vehicles, of which 142 are 
     for replacement only (including 33 for police-type use); 
     repair of damage to public roads within and adjacent to 
     reservation areas caused by operations of the Service; 
     options for the purchase of land at not to exceed $1 for each 
     option; facilities incident to such public recreational uses 
     on conservation areas as are consistent with their primary 
     purpose; and the maintenance and improvement of aquaria, 
     buildings, and other facilities under the jurisdiction of the 
     Service and to which the United States has title, and which 
     are used pursuant to law in connection with management, and 
     investigation of fish and wildlife resources: Provided, That 
     notwithstanding 44 U.S.C. 501, the Service may, under 
     cooperative cost sharing and partnership arrangements 
     authorized by law, procure printing services from cooperators 
     in connection with jointly produced publications for which 
     the cooperators share at least one-half the cost of printing 
     either in cash or services and the Service determines the 
     cooperator is capable of meeting accepted quality standards: 
     Provided further, That the Service may accept donated 
     aircraft as replacements for existing aircraft: Provided 
     further, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Secretary of the Interior may not spend any of the funds 
     appropriated in this Act for the purchase of lands or 
     interests in lands to be used in the establishment of any new 
     unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System unless the 
     purchase is approved in advance by the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations in compliance with the 
     reprogramming procedures contained in the House Report 
     accompanying this Act.

                         National Park Service

                 operation of the national park system

       For expenses necessary for the management, operation, and 
     maintenance of areas and facilities administered by the 
     National Park Service (including special road maintenance 
     service to trucking permittees on a reimbursable basis), and 
     for the general administration of the National Park Service, 
     $1,636,882,000 of which $10,887,000 is for planning and 
     interagency coordination in support of Everglades restoration 
     and shall remain available until expended; of which 
     $98,480,000, to remain available until September 30, 2005, is 
     for maintenance, repair or rehabilitation projects for 
     constructed assets, operation of the National Park Service 
     automated facility management software system, and 
     comprehensive facility condition assessments; and of which 
     $2,000,000 is for the Youth Conservation Corps for high 
     priority projects: Provided, That the only funds in this 
     account which may be made available to support United States 
     Park Police are those funds approved for emergency law and 
     order incidents pursuant to established National Park Service 
     procedures, those funds needed to maintain and repair United 
     States Park Police administrative facilities, and those funds 
     necessary to reimburse the United States Park Police account 
     for the unbudgeted overtime and travel costs associated with 
     special events for an amount not to exceed $10,000 per event 
     subject to the review and concurrence of the Washington 
     headquarters office.

                       united states park police

       For expenses necessary to carry out the programs of the 
     United States Park Police, $78,859,000.

                  national recreation and preservation

       For expenses necessary to carry out recreation programs, 
     natural programs, cultural programs, heritage partnership 
     programs, environmental compliance and review, international 
     park affairs, statutory or contractual aid for other 
     activities, and grant administration, not otherwise provided 
     for, $54,924,000: Provided, That none of the funds in this or 
     previous Acts for the Rivers, Trails and Conservation 
     Assistance Program may be used for cooperative agreements or 
     any other form of cash grant.

                     urban park and recreation fund

       For expenses necessary to carry out the provisions of the 
     Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 
     2501 et seq.), $305,000, to remain available until expended.

                       historic preservation fund

       For expenses necessary in carrying out the Historic 
     Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470), and the 
     Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (Public 
     Law 104-333), $71,000,000, to be derived from the Historic 
     Preservation Fund, to remain available until September 30, 
     2005: Provided, That of the total amount provided, 
     $30,000,000 shall be for Save America's Treasures for 
     priority preservation projects, of nationally significant 
     sites, structures, and artifacts: Provided further, That any 
     individual Save America's Treasures grant shall be matched by 
     non-Federal funds: Provided further, That individual projects 
     shall only be eligible for one grant, and all projects to be 
     funded shall be approved by the House and Senate Committees 
     on Appropriations and the Secretary of the Interior in 
     consultation with the President's Committee on the Arts and 
     Humanities prior to the commitment of grant funds: Provided 
     further, That Save America's Treasures funds allocated for 
     Federal projects shall be available by transfer to 
     appropriate accounts of individual agencies, after approval 
     of such projects by the Secretary of the Interior, in 
     consultation with the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations and the President's Committee on the Arts and 
     Humanities.

                              construction

       For construction, improvements, repair or replacement of 
     physical facilities, including the modifications authorized 
     by section 104 of the Everglades National Park Protection and 
     Expansion Act of 1989, $303,199,000, to remain available 
     until expended: Provided, That none of the funds in this or 
     any other Act, may be used to pay the salaries and expenses 
     of more than 160 Full Time Equivalent personnel working for 
     the National Park Service's Denver Service Center funded 
     under the construction program management and operations 
     activity: Provided further, That none of the funds provided 
     in this or any other Act may be used to pre-design, plan, or 
     construct any new facility (including visitor centers, 
     curatorial facilities, administrative buildings), for which 
     appropriations have not been specifically provided if the net 
     construction cost of such facility is in excess of 
     $5,000,000, without prior approval of the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations: Provided further, That this 
     restriction applies to all funds available to the National 
     Park Service, including partnership and fee demonstration 
     projects: Provided further, That no funds appropriated in 
     this Act and in any prior Acts for the purpose of 
     implementing the Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades 
     National Park Project shall be available for expenditure 
     unless the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the 
     Army, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
     Agency, and the Attorney General file a joint report by 
     September 30, 2003, and every six months thereafter until

[[Page H6966]]

     December 31, 2006, to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations, the House Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure, the House Committee on Resources and the 
     Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, indicating 
     that the water entering A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife 
     Refuge and Everglades National Park meets all applicable 
     State water quality standards and numeric criteria adopted 
     for phosphorus throughout A.R.M. Loxahatchee National 
     Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park, as well as 
     water quality requirements set forth in the Consent Decree 
     entered in United States v. South Florida Water Management 
     District, and that the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations respond in writing to the report indicating 
     that the funds are available for expenditure.

                    land and water conservation fund

                              (rescission)

       The contract authority provided for fiscal year 2004 by 16 
     U.S.C. 4601-10a is rescinded.

                 land acquisition and state assistance


                     (including transfers of funds)

       For expenses necessary to carry out the Land and Water 
     Conservation Act of 1965, as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 
     through 11), including administrative expenses, and for 
     acquisition of lands or waters, or interest therein, in 
     accordance with the statutory authority applicable to the 
     National Park Service, $131,154,000, to be derived from the 
     Land and Water Conservation Fund and to remain available 
     until expended, of which $97,500,000 is for the State 
     assistance program including $2,500,000 to administer this 
     program: Provided, That none of the funds provided for the 
     State assistance program may be used to establish a 
     contingency fund: Provided further, That notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior, using 
     prior year unobligated funds made available under any Act 
     enacted before the date of enactment of this Act for land 
     acquisition assistance to the State of Florida for the 
     acquisition of lands or water, or interests therein, within 
     the Everglades watershed, shall transfer $5,000,000 to the 
     United States Fish and Wildlife Service ``Resource 
     Management'' account for the purpose of funding water quality 
     monitoring and eradication of invasive exotic plants at 
     A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, as well as 
     recovery actions for any listed species in the South Florida 
     ecosystem, and may transfer such sums as may be determined 
     necessary by the Secretary of the Interior to the U.S. Army 
     Corps of Engineers ``Construction, General'' account for the 
     purpose of modifying the construction of Storm Water 
     Treatment Area 1 East to include additional water quality 
     improvement measures, such as additional 
     compartmentalization, improved flow control, vegetation 
     management, and other additional technologies based upon the 
     recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the 
     South Florida Water Management District, to maximize the 
     treatment effectiveness of Storm Water Treatment Area 1 East 
     so that water delivered by Storm Water Treatment Area 1 East 
     to A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge achieves State 
     water quality standards, including the numeric criterion for 
     phosphorus, and that the cost sharing provisions of section 
     528 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 
     3769) shall apply to any funds provided by the Secretary of 
     the Interior to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for this 
     purpose: Provided further, That, subsequent to the transfer 
     of the $5,000,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 
     the transfer of funds, if any, to the U.S. Army Corps of 
     Engineers to carry out water quality improvement measures for 
     Storm Water Treatment Area 1 East, if any funds remain to be 
     expended after the requirements of these provisions have been 
     met, then the Secretary of the Interior may transfer, as 
     appropriate, and use the remaining funds for Everglades 
     restoration activities benefiting the lands and resources 
     managed by the Department of the Interior in South Florida, 
     subject to the approval by the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations of a reprogramming request by the Secretary 
     detailing how the remaining funds will be expended for this 
     purpose.

                       administrative provisions

       Appropriations for the National Park Service shall be 
     available for the purchase of not to exceed 249 passenger 
     motor vehicles, of which 202 shall be for replacement only, 
     including not to exceed 193 for police-type use, 10 buses, 
     and 8 ambulances: Provided, That none of the funds 
     appropriated to the National Park Service may be used to 
     process any grant or contract documents which do not include 
     the text of 18 U.S.C. 1913: Provided further, That none of 
     the funds appropriated to the National Park Service may be 
     used to implement an agreement for the redevelopment of the 
     southern end of Ellis Island until such agreement has been 
     submitted to the Congress and shall not be implemented prior 
     to the expiration of 30 calendar days (not including any day 
     in which either House of Congress is not in session because 
     of adjournment of more than 3 calendar days to a day certain) 
     from the receipt by the Speaker of the House of 
     Representatives and the President of the Senate of a full and 
     comprehensive report on the development of the southern end 
     of Ellis Island, including the facts and circumstances relied 
     upon in support of the proposed project.
       None of the funds in this Act may be spent by the National 
     Park Service for activities taken in direct response to the 
     United Nations Biodiversity Convention.
       The National Park Service may distribute to operating units 
     based on the safety record of each unit the costs of programs 
     designed to improve workplace and employee safety, and to 
     encourage employees receiving workers' compensation benefits 
     pursuant to chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, to 
     return to appropriate positions for which they are medically 
     able.

                    United States Geological Survey

                 surveys, investigations, and research

       For expenses necessary for the United States Geological 
     Survey to perform surveys, investigations, and research 
     covering topography, geology, hydrology, biology, and the 
     mineral and water resources of the United States, its 
     territories and possessions, and other areas as authorized by 
     43 U.S.C. 31, 1332, and 1340; classify lands as to their 
     mineral and water resources; give engineering supervision to 
     power permittees and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
     licensees; administer the minerals exploration program (30 
     U.S.C. 641); and publish and disseminate data relative to the 
     foregoing activities; and to conduct inquiries into the 
     economic conditions affecting mining and materials processing 
     industries (30 U.S.C. 3, 21a, and 1603; 50 U.S.C. 98g(1)) and 
     related purposes as authorized by law and to publish and 
     disseminate data; $935,660,000, of which $64,536,000 shall be 
     available only for cooperation with States or municipalities 
     for water resources investigations; and of which $15,227,000 
     shall remain available until expended for conducting 
     inquiries into the economic conditions affecting mining and 
     materials processing industries; and of which $8,000,000 
     shall remain available until expended for satellite 
     operations; and of which $24,190,000 shall be available until 
     September 30, 2005, for the operation and maintenance of 
     facilities and deferred maintenance; and of which 
     $173,349,000 shall be available until September 30, 2005, for 
     the biological research activity and the operation of the 
     Cooperative Research Units: Provided, That none of these 
     funds provided for the biological research activity shall be 
     used to conduct new surveys on private property, unless 
     specifically authorized in writing by the property owner: 
     Provided further, That no part of this appropriation shall be 
     used to pay more than one-half the cost of topographic 
     mapping or water resources data collection and investigations 
     carried on in cooperation with States and municipalities.

                       administrative provisions

       The amount appropriated for the United States Geological 
     Survey shall be available for the purchase of not to exceed 
     53 passenger motor vehicles, of which 48 are for replacement 
     only; reimbursement to the General Services Administration 
     for security guard services; contracting for the furnishing 
     of topographic maps and for the making of geophysical or 
     other specialized surveys when it is administratively 
     determined that such procedures are in the public interest; 
     construction and maintenance of necessary buildings and 
     appurtenant facilities; acquisition of lands for gauging 
     stations and observation wells; expenses of the United States 
     National Committee on Geology; and payment of compensation 
     and expenses of persons on the rolls of the Survey duly 
     appointed to represent the United States in the negotiation 
     and administration of interstate compacts: Provided, That 
     activities funded by appropriations herein made may be 
     accomplished through the use of contracts, grants, or 
     cooperative agreements as defined in 31 U.S.C. 6302 et seq.: 
     Provided further, That notwithstanding the provisions of the 
     Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 (31 
     U.S.C. 6301-6308), the U.S. Geological Survey is authorized 
     to continue existing, and hereafter, to enter into new 
     cooperative agreements directed towards a particular 
     cooperator, in support of joint research and data collection 
     activities with Federal, State, and academic partners funded 
     by appropriations herein, including those that provide for 
     space in cooperator facilities.

                      Minerals Management Service

                royalty and offshore minerals management

       For expenses necessary for minerals leasing and 
     environmental studies, regulation of industry operations, and 
     collection of royalties, as authorized by law; for enforcing 
     laws and regulations applicable to oil, gas, and other 
     minerals leases, permits, licenses and operating contracts; 
     and for matching grants or cooperative agreements; including 
     the purchase of not to exceed eight passenger motor vehicles 
     for replacement only, $164,216,000, of which $80,396,000, 
     shall be available for royalty management activities; and an 
     amount not to exceed $100,230,000, to be credited to this 
     appropriation and to remain available until expended, from 
     additions to receipts resulting from increases to rates in 
     effect on August 5, 1993, from rate increases to fee 
     collections for Outer Continental Shelf administrative 
     activities performed by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) 
     over and above the rates in effect on September 30, 1993, and 
     from additional fees for Outer Continental Shelf 
     administrative activities established after September 30, 
     1993: Provided, That to the extent $100,230,000 in additions 
     to receipts are not realized from the sources of receipts 
     stated above, the

[[Page H6967]]

     amount needed to reach $100,230,000 shall be credited to this 
     appropriation from receipts resulting from rental rates for 
     Outer Continental Shelf leases in effect before August 5, 
     1993: Provided further, That $3,000,000 for computer 
     acquisitions shall remain available until September 30, 2005: 
     Provided further, That funds appropriated under this Act 
     shall be available for the payment of interest in accordance 
     with 30 U.S.C. 1721(b) and (d): Provided further, That not to 
     exceed $3,000 shall be available for reasonable expenses 
     related to promoting volunteer beach and marine cleanup 
     activities: Provided further, That notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, $15,000 under this heading shall be 
     available for refunds of overpayments in connection with 
     certain Indian leases in which the Director of MMS concurred 
     with the claimed refund due, to pay amounts owed to Indian 
     allottees or tribes, or to correct prior unrecoverable 
     erroneous payments: Provided further, That MMS may under the 
     royalty-in-kind pilot program, or under its authority to 
     transfer oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, use a 
     portion of the revenues from royalty-in-kind sales, without 
     regard to fiscal year limitation, to pay for transportation 
     to wholesale market centers or upstream pooling points, and 
     to process or otherwise dispose of royalty production taken 
     in kind, and to recover MMS transportation costs, salaries, 
     and other administrative costs directly related to filling 
     the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Provided further, That MMS 
     shall analyze and document the expected return in advance of 
     any royalty-in-kind sales to assure to the maximum extent 
     practicable that royalty income under the pilot program is 
     equal to or greater than royalty income recognized under a 
     comparable royalty-in-value program.

                           oil spill research

       For necessary expenses to carry out title I, section 1016, 
     title IV, sections 4202 and 4303, title VII, and title VIII, 
     section 8201 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, $7,105,000, 
     which shall be derived from the Oil Spill Liability Trust 
     Fund, to remain available until expended.

          Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

                       regulation and technology

       For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of the 
     Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Public 
     Law 95-87, as amended, including the purchase of not to 
     exceed 10 passenger motor vehicles, for replacement only; 
     $106,424,000: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior, 
     pursuant to regulations, may use directly or through grants 
     to States, moneys collected in fiscal year 2004 for civil 
     penalties assessed under section 518 of the Surface Mining 
     Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1268), to 
     reclaim lands adversely affected by coal mining practices 
     after August 3, 1977, to remain available until expended: 
     Provided further, That appropriations for the Office of 
     Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement may provide for 
     the travel and per diem expenses of State and tribal 
     personnel attending Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
     Enforcement sponsored training.

                    abandoned mine reclamation fund

       For necessary expenses to carry out title IV of the Surface 
     Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Public Law 95-87, 
     as amended, including the purchase of not more than 10 
     passenger motor vehicles for replacement only, $194,469,000, 
     to be derived from receipts of the Abandoned Mine Reclamation 
     Fund and to remain available until expended; of which up to 
     $10,000,000, to be derived from the Federal Expenses Share of 
     the Fund, shall be for supplemental grants to States for the 
     reclamation of abandoned sites with acid mine rock drainage 
     from coal mines, and for associated activities, through the 
     Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative: Provided, That grants 
     to minimum program States will be $1,500,000 per State in 
     fiscal year 2004: Provided further, That of the funds herein 
     provided up to $18,000,000 may be used for the emergency 
     program authorized by section 410 of Public Law 95-87, as 
     amended, of which no more than 25 percent shall be used for 
     emergency reclamation projects in any one State and funds for 
     federally administered emergency reclamation projects under 
     this proviso shall not exceed $11,000,000: Provided further, 
     That prior year unobligated funds appropriated for the 
     emergency reclamation program shall not be subject to the 25 
     percent limitation per State and may be used without fiscal 
     year limitation for emergency projects: Provided further, 
     That pursuant to Public Law 97-365, the Department of the 
     Interior is authorized to use up to 20 percent from the 
     recovery of the delinquent debt owed to the United States 
     Government to pay for contracts to collect these debts: 
     Provided further, That funds made available under title IV of 
     Public Law 95-87 may be used for any required non-Federal 
     share of the cost of projects funded by the Federal 
     Government for the purpose of environmental restoration 
     related to treatment or abatement of acid mine drainage from 
     abandoned mines: Provided further, That such projects must be 
     consistent with the purposes and priorities of the Surface 
     Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

                        Bureau of Indian Affairs

                      operation of indian programs

       For expenses necessary for the operation of Indian 
     programs, as authorized by law, including the Snyder Act of 
     November 2, 1921 (25 U.S.C. 13), the Indian Self-
     Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (25 U.S.C. 
     450 et seq.), as amended, the Education Amendments of 1978 
     (25 U.S.C. 2001-2019), and the Tribally Controlled Schools 
     Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.), as amended, 
     $1,902,106,000, to remain available until September 30, 2005 
     except as otherwise provided herein, of which not to exceed 
     $85,925,000 shall be for welfare assistance payments and 
     notwithstanding any other provision of law, including but not 
     limited to the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975, as 
     amended, not to exceed $135,315,000 shall be available for 
     payments to tribes and tribal organizations for contract 
     support costs associated with ongoing contracts, grants, 
     compacts, or annual funding agreements entered into with the 
     Bureau prior to or during fiscal year 2004, as authorized by 
     such Act, except that tribes and tribal organizations may use 
     their tribal priority allocations for unmet indirect costs of 
     ongoing contracts, grants, or compacts, or annual funding 
     agreements and for unmet welfare assistance costs; and of 
     which not to exceed $458,524,000 for school operations costs 
     of Bureau-funded schools and other education programs shall 
     become available on July 1, 2004, and shall remain available 
     until September 30, 2005; and of which not to exceed 
     $55,374,000 shall remain available until expended for housing 
     improvement, road maintenance, attorney fees, litigation 
     support, the Indian Self-Determination Fund, land records 
     improvement, and the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Program: 
     Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     including but not limited to the Indian Self-Determination 
     Act of 1975, as amended, and 25 U.S.C. 2008, not to exceed 
     $49,297,000 within and only from such amounts made available 
     for school operations shall be available to tribes and tribal 
     organizations for administrative cost grants associated with 
     ongoing grants entered into with the Bureau prior to or 
     during fiscal year 2003 for the operation of Bureau-funded 
     schools, and up to $3,000,000 within and only from such 
     amounts made available for school operations shall be 
     available for the transitional costs of initial 
     administrative cost grants to tribes and tribal organizations 
     that enter into grants for the operation on or after July 1, 
     2004 of Bureau-operated schools: Provided further, That any 
     forestry funds allocated to a tribe which remain unobligated 
     as of September 30, 2005, may be transferred during fiscal 
     year 2006 to an Indian forest land assistance account 
     established for the benefit of such tribe within the tribe's 
     trust fund account: Provided further, That any such 
     unobligated balances not so transferred shall expire on 
     September 30, 2006.

                              construction

       For construction, repair, improvement, and maintenance of 
     irrigation and power systems, buildings, utilities, and other 
     facilities, including architectural and engineering services 
     by contract; acquisition of lands, and interests in lands; 
     and preparation of lands for farming, and for construction of 
     the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project pursuant to Public Law 
     87-483, $345,154,000, to remain available until expended: 
     Provided, That such amounts as may be available for the 
     construction of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project may be 
     transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation: Provided further, 
     That not to exceed 6 percent of contract authority available 
     to the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the Federal Highway 
     Trust Fund may be used to cover the road program management 
     costs of the Bureau: Provided further, That any funds 
     provided for the Safety of Dams program pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
     13 shall be made available on a nonreimbursable basis: 
     Provided further, That for fiscal year 2004, in implementing 
     new construction or facilities improvement and repair project 
     grants in excess of $100,000 that are provided to tribally 
     controlled grant schools under Public Law 100-297, as 
     amended, the Secretary of the Interior shall use the 
     Administrative and Audit Requirements and Cost Principles for 
     Assistance Programs contained in 43 CFR part 12 as the 
     regulatory requirements: Provided further, That such grants 
     shall not be subject to section 12.61 of 43 CFR; the 
     Secretary and the grantee shall negotiate and determine a 
     schedule of payments for the work to be performed: Provided 
     further, That in considering applications, the Secretary 
     shall consider whether the Indian tribe or tribal 
     organization would be deficient in assuring that the 
     construction projects conform to applicable building 
     standards and codes and Federal, tribal, or State health and 
     safety standards as required by 25 U.S.C. 2005(a), with 
     respect to organizational and financial management 
     capabilities: Provided further, That if the Secretary 
     declines an application, the Secretary shall follow the 
     requirements contained in 25 U.S.C. 2505(f): Provided 
     further, That any disputes between the Secretary and any 
     grantee concerning a grant shall be subject to the disputes 
     provision in 25 U.S.C. 2508(e).

 indian land and water claim settlements and miscellaneous payments to 
                                indians


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For miscellaneous payments to Indian tribes and individuals 
     and for necessary administrative expenses, $60,551,000, to 
     remain available until expended; of which $31,610,000 shall 
     be available for implementation of enacted Indian land and 
     water claim settlements pursuant to Public Laws 101-618, 107-
     331, and 102-575, and for implementation of other enacted 
     water rights settlements; and of which $18,817,000 shall be 
     available pursuant to Public Laws 99-264, 100-580, 106-425,

[[Page H6968]]

     and 106-554; and of which $9,968,000 shall be available for 
     payment to the Quinault Indian Nation pursuant to the terms 
     of the North Boundary Settlement Agreement dated July 14, 
     2000, providing for the acquisition of perpetual conservation 
     easements from the Nation: Provided, That of the payment to 
     the Quinault Indian Nation, $4,968,000 shall be derived from 
     amounts provided under the heading ``United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service, Land Acquisition'' in Public Law 108-7.

                 indian guaranteed loan program account

       For the cost of guaranteed and insured loans, $5,797,000, 
     as authorized by the Indian Financing Act of 1974, as 
     amended: Provided, That such costs, including the cost of 
     modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of 
     the Congressional Budget Act of 1974: Provided further, That 
     these funds are available to subsidize total loan principal, 
     any part of which is to be guaranteed, not to exceed 
     $94,568,000.
       In addition, for administrative expenses to carry out the 
     guaranteed and insured loan programs, $700,000.

                       administrative provisions

       The Bureau of Indian Affairs may carry out the operation of 
     Indian programs by direct expenditure, contracts, cooperative 
     agreements, compacts and grants, either directly or in 
     cooperation with States and other organizations.
       Notwithstanding 25 U.S.C. 15, the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
     may contract for services in support of the management, 
     operation, and maintenance of the Power Division of the San 
     Carlos Irrigation Project.
       Appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (except the 
     revolving fund for loans, the Indian loan guarantee and 
     insurance fund, and the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program 
     account) shall be available for expenses of exhibits, and 
     purchase of not to exceed 229 passenger motor vehicles, of 
     which not to exceed 187 shall be for replacement only.
       Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds 
     available to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for central office 
     operations, or pooled overhead general administration (except 
     facilities operations and maintenance) shall be available for 
     tribal contracts, grants, compacts, or cooperative agreements 
     with the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the provisions of the 
     Indian Self-Determination Act or the Tribal Self-Governance 
     Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-413).
       In the event any tribe returns appropriations made 
     available by this Act to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 
     distribution to other tribes, this action shall not diminish 
     the Federal Government's trust responsibility to that tribe, 
     or the government-to-government relationship between the 
     United States and that tribe, or that tribe's ability to 
     access future appropriations.
       Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds 
     available to the Bureau, other than the amounts provided 
     herein for assistance to public schools under 25 U.S.C. 452 
     et seq., shall be available to support the operation of any 
     elementary or secondary school in the State of Alaska.
       Appropriations made available in this or any other Act for 
     schools funded by the Bureau shall be available only to the 
     schools in the Bureau school system as of September 1, 1996. 
     No funds available to the Bureau shall be used to support 
     expanded grades for any school or dormitory beyond the grade 
     structure in place or approved by the Secretary of the 
     Interior at each school in the Bureau school system as of 
     October 1, 1995. Funds made available under this Act may not 
     be used to establish a charter school at a Bureau-funded 
     school (as that term is defined in section 1146 of the 
     Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2026)), except that a 
     charter school that is in existence on the date of the 
     enactment of this Act and that has operated at a Bureau-
     funded school before September 1, 1999, may continue to 
     operate during that period, but only if the charter school 
     pays to the Bureau a pro rata share of funds to reimburse the 
     Bureau for the use of the real and personal property 
     (including buses and vans), the funds of the charter school 
     are kept separate and apart from Bureau funds, and the Bureau 
     does not assume any obligation for charter school programs of 
     the State in which the school is located if the charter 
     school loses such funding. Employees of Bureau-funded schools 
     sharing a campus with a charter school and performing 
     functions related to the charter school's operation and 
     employees of a charter school shall not be treated as Federal 
     employees for purposes of chapter 171 of title 28, United 
     States Code.

                          Departmental Offices

                            Insular Affairs

                       assistance to territories

       For expenses necessary for assistance to territories under 
     the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, 
     $74,343,000, of which: (1) $68,022,000 shall be available 
     until expended for technical assistance, including 
     maintenance assistance, disaster assistance, insular 
     management controls, coral reef initiative activities, and 
     brown tree snake control and research; grants to the 
     judiciary in American Samoa for compensation and expenses, as 
     authorized by law (48 U.S.C. 1661(c)); grants to the 
     Government of American Samoa, in addition to current local 
     revenues, for construction and support of governmental 
     functions; grants to the Government of the Virgin Islands as 
     authorized by law; grants to the Government of Guam, as 
     authorized by law; and grants to the Government of the 
     Northern Mariana Islands as authorized by law (Public Law 94-
     241; 90 Stat. 272); and (2) $6,321,000 shall be available for 
     salaries and expenses of the Office of Insular Affairs: 
     Provided, That all financial transactions of the territorial 
     and local governments herein provided for, including such 
     transactions of all agencies or instrumentalities established 
     or used by such governments, may be audited by the General 
     Accounting Office, at its discretion, in accordance with 
     chapter 35 of title 31, United States Code: Provided further, 
     That Northern Mariana Islands Covenant grant funding shall be 
     provided according to those terms of the Agreement of the 
     Special Representatives on Future United States Financial 
     Assistance for the Northern Mariana Islands approved by 
     Public Law 104-134: Provided further, That of the amounts 
     provided for technical assistance, sufficient funds shall be 
     made available for a grant to the Pacific Basin Development 
     Council: Provided further, That of the amounts provided for 
     technical assistance, sufficient funding shall be made 
     available for a grant to the Close Up Foundation: Provided 
     further, That the funds for the program of operations and 
     maintenance improvement are appropriated to institutionalize 
     routine operations and maintenance improvement of capital 
     infrastructure with territorial participation and cost 
     sharing to be determined by the Secretary based on the 
     grantee's commitment to timely maintenance of its capital 
     assets: Provided further, That any appropriation for disaster 
     assistance under this heading in this Act or previous 
     appropriations Acts may be used as non-Federal matching funds 
     for the purpose of hazard mitigation grants provided pursuant 
     to section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
     Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c).

                      compact of free association

       For economic assistance and necessary expenses for the 
     Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the 
     Marshall Islands as provided for in sections 221(a)(3), 
     221(b), 223, and 233 of the Compact of Free Association, and 
     for economic assistance and necessary expenses for the 
     Republic of Palau as provided for in sections 221(a)(2), 
     221(b), and 233 of the Compact of Free Association, 
     $16,354,000, to remain available until expended, as 
     authorized by Public Law 99-239 and Public Law 99-658.

                        Departmental Management

                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses for management of the Department of 
     the Interior, $79,027,000, of which not to exceed $8,500 may 
     be for official reception and representation expenses, and of 
     which up to $1,000,000 shall be available for workers 
     compensation payments and unemployment compensation payments 
     associated with the orderly closure of the United States 
     Bureau of Mines: Provided, That none of the funds in this or 
     previous appropriations Acts may be used to establish any 
     additional reserves in the Working Capital account other than 
     the two authorized reserves without prior approval of the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

                          Working Capital Fund

       From unobligated balances under this heading, $20,000,000 
     are hereby cancelled.

                       Payments in Lieu of Taxes

       For expenses necessary to implement the Act of October 20, 
     1976, as amended (31 U.S.C. 6901-6907), $225,000,000, of 
     which not to exceed $400,000 shall be available for 
     administrative expenses: Provided, That no payment shall be 
     made to otherwise eligible units of local government if the 
     computed amount of the payment is less than $100.

                        Office of the Solicitor

                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of the Solicitor, 
     $50,374,000.

                      Office of Inspector General

                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General, 
     $39,049,000, of which $3,812,000 shall be for procurement by 
     contract of independent auditing services to audit the 
     consolidated Department of the Interior annual financial 
     statement and the annual financial statement of the 
     Department of the Interior bureaus and offices funded in this 
     Act.

             Office of Special Trustee for American Indians

                         federal trust programs

       For operation of trust programs for Indians by direct 
     expenditure, contracts, cooperative agreements, compacts, and 
     grants, $219,641,000, of which $75,000,000 shall be available 
     for historical accounting, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That funds for trust management 
     improvements and litigation support may, as needed, be 
     transferred to or merged with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
     ``Operation of Indian Programs'' account; the Office of the 
     Solicitor, ``Salaries and Expenses'' account; and the 
     Departmental Management, ``Salaries and Expenses'' account: 
     Provided further, That funds made available to Tribes and 
     Tribal organizations through contracts or grants obligated 
     during fiscal year 2004, as authorized by the Indian Self-
     Determination Act of 1975 (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.), shall 
     remain available until expended by the contractor or grantee: 
     Provided further, That notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the statute of limitations shall not commence to run on 
     any claim, including any claim in litigation pending on the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, concerning losses to or 
     mismanagement of trust funds, until the affected tribe or 
     individual Indian has been furnished with an

[[Page H6969]]

     accounting of such funds from which the beneficiary can 
     determine whether there has been a loss: Provided further, 
     That notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Secretary shall not be required to provide a quarterly 
     statement of performance for any Indian trust account that 
     has not had activity for at least 18 months and has a balance 
     of $1.00 or less: Provided further, That the Secretary shall 
     issue an annual account statement and maintain a record of 
     any such accounts and shall permit the balance in each such 
     account to be withdrawn upon the express written request of 
     the account holder: Provided further, That not to exceed 
     $50,000 is available for the Secretary to make payments to 
     correct administrative errors of either disbursements from or 
     deposits to Individual Indian Money or Tribal accounts after 
     September 30, 2002: Provided further, That erroneous payments 
     that are recovered shall be credited to and remain available 
     in this account for this purpose.

                       indian land consolidation

       For consolidation of fractional interests in Indian lands 
     and expenses associated with redetermining and redistributing 
     escheated interests in allotted lands, and for necessary 
     expenses to carry out the Indian Land Consolidation Act of 
     1983, as amended, by direct expenditure or cooperative 
     agreement, $20,980,000, to remain available until expended.

           Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration

                natural resource damage assessment fund

       To conduct natural resource damage assessment and 
     restoration activities by the Department of the Interior 
     necessary to carry out the provisions of the Comprehensive 
     Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as 
     amended (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), Federal Water Pollution 
     Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), the Oil 
     Pollution Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-380) (33 U.S.C. 2701 et 
     seq.), and Public Law 101-337, as amended (16 U.S.C. 19jj et 
     seq.), $5,633,000, to remain available until expended.

                       administrative provisions

       There is hereby authorized for acquisition from available 
     resources within the Working Capital Fund, 15 aircraft, 10 of 
     which shall be for replacement and which may be obtained by 
     donation, purchase or through available excess surplus 
     property: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law, existing aircraft being replaced may be sold, with 
     proceeds derived or trade-in value used to offset the 
     purchase price for the replacement aircraft: Provided 
     further, That no programs funded with appropriated funds in 
     the ``Departmental Management'', ``Office of the Solicitor'', 
     and ``Office of Inspector General'' may be augmented through 
     the Working Capital Fund or the Consolidated Working Fund.

             GENERAL PROVISIONS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

       Sec. 101. Appropriations made in this title shall be 
     available for expenditure or transfer (within each bureau or 
     office), with the approval of the Secretary, for the 
     emergency reconstruction, replacement, or repair of aircraft, 
     buildings, utilities, or other facilities or equipment 
     damaged or destroyed by fire, flood, storm, or other 
     unavoidable causes: Provided, That no funds shall be made 
     available under this authority until funds specifically made 
     available to the Department of the Interior for emergencies 
     shall have been exhausted: Provided further, That all funds 
     used pursuant to this section are hereby designated by 
     Congress to be ``emergency requirements'' pursuant to section 
     251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
     Control Act of 1985, and must be replenished by a 
     supplemental appropriation which must be requested as 
     promptly as possible.
       Sec. 102. The Secretary may authorize the expenditure or 
     transfer of any no year appropriation in this title, in 
     addition to the amounts included in the budget programs of 
     the several agencies, for the suppression or emergency 
     prevention of wildland fires on or threatening lands under 
     the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior; for the 
     emergency rehabilitation of burned-over lands under its 
     jurisdiction; for emergency actions related to potential or 
     actual earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, storms, or other 
     unavoidable causes; for contingency planning subsequent to 
     actual oil spills; for response and natural resource damage 
     assessment activities related to actual oil spills; for the 
     prevention, suppression, and control of actual or potential 
     grasshopper and Mormon cricket outbreaks on lands under the 
     jurisdiction of the Secretary, pursuant to the authority in 
     section 1773(b) of Public Law 99-198 (99 Stat. 1658); for 
     emergency reclamation projects under section 410 of Public 
     Law 95-87; and shall transfer, from any no year funds 
     available to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
     Enforcement, such funds as may be necessary to permit 
     assumption of regulatory authority in the event a primacy 
     State is not carrying out the regulatory provisions of the 
     Surface Mining Act: Provided, That appropriations made in 
     this title for wildland fire operations shall be available 
     for the payment of obligations incurred during the preceding 
     fiscal year, and for reimbursement to other Federal agencies 
     for destruction of vehicles, aircraft, or other equipment in 
     connection with their use for wildland fire operations, such 
     reimbursement to be credited to appropriations currently 
     available at the time of receipt thereof: Provided further, 
     That for wildland fire operations, no funds shall be made 
     available under this authority until the Secretary determines 
     that funds appropriated for ``wildland fire operations'' 
     shall be exhausted within 30 days: Provided further, That all 
     funds used pursuant to this section are hereby designated by 
     Congress to be ``emergency requirements'' pursuant to section 
     251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
     Control Act of 1985, and must be replenished by a 
     supplemental appropriation which must be requested as 
     promptly as possible: Provided further, That such 
     replenishment funds shall be used to reimburse, on a pro rata 
     basis, accounts from which emergency funds were transferred.
       Sec. 103. Appropriations made in this title shall be 
     available for operation of warehouses, garages, shops, and 
     similar facilities, wherever consolidation of activities will 
     contribute to efficiency or economy, and said appropriations 
     shall be reimbursed for services rendered to any other 
     activity in the same manner as authorized by sections 1535 
     and 1536 of title 31, United States Code: Provided, That 
     reimbursements for costs and supplies, materials, equipment, 
     and for services rendered may be credited to the 
     appropriation current at the time such reimbursements are 
     received.
       Sec. 104. Appropriations made to the Department of the 
     Interior in this title shall be available for services as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, when authorized by the 
     Secretary, in total amount not to exceed $500,000; hire, 
     maintenance, and operation of aircraft; hire of passenger 
     motor vehicles; purchase of reprints; payment for telephone 
     service in private residences in the field, when authorized 
     under regulations approved by the Secretary; and the payment 
     of dues, when authorized by the Secretary, for library 
     membership in societies or associations which issue 
     publications to members only or at a price to members lower 
     than to subscribers who are not members.
       Sec. 105. Appropriations available to the Department of the 
     Interior for salaries and expenses shall be available for 
     uniforms or allowances therefor, as authorized by law (5 
     U.S.C. 5901-5902 and D.C. Code 4-204).
       Sec. 106. Annual appropriations made in this title shall be 
     available for obligation in connection with contracts issued 
     for services or rentals for periods not in excess of 12 
     months beginning at any time during the fiscal year.
       Sec. 107. No funds provided in this title may be expended 
     by the Department of the Interior for the conduct of offshore 
     preleasing, leasing and related activities placed under 
     restriction in the President's moratorium statement of June 
     12, 1998, in the areas of northern, central, and southern 
     California; the North Atlantic; Washington and Oregon; and 
     the eastern Gulf of Mexico south of 26 degrees north latitude 
     and east of 86 degrees west longitude.
       Sec. 108. No funds provided in this title may be expended 
     by the Department of the Interior for the conduct of offshore 
     oil and natural gas preleasing, leasing, and related 
     activities, on lands within the North Aleutian Basin planning 
     area.
       Sec. 109. No funds provided in this title may be expended 
     by the Department of the Interior to conduct offshore oil and 
     natural gas preleasing, leasing and related activities in the 
     eastern Gulf of Mexico planning area for any lands located 
     outside Sale 181, as identified in the final Outer 
     Continental Shelf 5-Year Oil and Gas Leasing Program, 1997-
     2002.
       Sec. 110. No funds provided in this title may be expended 
     by the Department of the Interior to conduct oil and natural 
     gas preleasing, leasing and related activities in the Mid-
     Atlantic and South Atlantic planning areas.
       Sec. 111. Advance payments made under this title to Indian 
     tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia pursuant 
     to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
     (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.) or the Tribally Controlled Schools 
     Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) may be invested by the 
     Indian tribe, tribal organization, or consortium before such 
     funds are expended for the purposes of the grant, compact, or 
     annual funding agreement so long as such funds are--
       (1) invested by the Indian tribe, tribal organization, or 
     consortium only in obligations of the United States, or in 
     obligations or securities that are guaranteed or insured by 
     the United States, or mutual (or other) funds registered with 
     the Securities and Exchange Commission and which only invest 
     in obligations of the United States or securities that are 
     guaranteed or insured by the United States; or
       (2) deposited only into accounts that are insured by an 
     agency or instrumentality of the United States, or are fully 
     collateralized to ensure protection of the funds, even in the 
     event of a bank failure.
       Sec. 112. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the 
     National Park Service shall not develop or implement a 
     reduced entrance fee program to accommodate non-local travel 
     through a unit. The Secretary may provide for and regulate 
     local non-recreational passage through units of the National 
     Park System, allowing each unit to develop guidelines and 
     permits for such activity appropriate to that unit.
       Sec. 113. Appropriations made in this Act under the 
     headings Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Special 
     Trustee for American Indians and any available unobligated 
     balances from prior appropriations Acts made

[[Page H6970]]

     under the same headings, shall be available for expenditure 
     or transfer for Indian trust management and reform 
     activities.
       Sec. 114. A grazing permit or lease that expires (or is 
     transferred) during fiscal year 2004 shall be renewed under 
     section 402 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
     1976, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1752) or, if applicable, section 
     510 of the California Desert Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 
     410aaa-50). The terms and conditions contained in the 
     expiring permit or lease shall continue in effect under the 
     new permit or lease until such time as the Secretary of the 
     Interior completes processing of such permit or lease in 
     compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, at which 
     time such permit or lease may be canceled, suspended or 
     modified, in whole or in part, to meet the requirements of 
     such applicable laws and regulations. Nothing in this section 
     shall be deemed to alter the Secretary's statutory authority: 
     Provided, That any Federal lands included within the boundary 
     of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, as designated by 
     the Secretary of the Interior on April 5, 1990 (Lake 
     Roosevelt Cooperative Management Agreement), that were 
     utilized as of March 31, 1997, for grazing purposes pursuant 
     to a permit issued by the National Park Service, the person 
     or persons so utilizing such lands as of March 31, 1997, 
     shall be entitled to renew said permit under such terms and 
     conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, for the lifetime 
     of the permittee or 20 years, whichever is less.
       Sec. 115. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for 
     the purpose of reducing the backlog of Indian probate cases 
     in the Department of the Interior, the hearing requirements 
     of chapter 10 of title 25, United States Code, are deemed 
     satisfied by a proceeding conducted by an Indian probate 
     judge, appointed by the Secretary without regard to the 
     provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing the 
     appointments in the competitive service, for such period of 
     time as the Secretary determines necessary: Provided, That 
     the basic pay of an Indian probate judge so appointed may be 
     fixed by the Secretary without regard to the provisions of 
     chapter 51, and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, 
     United States Code, governing the classification and pay of 
     General Schedule employees, except that no such Indian 
     probate judge may be paid at a level which exceeds the 
     maximum rate payable for the highest grade of the General 
     Schedule, including locality pay.
       Sec. 116. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Secretary of the Interior is authorized to redistribute any 
     Tribal Priority Allocation funds, including tribal base 
     funds, to alleviate tribal funding inequities by transferring 
     funds to address identified, unmet needs, dual enrollment, 
     overlapping service areas or inaccurate distribution 
     methodologies. No tribe shall receive a reduction in Tribal 
     Priority Allocation funds of more than 10 percent in fiscal 
     year 2004. Under circumstances of dual enrollment, 
     overlapping service areas or inaccurate distribution 
     methodologies, the 10 percent limitation does not apply.
       Sec. 117. Funds appropriated for the Bureau of Indian 
     Affairs for postsecondary schools for fiscal year 2004 shall 
     be allocated among the schools proportionate to the unmet 
     need of the schools as determined by the Postsecondary 
     Funding Formula adopted by the Office of Indian Education 
     Programs.
       Sec. 118. (a) The Secretary of the Interior shall take such 
     action as may be necessary to ensure that the lands 
     comprising the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas (as 
     described in section 123 of Public Law 106-291) are used only 
     in accordance with this section.
       (b) The lands of the Huron Cemetery shall be used only: (1) 
     for religious and cultural uses that are compatible with the 
     use of the lands as a cemetery; and (2) as a burial ground.
       Sec. 119. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in 
     conveying the Twin Cities Research Center under the authority 
     provided by Public Law 104-134, as amended by Public Law 104-
     208, the Secretary may accept and retain land and other forms 
     of reimbursement: Provided, That the Secretary may retain and 
     use any such reimbursement until expended and without further 
     appropriation: (1) for the benefit of the National Wildlife 
     Refuge System within the State of Minnesota; and (2) for all 
     activities authorized by Public Law 100-696; 16 U.S.C. 460zz.
       Sec. 120. Notwithstanding other provisions of law, the 
     National Park Service may authorize, through cooperative 
     agreement, the Golden Gate National Parks Association to 
     provide fee-based education, interpretive and visitor service 
     functions within the Crissy Field and Fort Point areas of the 
     Presidio.
       Sec. 121. Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302(b), sums received 
     by the Bureau of Land Management for the sale of seeds or 
     seedlings including those collected in fiscal year 2003, may 
     be credited to the appropriation from which funds were 
     expended to acquire or grow the seeds or seedlings and are 
     available without fiscal year limitation.
       Sec. 122. White River Oil Shale Mine, Utah. Sale.--Subject 
     to the terms and conditions of section 126 of the Department 
     of the Interior and Related Agencies Act, 2002, the 
     Administrator of General Services shall sell all right, 
     title, and interest of the United States in and to the 
     improvements and equipment of the White River Oil Shale Mine.
       Sec. 123. The Secretary of the Interior may use or contract 
     for the use of helicopters or motor vehicles on the Sheldon 
     and Hart National Wildlife Refuges for the purpose of 
     capturing and transporting horses and burros. The provisions 
     of subsection (a) of the Act of September 8, 1959 (18 U.S.C. 
     47(a)) shall not be applicable to such use. Such use shall be 
     in accordance with humane procedures prescribed by the 
     Secretary.
       Sec. 124. Funds provided in this Act for Federal land 
     acquisition by the National Park Service for Shenandoah 
     Valley Battlefields National Historic District, and Ice Age 
     National Scenic Trail may be used for a grant to a State, a 
     local government, or any other governmental land management 
     entity for the acquisition of lands without regard to any 
     restriction on the use of Federal land acquisition funds 
     provided through the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 
     1965 as amended.
       Sec. 125. None of the funds made available by this Act may 
     be obligated or expended by the National Park Service to 
     enter into or implement a concession contract which permits 
     or requires the removal of the underground lunchroom at the 
     Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
       Sec. 126. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be used: (1) to demolish the bridge between Jersey City, New 
     Jersey, and Ellis Island; or (2) to prevent pedestrian use of 
     such bridge, when such pedestrian use is consistent with 
     generally accepted safety standards.
       Sec. 127. None of the funds made available in this or any 
     other Act for any fiscal year may be used to designate, or to 
     post any sign designating, any portion of Canaveral National 
     Seashore in Brevard County, Florida, as a clothing-optional 
     area or as an area in which public nudity is permitted, if 
     such designation would be contrary to county ordinance.
       Sec. 128. None of the funds in this or any other Act can be 
     used to compensate the Special Master and the Special Master-
     Monitor, and all variations thereto, appointed by the United 
     States District Court for the District of Columbia in the 
     Cobell v. Norton litigation at an annual rate that exceeds 
     200 percent of the highest Senior Executive Service rate of 
     pay for the Washington-Baltimore locality pay area.
       Sec. 129. The Secretary of the Interior may use 
     discretionary funds to pay private attorneys fees and costs 
     for employees and former employees of the Department of the 
     Interior reasonably incurred in connection with Cobell v. 
     Norton to the extent that such fees and costs are not paid by 
     the Department of Justice or by private insurance. In no case 
     shall the Secretary make payments under this section that 
     would result in payment of hourly fees in excess of the 
     highest hourly rate approved by the District Court for the 
     District of Columbia for counsel in Cobell v. Norton.
       Sec. 130. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service 
     shall, in carrying out its responsibilities to protect 
     threatened and endangered species of salmon, implement a 
     system of mass marking of salmonid stocks, intended for 
     harvest, that are released from Federally operated or 
     Federally financed hatcheries including but not limited to 
     fish releases of coho, chinook, and steelhead species. Marked 
     fish must have a visible mark that can be readily identified 
     by commercial and recreational fishers.
       Sec. 131. Such sums as may be necessary from ``Departmental 
     Management, Salaries and Expenses'', may be transferred to 
     ``United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource 
     Management'' for operational needs at the Midway Atoll 
     National Wildlife Refuge airport.
       Sec. 132. No funds appropriated for the Department of the 
     Interior by this Act or any other Act shall be used to study 
     or implement any plan to drain Lake Powell or to reduce the 
     water level of the lake below the range of water levels 
     required for the operation of the Glen Canyon Dam.
       Sec. 133. Section 122 of division F of Public Law 108-7 is 
     amended as follows:
       (a) Paragraph 122(a)(4) is amended to read--
       ``(4) Tribally controlled school.--The term `tribally 
     controlled school' means a school that currently receives a 
     grant under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988, as 
     amended (25 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) or is determined by the 
     Secretary to meet the eligibility criteria of section 5205 of 
     the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988, as amended (25 
     U.S.C. 2504).''.
       (b) Paragraph 122(b)(1) is amended by striking the second 
     sentence and inserting: ``The Secretary shall ensure that 
     applications for funding to replace schools currently 
     receiving funding for facility operation and maintenance from 
     the Bureau of Indian Affairs receive the highest priority for 
     grants under this section. Among such applications, the 
     Secretary shall give priority to applications of Indian 
     tribes that agree to fund all future facility operation and 
     maintenance costs of the tribally controlled school funded 
     under the demonstration program from other than Federal 
     funds.''.
       (c) Subsection (c) is amended by inserting after ``Effect 
     of Grant.--'' the following: ``(1) Except as provided in 
     paragraph (2) of this subsection,'' and is further amended by 
     adding the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) A tribe receiving a grant for construction of a 
     tribally controlled school under this section shall not be 
     eligible to receive funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
     for that school for education operations or facility 
     operation and maintenance if the school that was not at the 
     time of the grant: (i) a school receiving funding for 
     education operations or facility operation and maintenance

[[Page H6971]]

     under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act or the Indian Self-
     Determination and Education Assistance Act or (ii) a school 
     operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.''.
       Sec. 134. The Secretary of the Interior shall within 180 
     days of the enactment of this Act submit to the House and 
     Senate Committees on Appropriations a report that describes 
     the condition and adequacy of educational facilities 
     available to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the 
     availability of lands necessary for the construction of any 
     necessary new or replacement education facilities, and the 
     impacts that construction of such facilities might have on 
     natural, cultural, and other resources present within the 
     Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge 
     Parkway. The report shall specifically address the resource 
     implications of the land exchange described in H.R. 1409, 
     ``The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Land Exchange Act of 
     2002'' as introduced in the 108th Congress. The Secretary 
     shall consult with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in 
     preparing the report.


 land exchange, world war i national memorial, mojave national preserve

       Sec. 135. (a) Exchange Required.--In exchange for the 
     private property described in subsection (b), the Secretary 
     of the Interior shall convey to the Veterans Home of 
     California-Barstow, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #385E (in 
     this section referred to as the ``recipient''), all right, 
     title, and interest of the United States in and to a parcel 
     of real property consisting of approximately one acre in the 
     Mojave National Preserve and designated (by section 8137 of 
     the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public 
     Law 101-117; 115 Stat. 2278)) as a national memorial 
     commemorating United States participation in World War I and 
     honoring the American veterans of that war. Notwithstanding 
     the conveyance of the property under this subsection, the 
     Secretary shall continue to carry out the responsibilities of 
     the Secretary under such section 8137.
       (b) Consideration.--As consideration for the property to be 
     conveyed by the Secretary under subsection (a), Mr. and Mrs. 
     Henry Sandoz of Mountain Pass, California, have agreed to 
     convey to the Secretary a parcel of real property consisting 
     of approximately five acres, identified as parcel APN 569-
     051-44, and located in the west \1/2\ of the northeast \1/4\ 
     of the northwest \1/4\ of the northwest \1/4\ of section 11, 
     township 14 north, range 15 east, San Bernardino base and 
     meridian.
       (c) Equal Value Exchange; Appraisal.--The values of the 
     properties to be exchanged under this section shall be equal 
     or equalized as provided in subsection (d). The value of the 
     properties shall be determined through an appraisal performed 
     by a qualified appraiser in conformance with the Uniform 
     Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (Department 
     of Justice, December 2000).
       (d) Cash Equalization.--Any difference in the value of the 
     properties to be exchanged under this section shall be 
     equalized through the making of a cash equalization payment. 
     The Secretary shall deposit any cash equalization payment 
     received by the Secretary under this subsection in the Land 
     and Water Conservation Fund.
       (e) Reversionary Clause.--The conveyance under subsection 
     (a) shall be subject to the condition that the recipient 
     maintain the conveyed property as a memorial commemorating 
     United States participation in World War I and honoring the 
     American veterans of that war. If the Secretary determines 
     that the conveyed property is no longer being maintained as a 
     war memorial, the property shall revert to the ownership of 
     the United States.
       (f) Boundary Adjustment; Administration of Acquired Land.--
     The boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve shall be 
     adjusted to reflect the land exchange required by this 
     section. The property acquired by the Secretary under this 
     section shall become part of the Mojave National Preserve and 
     be administered in accordance with the laws, rules, and 
     regulations generally applicable to the Mojave National 
     Preserve.


                   Blue ridge national heritage area

       Sec. 136. (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as 
     the ``Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Act of 2003''.
       (b) Findings and Purpose.--
       (1) Findings.--Congress finds that:
       (A) The Blue Ridge Mountains and the extensive cultural and 
     natural resources of the Blue Ridge Mountains have played a 
     significant role in the history of the United States and the 
     State of North Carolina.
       (B) Archaeological evidence indicates that the Blue Ridge 
     Mountains have been inhabited by humans since the last 
     retreat of the glaciers, with the Native Americans living in 
     the area at the time of European discovery being primarily of 
     Cherokee descent.
       (C) The Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, 
     including the Great Smoky Mountains, played a unique and 
     significant role in the establishment and development of the 
     culture of the United States through several distinct 
     legacies, including--
       (i) the craft heritage that--

       (I) was first influenced by the Cherokee Indians;
       (II) was the origin of the traditional craft movement 
     starting in 1900 and the contemporary craft movement starting 
     in the 1940's; and
       (III) is carried out by over 4,000 craftspeople in the Blue 
     Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, the third largest 
     concentration of such people in the United States;

       (ii) a musical heritage comprised of distinctive 
     instrumental and vocal traditions that--

       (I) includes stringband music, bluegrass, ballad singing, 
     blues, and sacred music;
       (II) has received national recognition; and
       (III) has made the region one of the richest repositories 
     of traditional music and folklife in the United States;

       (iii) the Cherokee heritage--

       (I) dating back thousands of years; and
       (II) offering--

       (aa) nationally significant cultural traditions practiced 
     by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians;
       (bb) authentic tradition bearers;
       (cc) historic sites; and
       (dd) historically important collections of Cherokee 
     artifacts; and
       (iv) the agricultural heritage established by the Cherokee 
     Indians, including medicinal and ceremonial food crops, 
     combined with the historic European patterns of raising 
     livestock, culminating in the largest number of specialty 
     crop farms in North Carolina.
       (D) The artifacts and structures associated with those 
     legacies are unusually well-preserved.
       (E) The Blue Ridge Mountains are recognized as having one 
     of the richest collections of historical resources in North 
     America.
       (F) The history and cultural heritage of the Blue Ridge 
     Mountains are shared with the States of Virginia, Tennessee, 
     and Georgia.
       (G) there are significant cultural, economic, and 
     educational benefits in celebrating and promoting this mutual 
     heritage.
       (H) according to the 2002 reports entitled ``The Blue Ridge 
     Heritage and Cultural Partnership'' and ``Western North 
     Carolina National Heritage Area Feasibility Study and Plan'', 
     the Blue Ridge Mountains contain numerous resources that are 
     of outstanding importance to the history of the United 
     States.
       (I) it is in the interest of the United States to preserve 
     and interpret the cultural and historical resources of the 
     Blue Ridge Mountains for the education and benefit of present 
     and future generations.
       (2) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to foster a 
     close working relationship with, and to assist, all levels of 
     government, the private sector, and local communities in the 
     State in managing, preserving, protecting, and interpreting 
     the cultural, historical, and natural resources of the 
     Heritage Area while continuing to develop economic 
     opportunities.
       (c) Definitions.--
       (1) In this section:
       (A) Heritage area.--The term ``Heritage Area'' means the 
     Blue Ridge National Heritage Area established by subsection 
     (d).
       (B) Management entity.--The term ``management entity'' 
     means the management entity for the Heritage Area designated 
     by subsection (d)(3).
       (C) Management plan.--The term ``management plan'' means 
     the management plan for the Heritage Area approved under 
     subsection (e).
       (D) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (E) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of North 
     Carolina.
       (d) Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.--
       (1) Establishment.--There is established the Blue Ridge 
     National Heritage Area in the State.
       (2) Boundaries.--The Heritage Area shall consist of the 
     counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, 
     Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, 
     Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, 
     Rutherford, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, 
     Yadkin, and Yancey in the State.
       (3) Management entity.--
       (A) In general.--As a condition of the receipt of funds 
     made available under subsection (i), the Blue Ridge National 
     Heritage Area Partnership shall be the management entity for 
     the Heritage Area.
       (B) Board of directors.--
       (i) Composition.--The management entity shall be governed 
     by a board of directors composed of 9 members, of whom--

       (I) 2 members shall be appointed by AdvantageWest;
       (II) 2 members shall be appointed by HandMade In America, 
     Inc.;
       (III) 1 member shall be appointed by the Education Research 
     Consortium of Western North Carolina;
       (IV) 1 member shall be appointed by the Eastern Band of the 
     Cherokee Indians; and
       (V) 3 members shall be appointed by the Governor of North 
     Carolina and shall--

       (aa) reside in geographically diverse regions of the 
     Heritage Area;
       (bb) be a representative of State or local governments or 
     the private sector; and
       (cc) have knowledge of tourism, economic and community 
     development, regional planning, historic preservation, 
     cultural or natural resources development, regional planning, 
     conservation, recreational services, education, or museum 
     services.
       (e) Management Plan.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
     enactment of this section, the management entity shall submit 
     to the Secretary for approval a management plan for the 
     Heritage Area.
       (2) Consideration of other plans and actions.--In 
     developing the management plan, the management entity shall--

[[Page H6972]]

       (A) for the purpose of presenting a unified preservation 
     and interpretation plan, take into consideration Federal, 
     State, and local plans; and
       (B) provide for the participation of residents, public 
     agencies, and private organizations in the Heritage Area.
       (3) Contents.--The management plan shall--
       (A) present comprehensive recommendations and strategies 
     for the conservation, funding, management, and development of 
     the Heritage Area;
       (B) identify existing and potential sources of Federal and 
     non-Federal funding for the conservation, management, and 
     development of the Heritage Area; and
       (C) include--
       (i) an inventory of the cultural, historical, natural, and 
     recreational resources of the Heritage Area, including a list 
     of property that--

       (I) relates to the purposes of the Heritage Area; and
       (II) should be conserved, restored, managed, developed, or 
     maintained because of the significance of the property;

       (ii) a program of strategies and actions for the 
     implementation of the management plan that identifies the 
     roles of agencies and organizations that are involved in the 
     implementation of the management plan;
       (iii) an interpretive and educational plan for the Heritage 
     Area;
       (iv) a recommendation of policies for resource management 
     and protection that develop intergovernmental cooperative 
     agreements to manage and protect the cultural, historical, 
     natural, and recreational resources of the Heritage Area; and
       (v) an analysis of ways in which Federal, State, and local 
     programs may best be coordinated to promote the purposes of 
     this section.
       (4) Effect of failure to submit.--If a management plan is 
     not submitted to the Secretary by the date described in 
     paragraph (1), the Secretary shall not provide any additional 
     funding under this section until a management plan is 
     submitted to the Secretary.
       (5) Approval or disapproval of management plan.--
       (A) In general.--Not later than 90 days after receiving the 
     management plan submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 
     shall approve or disapprove the management plan.
       (B) Criteria.--In determining whether to approve the 
     management plan, the Secretary shall consider whether the 
     management plan--
       (i) has strong local support from landowners, business 
     interests, nonprofit organizations, and governments in the 
     Heritage Area; and
       (ii) has a high potential for effective partnership 
     mechanisms.
       (C) Action following disapproval.--If the Secretary 
     disapproves a management plan under subparagraph (A), the 
     Secretary shall--
       (i) advise the management entity in writing of the reasons 
     for the disapproval;
       (ii) make recommendations for revisions to the management 
     plan; and
       (iii) allow the management entity to submit to the 
     Secretary revisions to the management plan.
       (D) Deadline for approval of revision.--Not later than 60 
     days after the date on which a revision is submitted under 
     subparagraph (C)(iii), the Secretary shall approve or 
     disapprove the proposed revision.
       (6) Amendment of approved management plan.--
       (A) In general.--After approval by the Secretary of a 
     management plan, the management entity shall periodically--
       (i) review the management plan; and
       (ii) submit to the Secretary, for review and approval, the 
     recommendation of the management entity for any amendments to 
     the management plan.
       (B) Use of funds.--No funds made available under subsection 
     (i) shall be used to implement any amendment proposed by the 
     management entity under subparagraph (A) until the Secretary 
     approves the amendment.
       (f) Authorities and Duties of the Management Entity.--
       (1) Authorities.--For the purposes of developing and 
     implementing the management plan, the management entity may 
     use funds made available under subsection (i) to--
       (A) make grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements 
     with, the State (including a political subdivision), 
     nonprofit organizations, or persons;
       (B) hire and compensate staff; and
       (C) enter into contracts for goods and services.
       (2) Duties.--In addition to developing the management plan, 
     the management entity shall--
       (A) develop and implement the management plan while 
     considering the interests of diverse units of government, 
     businesses, private property owners, and nonprofit groups in 
     the Heritage Area;
       (B) conduct public meetings in the Heritage Area at least 
     semiannually on the development and implementation of the 
     management plan;
       (C) give priority to the implementation of actions, goals, 
     and strategies in the management plan, including providing 
     assistance to units of government, nonprofit organizations, 
     and persons in--
       (i) carrying out the programs that protect resources in the 
     Heritage Area;
       (ii) encouraging economic viability in the Heritage Area in 
     accordance with the goals of the management plan;
       (iii) establishing and maintaining interpretive exhibits in 
     the Heritage Area;
       (iv) developing recreational and educational opportunities 
     in the Heritage Area; and
       (v) increasing public awareness of and appreciation for the 
     cultural, historical, and natural resources of the Heritage 
     Area; and
       (D) for any fiscal year for which Federal funds are 
     received under subsection (i)--
       (i) submit to the Secretary a report that describes, for 
     the fiscal year--

       (I) the accomplishments of the management entity;
       (II) the expenses and income of the management entity; and
       (III) each entity to which a grant was made;

       (ii) make available for audit by Congress, the Secretary, 
     and appropriate units of government, all records relating to 
     the expenditure of funds and any matching funds; and
       (iii) require, for all agreements authorizing expenditure 
     of Federal funds by any entity, that the receiving entity 
     make available for audit all records relating to the 
     expenditure of funds.
       (3) Prohibition on the acquisition of real property.--The 
     management entity shall not use Federal funds received under 
     subsection (i) to acquire real property or an interest in 
     real property.
       (g) Technical and Financial Assistance.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary may provide to the 
     management entity technical assistance and, subject to the 
     availability of appropriations, financial assistance, for use 
     in developing and implementing the management plan.
       (2) Priority for assistance.--In providing assistance under 
     subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to actions 
     that facilitate--
       (A) the preservation of the significant cultural, 
     historical, natural, and recreational resources of the 
     Heritage Area; and
       (B) the provision of educational, interpretive, and 
     recreational opportunities that are consistent with the 
     resources of the Heritage Area.
       (h) Land Use Regulation.--
       (1) In general.--Nothing in this section--
       (A) grants any power of zoning or land use to the 
     management entity; or
       (B) modifies, enlarges, or diminishes any authority of the 
     Federal Government or any State or local government to 
     regulate any use of land under any law (including 
     regulations).
       (2) Private property.--Nothing in this section--
       (A) abridges the rights of any person with respect to 
     private property;
       (B) affects the authority of the State or local government 
     with respect to private property; or
       (C) imposes any additional burden on any property owner.
       (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
       (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
     carry out this section $10,000,000, of which not more than 
     $1,000,000 shall be made available for any fiscal year.
       (2) Non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of the cost 
     of any activities carried out using Federal funds made 
     available under subsection (a) shall be not less than 50 
     percent.
       (j) Termination of Authority.--The authority of the 
     Secretary to provide assistance under this section terminates 
     on the date that is 15 years after the date of enactment of 
     this section.


            Expedited procedures for indian trust accounting

       Sec. 137. (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, any claim against the United States arising 
     out of any obligation of the United States or any of its 
     agencies or officials relating to the conduct of an 
     accounting, or the balance of, any individual Indian money 
     account arising prior to December 31, 2000 shall be governed 
     by the provisions of this section.
       (b) Statistical Sampling.--Not later than one year 
     following the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
     shall formulate a statistical sampling evaluation to assess 
     the administration of individual Indian money accounts for 
     those accounts that were open as of December 31, 2000, and 
     all individual Indian money accounts that were open as of 
     October 25, 1994, or opened thereafter but closed as of 
     December 31, 2000. The statistical sampling evaluation 
     described in this subsection shall be conducted in a manner 
     the Secretary deems feasible and appropriate given the 
     availability of records, data, and other historic 
     information, and shall estimate, so as to achieve a ninety-
     eight percent confidence level, the rate of past accounting 
     error, if any, for each group or categories of individual 
     Indian money accounts. The Secretary shall complete a 
     statistical sampling evaluation covering all subject accounts 
     within four years of the date of enactment of this Act.
       (c) Certification.--Upon completion of a statistical 
     sampling evaluation for a category or group of individual 
     Indian money accounts, the Secretary shall certify completion 
     of the evaluation and publish such certification in the 
     Federal Register.
       (d) Adjustment of Accounts.--

[[Page H6973]]

       (1) Within 180 days following any certification under 
     subsection (c), the Secretary shall adjust any individual 
     Indian money accounts covered by that certification. The 
     Secretary shall base such adjustment on application of the 
     error rate, if any, determined by the statistical sampling to 
     the average transaction amount for transactions in an 
     account. In addition, the Secretary may also consider any 
     factual information regarding the particular account at issue 
     in adjusting the account.
       (2) Amounts necessary for adjustments to individual Indian 
     money accounts shall be derived from the claims and judgment 
     appropriation provided by 31 U.S.C. 1304 in the same manner 
     as payment of judgments received by the Court of Federal 
     Claims under 28 U.S.C. 2414.
       (e) No Downward Adjustment.--The Secretary may consider 
     both positive and negative errors in estimating a rate of 
     past accounting error, but in no event shall the Secretary 
     adjust the balance of an account downward under this Act. In 
     the event that the Secretary determines that the rate of past 
     accounting error for an account is zero or negative, the 
     Secretary shall make an adjustment of zero to that account. 
     Such a zero adjustment shall constitute an ``adjustment'' as 
     defined in this section.
       (f) Judicial Review.--
       (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, judicial 
     review of, or judicial relief with respect to, any action of 
     the United States or any of its agencies or officials in 
     carrying out the provisions of this section shall be made 
     solely in accordance with this subsection.
       (2) Judicial review of any agency action related to an 
     individual Indian money account performed pursuant to this 
     section may be had only by the filing of a petition for 
     review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District 
     of Columbia no later than 60 days after the Secretary's 
     adjustment of an account. Such review shall be conducted in 
     accordance with chapter 7 of part I of title 5, United States 
     Code (5 U.S.C. 701, et seq.).
       (3) Except to the extent, if any, that review may be 
     required by the Constitution of the United States, no court 
     shall have jurisdiction to review, grant, or enforce any 
     relief with respect to any action of the United States or any 
     of its agencies or officials in carrying out any obligation 
     described in subsection (a) other than pursuant to paragraph 
     (2). The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to any 
     litigation filed before, on, or after the date of enactment 
     of this section.
       (g) Account Balances.--The balance of any account as 
     determined under this Act, including judicial review in 
     accordance with subsection (f), shall conclusively constitute 
     the new balance of the account as of December 31, 2000, and 
     shall not be subject to any further adjustment based upon 
     events or occurrences prior to that date.
       (h) Voluntary Settlement of Claims.--Prior to commencing 
     the statistical evaluation provided in subsection (b), the 
     Secretary may, at the Secretary's discretion, resolve any 
     claim or group of claims described in subsection (a) through 
     voluntary settlement with any holder or holders of individual 
     Indian money accounts. Such voluntary settlement shall be 
     paid from the claims and judgment appropriation as provided 
     in subsection (d) and shall conclusively resolve claims under 
     subsection (a). The holder of the account who settles shall 
     not be entitled to any further adjustment under this section.
       (i) Regulations.--The Secretary may adopt such regulations, 
     as the Secretary deems necessary to implement this section.
       (j) Report to Congress.--The Secretary shall report to the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, the House 
     Committee on Resources, and the Senate Committee on Indian 
     Affairs regarding the progress of statistical sampling 
     evaluations at least once every calendar year until the 
     Secretary has adjusted all accounts covered by this Act.
       (k) Definitions.--As used in this Act:
       (1) The term ``statistical sampling evaluation'' means an 
     analysis of a selected statistically appropriate sample drawn 
     from a group or groups of transactions or other data.
       (2) The term ``individual Indian money accounts'' means 
     account balances for funds held in trust by the United States 
     for the benefit of an individual Indian which are deposited 
     or invested pursuant to the Act of June 24, 1938 (25 U.S.C. 
     162a), but shall not include accounts classified by the 
     Secretary as Special Deposit, Judgment, or Per Capita 
     accounts.
       (3) The term ``adjust'' means to revise the balance of the 
     account pursuant to this Act.
       (4) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
     Interior.
       Sec. 138. None of the funds in this or any other Act may be 
     used by the Department of the Interior to support the Klamath 
     Fishery Management Council.
       Sec. 139. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     United States Fish and Wildlife Service, heretofore and 
     hereafter, may use funds for incidental expenses related to 
     encouraging public participation in Service programs, and may 
     use up to $2,000,000 per year for contracts for employment-
     related legal services.

                       TITLE II--RELATED AGENCIES

                       DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

                             Forest Service


                     forest and rangeland research

       For necessary expenses of forest and rangeland research as 
     authorized by law, $267,230,000, to remain available until 
     expended: Provided, That of the funds provided, $49,428,000 
     is for the forest inventory and analysis program.

                       state and private forestry

       For necessary expenses of cooperating with and providing 
     technical and financial assistance to States, territories, 
     possessions, and others, and for forest health management, 
     including treatments of pests, pathogens, and invasive or 
     noxious plants and for restoring and rehabilitating forests 
     damaged by pests or invasive plants, cooperative forestry, 
     and education and land conservation activities and conducting 
     an international program as authorized, $290,758,000, to 
     remain available until expended, as authorized by law: 
     Provided, That none of the funds provided under this heading 
     for the acquisition of lands or interests in lands shall be 
     available until the Forest Service notifies the House 
     Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on 
     Appropriations, in writing, of specific contractual and grant 
     details including the non-Federal cost share of each project, 
     related to the acquisition of lands or interests in lands to 
     be undertaken with such funds: Provided further, That each 
     forest legacy grant shall be for a specific project or set of 
     specific tasks: Provided further, That grants for acquisition 
     of lands or conservation easements shall require that the 
     State demonstrates that 25 percent of the total value of the 
     project is comprised of a non-Federal cost share.

                         national forest system

       For necessary expenses of the Forest Service, not otherwise 
     provided for, for management, protection, improvement, and 
     utilization of the National Forest System, $1,400,792,000, to 
     remain available until expended, which shall include 50 
     percent of all moneys received during prior fiscal years as 
     fees collected under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act 
     of 1965, as amended, in accordance with section 4 of the Act 
     (16 U.S.C. 460l-6a(i)): Provided, That unobligated balances 
     available at the start of fiscal year 2004 shall be displayed 
     by budget line item in the fiscal year 2005 budget 
     justification: Provided further, That the Secretary may 
     authorize the expenditure or transfer of such sums as 
     necessary to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land 
     Management, for removal, preparation, and adoption of excess 
     wild horses and burros from National Forest System lands and 
     for the performance of cadastral surveys to designate the 
     boundaries of such lands.
       For an additional amount to reimburse the Judgment Fund as 
     required by 41 U.S.C. 612(c) for judgment liabilities 
     previously incurred, $188,405,000.


                            points of order

  The CHAIRMAN. Are there any points of order?
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against section 139 
of the bill found on page 90, lines 4 through 9. This section clearly 
violates clause 2(b) of rule XXI as it constitutes legislation on an 
appropriations bill by changing existing law.
  Section 139 permanently establishes an unlimited U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service ``slush fund'' for expenses related to encouraging 
public participation in Fish and Wildlife Service programs. The very 
first sentence waives existing law regarding any current limitations 
that the Service may have regarding these activities. For example, 
existing volunteer and public participation in the National Wildlife 
Refuge System is governed by the National Wildlife Refuge System 
Volunteer and Community Partnership Enhancement Act of 1998.
  The Service's use of administrative funds from other programs, such 
as those authorized under the Pittman-Robertson Act, the African 
Elephant Conservation Act, the Neo-Tropical Migratory Bird Conservation 
Act, the Great Ape Conservation Act, and the Rhinoceros and Tiger 
Conservation Act are also circumscribed in scope and funding levels. 
Section 139 waives these limits and expands the uses of these funds. 
Therefore, this language constitutes legislation on an appropriations 
bill.
  This fact was recognized by the Committee on Appropriations, which 
lists this section in the report accompanying this bill under ``Changes 
in Application of Existing Law'' on page 153. Therefore, I ask that the 
Chair sustain my point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does any Member wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I concede the point of 
order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and sustained, and 
accordingly section 139 is stricken from the bill.
  Does the gentleman from California have another point of order?
  Mr. POMBO. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against section 137 
of the bill, found at page 84, line 21, through page 89, line 24.

[[Page H6974]]

  This section clearly violates clause 2(b) of rule XXI, as it 
constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill. This six-page 
section establishes a separate legal mechanism for the determination 
and settlement of claims regarding individual Indian money accounts 
maintained by the Department of the Interior as part of the Secretary 
of the Interior's trust responsibilities for Native Americans. The 
section requires the Secretary to formulate a statistical sampling 
evaluation for individual Indian accounts opened during a certain time 
frame.
  This evaluation is to take place over 4 years, and the Secretary is 
then required to publish a notice in the Federal Register certifying 
the evaluation. The Secretary must then adjust certified accounts but 
only for increases as a result of the evaluation. The Secretary is also 
authorized to issue regulations to implement the section.
  Finally, the section provides a judicial review mechanism for the 
Secretary's actions taken under this section.
  These are all new substantial duties on the part of the Secretary of 
the Interior. The section mandates new expenditures to adjust 
individual Indian accounts upwards.
  In addition, the very first sentence of section 137 explicitly waives 
existing law and regulations regarding these accounts. Therefore, the 
section fails at least three tests for determining whether the 
language constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill. This fact 
was recognized by the Committee on Appropriations, which lists this 
section in the report accompanying this bill under ``Changes in 
Application of Existing Law'' on page 153.

  I ask that the Chair sustain my point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does any Member wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman raises a 
legitimate point. The Indian trust settlement language is an 
authorizing issue, but before I concede the point of order, let me 
point out the rationale behind this important provision.
  Last year, this House debated a provision limiting funding for the 
historical accounting of the individual Indian money accounts. During 
debate over this provision, both the majority and the minority members 
of the authorizing committee assured us that legislation would be 
developed forthwith to address the Indian trust issues. This did not 
happen.
  However, this year, the new chairman of the Committee on Resources, 
which is the legislative committee of jurisdiction for Native American 
issues, has held a hearing on this critical issue and has informed me 
of his intention to develop legislation to resolve the Indian trust 
issue this year. I am convinced that, without intervention by the 
Congress, this issue will continue to drag on for years at the expense 
of other important programs in the Interior bill.
  The committee proposed what I believe is a prompt, fair and 
reasonable resolution of these long-standing claims. To date, hundreds 
of millions of dollars have been spent on lawyers and accountants and 
not a single dollar has gone to Indian country.
  Mr. Chairman, if this contentious litigation continues, we will be 
forced to redirect resources away from Indian education, health, 
wildlife, law enforcement and other important Indian programs.
  Let me point out a few facts for Members to keep in mind as 
legislation is developed to resolve this litigation. Of the 
approximately 260,000 individual Indian accounts, 68 percent have 
balances of less than $100. Thousands of accounts have less than $1 and 
often less than one penny. Since 1909, a total of $13 billion has 
flowed through these accounts, with the majority of the money deposited 
after 1970. This is a far cry from the $137 billion claimed by the 
litigants.
  Today, there are 4 million different owners of the 10 million acres 
of individually-owned trust lands, which makes the management of trust 
assets very difficult. It is important that we finally tackle this 
issue. I pledge my help in crafting a legislative solution.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Washington wish to be heard on 
the point of order?
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I want to be heard on the point of order.
  I would just say that I, first of all, want to associate myself with 
the remarks of the chairman. I think he has made very clear why the 
committee felt it must do what it did do. I would also say to the new 
chairman of the authorizing committee, it is time for action on this 
issue. We can no longer let this slide or neglect or not bring this to 
attention, because millions and millions of dollars are being wasted on 
lawyers and accountants instead of going out for Indian health service 
and all the other issues.
  I concur with the chairman. We have to concede the point of order, 
but I would urge the chairman, please do not let us down again this 
year. We need action on this issue. I know the gentleman has taken 
over, and I urge him to take action and get a settlement. We cannot let 
this thing go on and on and on. I concede the point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from New Jersey wish to be heard on 
the point of order?
  Mr. PALLONE. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is recognized.
  Mr. PALLONE. I spoke on this earlier on the rule.
  I just wanted to say, first of all, I do commend the appropriations 
chair and the ranking member for their concern about this issue. I know 
that they are very concerned about it. I know they are legitimately 
concerned about the cost if something is not done.
  I also want to commend my chairman and indicate on a bipartisan basis 
that Democrats as well as Republicans on the Committee on Resources are 
very concerned about this issue and realize that it must be addressed.
  To his credit, our new chairman, relatively new chairman, has 
indicated very strongly as a result of the hearing that took place in 
the Committee on Resources, I believe, last week that he is going to 
take this up, that we are already looking at language to try to deal 
with the issue and come up with legislation; and I think that members 
of the Committee on Resources on a bipartisan basis are very much aware 
of the fact that we must deal with it.

                              {time}  1845

  And we will take that responsibility seriously. I know through the 
Chair, and I just want to say on the part of the Democrats on the 
committee, that if we agree with our chairman, it needs to be addressed 
and also understand and appreciate the fact that the appropriators are 
willing to let go on this at least for a while.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order as conceded is sustained and 
accordingly section 137 is stricken from the bill.
  Are there any amendments to that portion of the bill that is open for 
amendment?


         Amendment Offered by Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida

  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Amendment offered by Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida:
       Page 24, line 14, strike the colon and all that follows 
     through page 25, line 12, and insert the following:
     : Provided further, That funds appropriated in this Act and 
     in any prior Acts for the purpose of implementing the 
     Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park Project 
     shall be available for expenditure unless the Secretary of 
     the Interior, the Secretary of the Army, the Administrator of 
     the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Attorney General 
     file a joint report by September 30, 2003, and each year 
     thereafter until December 31, 2006, to the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations, the House Committee on 
     Transportation and Infrastructure, the House Committee on 
     Resources and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public 
     Works, indicating that the water entering A.R.M. Loxahatchee 
     National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park does 
     not meet all applicable State water quality standards and 
     numeric criteria adopted for phosphorus throughout A.R.M. 
     Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National 
     Park, as well as water quality requirements set forth in the 
     Consent Decree entered in United States v. South Florida 
     Water Management District, and that the House and Senate 
     Committees on Appropriations respond in writing disapproving 
     the further expenditure of funds.

  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, 
I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read and 
printed in the Record.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
Florida?

[[Page H6975]]

  There was no objection.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Chairman, this amendment brings 
funding authority back to Congress and ensures that major decisions 
about funding Everglades restoration, which by the way happens to be 
within the congressional district that I represent, that those 
decisions are made by Congress and not by government bureaucracies.
  Everglades National Park is one of our great Nation's greatest 
national treasures, and current funding is critical to the future 
restoration of that treasure. The current bill language, Mr. Chairman, 
provides for a mandatory stoppage of funding based on water quality 
reports issued by the Department of the Interior, the Environmental 
Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Attorney 
General. This would empower Federal agencies to eliminate critical 
funding without congressional review, Mr. Chairman.
  Therefore I have offered this amendment with the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Goss) to ensure that any possible changing of the funding 
levels occurs through the constitutionally appropriate body, the House 
Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Appropriations Committee, 
not solely Federal agencies. This amendment eliminates the provision 
that provided Federal agencies with that authority to automatically cut 
funding based on their reports again without the legislative having any 
input.
  Mr. Chairman, I will continue to fight along with my other colleagues 
for adequate funding for Everglades restoration, and we will work with 
the State of Florida and the appropriate State and Federal agencies to 
ensure that this critical restoration project receives the necessary 
funds now and also in the future.
  I would, Mr. Chairman, though, want to thank some people that have 
worked with me on this: the gentleman from California (Chairman 
Dreier); the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss), whom I already 
mentioned; the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart); and 
the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
  Mr. Chairman, I think all of the House knows that this has been a 
major issue for the State of Florida, for the United States of America. 
The Everglades is a very unique ecological system that is not equal to 
anywhere else in the world. It is important that we continue on the 
agreements that were not easy to come by; but the partnership with the 
State of Florida, the partnership with the Federal Government, and the 
partnership with the courts, we have one responsibility, to provide for 
the hydrological issues, the plumbing in effect, the flow of the water. 
The State of Florida has a responsibility for the quality of the water.
  We had a little setback. This might be mentioned later, a little 
setback when the legislature changed some of their agreement, but 
nevertheless I am prepared to accept this amendment and compliment the 
gentleman for working very hard not only to support and protect the 
Everglades program but to do it in such a way that Congress is 
definitely more involved, and I think he has done a really good job. 
This was not the original proposal that we had in the bill, but I think 
this is an improvement.
  I want to clarify for the record that we expect these Federal 
agencies to submit a joint report every year on the extent to which the 
State is or is not meeting all applicable State water quality standards 
and numeric criteria adopted for phosphorus throughout Loxahatchee 
National Wildlife Refuge and the Everglades National Park, as well as 
water quality requirements set forth in the consent decree entered in 
the United States v. South Florida Water Management District. The 
submission of this report is not an option and must be done. And, 
again, I compliment the gentleman. I support his amendment. We are 
prepared to accept the amendment for the committee.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  I am pleased to associate myself with the remarks of the 
distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations, and the remarks of the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), who is the author of this particular 
amendment. And I want to thank them and so many other appropriators who 
have assisted us in making this partnership stronger and better that 
exists between the Federal Government and the State for a very 
wonderful and unique purpose of restoration of our Everglades.
  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) correctly said 
that his district encompasses virtually all of the Everglades, and it 
is clear the national interest of all of us is in the Everglades as 
well. So it brought some interest together in what I think is a very 
workable program by this amendment that will provide for the necessary 
accountability, because the appropriators do have a responsibility for 
how those dollars are spent and the State of course has responsibility 
for their part of the partnership as well. We have had a good 
partnership. It has been almost a decade. It has worked exceedingly 
well, and I think it will continue to work well in the future.
  As the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) said, there was a 
little hiccup earlier this year when the Florida legislature, for 
reasons that made sense to them at the time, took unilateral action. 
After we reviewed the action, we felt that we needed to change the way 
the partnership worked a little bit, and I believe the language herein 
accomplishes that.
  This language did just not happen overnight, as was suggested. The 
gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman Taylor), the gentleman from 
Ohio (Chairman Regula), another of the cardinals, the appropriators; 
the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young), the overall chairman of 
the committee, dean of our delegation; the gentleman from Ohio 
(Chairman Hobson) helped us; and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), 
chairman of our delegation. That is an awful lot of horsepower to bring 
together, and this deserves that kind of horsepower. It is the right 
answer. We are where we need to be, and I urge support for this 
amendment.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.
  I want to commend the delegation from Florida for working on this 
issue. This has been something that I have personally taken an interest 
in, gone down to Florida, seen the work on this incredible project, the 
work of the Park Service and all of the Federal agencies. This is truly 
a national environmental restoration objective, and many of us were 
concerned who followed this issue about the actions of the Florida 
legislature earlier this year; but I want to commend the gentleman from 
Florida (Chairman Young) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) and 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) and the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), our new member, for the work they have done in 
crafting this legislation. We even out in the West are concerned about 
the Everglades, and we want to see them restored; and we want to see 
the commitments kept between the State and Federal Government. We need 
to go year by year, and I think the funding for this project depends on 
moving the ball forward and keeping things moving in the right 
direction. So I commend all of the work that has been done to 
straighten this out, and we look forward to the first report.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this compromise amendment, which I 
believe will help ensure that the efforts of Congress to restore the 
Everglades will be successful. In agreeing to the Comprehensive 
Everglades Restoration Plan, the Federal Government and the State of 
Florida made an $8 billion commitment, equally cost shared, to restore 
this national treasure. Congress, on behalf of the American people, has 
already committed $1 billion over the last 9 years toward this effort, 
and throughout this process the subcommittee has maintained strong 
oversight of the project to ensure that these funds are spent wisely 
and true environmental restoration will be achieved.
  Mr. Chairman, water quality is an absolute key to the success of this 
restoration. If we fail to address water quality issues upfront, we 
could potentially invest $20 billion of the taxpayers' dollars on a new 
plumbing system that pours tainted water into the

[[Page H6976]]

Everglades, and that is of course why this compromise is vitally 
important.
  This amendment was crafted in response to the passage of a law in 
Florida. It seeks to ensure that the State of Florida will not fail to 
meet its water quality goals. It will put a string on the Federal 
dollars that Congress has approved, tying them to compliance with 
agreements the State has already made. Every year the Secretary of the 
Interior, the Secretary of the Army, the Attorney General, and the EPA 
administrator will have to file a joint report certifying that the 
State of Florida is meeting its prior commitments to improve water 
quality. If the report indicates that the State is failing to work 
toward that goal, they have to take another look at the funding issue.
  It is unfortunate that Congress has been put into a place that they 
are requiring these new assurances. However, in order to ensure that 
Federal funds are truly going towards our shared goal, and this is the 
money of all the people in these United States and this is a treasure 
that belongs to all the people, that the environmental restoration, we 
have to condition their release on assurances that the State of Florida 
is living up to agreements it has already made. Otherwise, we risk not 
only wasting billions of taxpayer dollars but also further polluting 
the Everglades. And I commend the gentleman from Florida for agreeing 
to this amendment. I realize this is his district, but it is a treasure 
of all the American people, and I would urge support of the amendment.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, we have no objection to 
the amendment.
  The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).
  The amendment was agreed to.


               Amendment No. 10 Offered by Ms. Slaughter

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
  The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Amendment No. 10 offered by Ms. Slaughter:
       Page 21, line 3, after the first dollar amount, insert 
     ``(reduced by $6,000,000)''.
       Page 47, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert ``(reduced 
     by $3,000,000)''.
       Page 91, line 22, after the dollar amount, insert 
     ``(reduced by $6,000,000)''.
       Page 128, line 7, after the dollar amount, insert 
     ``(increased by $10,000,000)''.
       Page 128, line 11, after the dollar amount, insert 
     ``(increased $10,000,000)''.
       Page 128, line 23, after the dollar amount, insert 
     ``(increased by $5,000,000)''.

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment that by all 
rights should provoke no argument from the body. Last year a strong 
bipartisan majority voted for a modest increase for two Federal 
agencies that provide critical support for the arts organizations and 
its activities across the country. To keep the arts vibrant and 
flourishing, 234 Members of Congress agreed that the National Endowment 
for the Arts should receive a $10 million increase and that the 
National Endowment for the Humanities should receive an increase of $5 
million. It is indeed regrettable that in the fiscal year 2003 Omnibus 
Appropriations bill, the will of the House was ignored and these 
increases for both NEA and NEH were rejected.
  Now the time has come to rectify that mistake. This amendment simply 
restores the funding that the House agreed to last year. Meanwhile, I 
want to remind my colleagues that these agencies remain well below the 
funding level of a decade ago. As the chart clearly shows, in 1992 both 
NEA and NEH received $176 million in funding. That is $60 million more 
than NEA receives today and some $50 million more than NEH receives. 
Yet a majority of this body also recognizes that the nonprofit, and I 
emphasize nonprofit, arts industry has become an economic engine that 
drives $134 billion into our national economy every year.
  This chart, which shows a recent economic impact study conducted by 
the Americans for the Arts, illustrates some very important figures. 
The nonprofit arts industry is responsible for almost 5 million full-
time jobs, $89.4 billion in household income, $7.3 billion in State 
government tax revenues, and $56.6 billion in local government tax 
revenues.

                              {time}  1900

  Here is the most impressive figure of all: The arts community 
contributes $10.5 billion in Federal income tax revenues. So for the 
very small amount of money that we put in, $10.5 billion comes back to 
the Federal Treasury. The arts mean business. They mean big business 
for every district in this country.
  It is critical to remember that this funding will help build local 
economies across America. NEA nurtures artistic excellence in every 
corner of the country, as its grants flow to each of the 50 States and 
to each of the 435 congressional districts. Because NEA requires State 
and local arts agencies as well as private organizations to provide 
matching funds, the process ensures that dollars will continue to flow 
to the arts even during difficult economic times.
  Now, a word about these difficult times, and we know that they are. 
With our economic recovery stalled and the largest job loss in 20 
years, one would think that people responsible for rebuilding State and 
local economies would put fuel into this enormously successful arts 
engine. But, unfortunately, that is not so. But the lesson for us is 
obvious. In the era of declining State funds when corporate and 
charitable giving is dangerously low, the money we provide will not 
only safeguard the organizations but help them to spark our local 
economies back into black ink. In fact, what the House should really do 
is triple our funding for the arts, considering all of the money that 
we get back and what it does for local governments. As it is, we are 
only asking to restore the funding that the fiscal year 2003 conference 
took away.
  Give back the $10 million we voted for last year for NEA. It will be 
used to expand the Challenge America grants to make the arts more 
widely available in communities throughout the country.
  The program has a special emphasis on extending the arts to the 
underserved populations, those whose opportunities to experience the 
arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.
  Give back the $5 million we voted last year for NEH. Along with the 
$10 million increase provided by the Interior Committee on 
Appropriations, it will be used to support the We the People initiative 
which will advance the understanding of America's history, culture, and 
civics, a thing we sorely need. The President has requested a total of 
$100 million for We the People over the coming years, and this will be 
just a small down payment on his request.
  Please restore the funds we provided last year, and the rewards will 
be boundless. I do not mean just economic rewards, although they are 
incredible. I will not have enough time to talk about how the arts 
contribute to the lives of every American citizen, how they enrich our 
lives, spark our imagination, inspire our dreams, and calm our fears. 
There is not time to discuss how much better our children learn to read 
and write and add and subtract when the arts are part of the core 
curriculum.
  Let me just remind my colleagues that SAT scores go up some 57 parts, 
just think of that, when art is part of a student's high school 
experience. That is a cheap price. If we really want to leave no child 
behind, we will send them all ahead with the arts leading their way.
  Voting for this amendment is the right thing to do, and it is also 
the smart thing to do. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment 
cosponsored by my good friends, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. 
Shays) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach), and also by the ranking 
member of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and 
Related Agencies, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), who fights 
very hard every single year. Please, please, vote yes on this 
amendment.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to 
this amendment.
  Mr. Chairman, the bill maintains the largest increases to NEA and NEH 
since 2002 and provides small increases for fixed costs this year. We 
also provide a $10 million increase for the NEH American History 
initiative.
  Mr. Chairman, this bill must take care of our huge responsibilities 
for

[[Page H6977]]

managing Federal lands. Now, this amendment reduces administrative 
costs, and I would remind my colleagues that over the past 10 years we 
have reduced the number of personnel in departmental management by 40 
percent. I would like to cut overhead further, but this amendment would 
damage the government's ability to properly manage our lands and 
programs.
  This amendment would impair on-the-ground operations for 
environmental protection and Indian programs. It would reduce the 
Department's funding, including hearings and appeals in support for 
Indian trust reform.
  My committee is watching carefully the use of funding for travel and 
other excessive administrative costs, and my colleagues can count on 
our oversight, but this amendment will not help. The bill strikes a 
fair balance between the needs of the arts and humanities programs and 
our responsibility to land management, Indian programs, and industry 
bills. I ask my colleagues to join me in opposition to the amendment.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this much-deserved and 
long-overdue increase for the National Endowment for the Arts and the 
National Endowment for the Humanities.
  For years, Mr. Chairman, we have been told by opponents of government 
funding for the arts that the private sector could easily step in if 
government funds were cut or flat-funded. That may have sounded 
reasonable during the flush economy of the 1990s, but now, with the 
economy mired in recession, we are seeing private sector support drying 
up and nonprofit arts companies withering away.
  Cities and States across the country faced with deep budget deficits 
are being forced to cut their support for the arts as well, and it is 
having real consequences for the arts organizations that rely on these 
funds for their survival. That makes it even more critical that we 
increase the Federal commitment to the arts today.
  Funding for the arts is one of the best investments our government 
makes. In purely economic terms, it generates a return that would make 
any Wall Street investor jealous. For just a fraction of 1 percent of 
the entire Federal budget, the NEA supports a thriving nonprofit arts 
industry which generates more than $134 billion annually, nearly 5 
million full-time jobs, and returns $10.5 billion in Federal taxes each 
year.
  With grants that touch every congressional district in the country, 
the NEA supports educational programs that teach children valuable 
lifelong skills, allows new and innovative art to find an audience, 
helps bring the arts to underserved communities, enables organizations 
to share their exhibitions and performances with the rest of the Nation 
through national tours and, most important, provides crucial seed money 
for organizations to leverage private donations.
  Yet the NEA continues to suffer from the shortsighted decision by 
this Congress to slash its funding back in 1996 after an attempt at its 
outright elimination. The NEA has been forced to do more with far, far 
less; and, despite consistent underfunding, it has been an efficient 
and a productive agency. But we should at least restore the NEA to its 
pre-1996 levels; and we should, in fact, be considering an increase 
over that level, not simply the paltry funding it has had since then. 
Only through increased public support can the arts continue to be as 
vibrant as they are through the Nation.
  The NEH, too, is a vital industry, but without additional funding the 
important work of interpreting and preserving our Nation's heritage 
will go unrealized. The NEH is at the forefront of preserving 
endangered recordings of folk music, jazz and blues; bringing 
Shakespeare to inner-city youth; promoting research into immigrant life 
and culture; and helping disseminate this information into our 
communities through technologies such as the Internet and CD-ROM.
  The arts inspire us, challenge us, spark our creativity. They make us 
think, laugh, and cry. The humanities teach us about ourselves and our 
history and foster cultural understanding. We should be ashamed at the 
tiny investment we make in such important activities.
  Mr. Chairman, this amendment asks only to restore the funding level 
that the House supported last year without any increase for inflation. 
The level that we supported last year, but that was unfortunately 
stripped during the conference. This is the very least we should do 
today. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and to vote 
against any attempts to slash NEA funding that may be made by others.
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, in the past we were upset by the actions of the NEA, 
but that has changed completely to a very positive program, and with 
congressional oversight.
  Last year, the Congressional Arts Caucus sponsored an amendment to 
increase funding of the NEA and the NEH. Even though the amendment was 
bipartisan, it was dropped during conference. This year, the 
Congressional Arts Caucus again wants to stress the importance of the 
arts to our districts and call upon the House to increase the funding 
for the National Endowment for the Arts by $10 million and the National 
Endowment of the Humanities by $5 million.
  According to a 2002 study of 3,000 local arts organizations across 
America, the nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic 
activity. That is for last year. This includes $24.4 billion in tax 
revenue, which covers the costs many times over. Not only do 
governments gain economically from the arts, but almost 5 million 
Americans have full-time jobs in the arts industry.
  In 2002, my congressional district received grants for NEA for both 
the Penland School of Crafts and Lenoir-Rhyne College, contributing 
greatly to the local communities in our lives.
  Both the NEA and NEH have new programs with strong bipartisan support 
that will not only enhance the two agencies but will also bring a new 
understanding of American history and culture. Challenge America, 
sponsored by the NEA, and We the People, sponsored by the NEH, will 
both focus on educational outreach and promoting the best in arts and 
art education that our communities have to offer.
  We owe it to ourselves and to our neighbors to support this 
amendment, and I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the Slaughter-Shays-
Dicks-Leach amendment.
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the 
requisite number of words.
  Mr. Chairman, I join my distinguished colleagues once again in making 
a strong plea for the high value that the arts and humanities bring to 
the quality of our lives. Indeed, we must provide the level of support 
contained in this amendment.
  In San Diego, these funds have made significant contributions to a 
whole range of small and large arts organizations, dance companies, and 
museums, museums like the Museum of Photographic Arts, theater 
companies like the San Diego Repertory Theater, as well as the 
Playwrights Project, which supports budding writers.
  Importantly, many grants have gone to provide outreach to new 
audiences organized by the San Diego Opera Association and the San 
Diego Performing Arts League.
  Two humanity projects in San Diego are giving the opportunity to 
young people to develop their oral history interviewing skills by 
developing a record of some of our recent immigrant groups.
  While we are a city proud of our existing museums, theaters, and 
music and dance organizations, funds from the National Endowment for 
the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities are essential to 
extend the availability of these institutions to our young people. 
Indeed, a review of recent grants reveals that the efforts emanating 
from these resources enable the kinds of experiences that are so 
important for an enlightened citizenry.
  Mr. Chairman, we all join today to say how important these grants are 
to our communities, and each and every one of us I know can point to a 
number of projects, a number of opportunities that have been available 
that would not be there were these grants not part of the NEH and the 
NEA. So, today, I think all of us join in saying, let us do

[[Page H6978]]

what we can. Let us provide the funding that is essential to creating 
the kind of environment and the kind of community that we all believe 
in so dearly today.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, the debate about public funding of the arts is about 
democracy, about the type of society we aspire to be and become. It is 
about opportunity: the opportunity to witness artistic expression and 
to create for oneself.
  America today is a prosperous country. Poignantly, 70 years ago, when 
we became enmeshed in the deepest depression in our history, the 
Federal Government created a jobs program called the Works Project 
Administration. My grandfather headed the WPA in Iowa and, as required 
by statute, hired a Cedar Rapids native by the name of Grant Wood to 
lead Iowa's WPA arts division. Because of the WPA, artists in Iowa and 
across the Nation were given an opportunity to work in their chosen 
fields and to advance their own and society's creative impulse.
  I refer back to the WPA era because when our country dissolved into 
social chaos, the arts brought a perspective of unity and courage. 
Ironically, perhaps, to some, an American solidarity of spirit was 
enhanced by artists who frequently highlighted social programs and who 
just as frequently lampooned institutions of the State, including 
political leaders.
  These are more prosperous times, but just as with the WPA in the 
1930s, government involvement in the arts today is designed to take the 
arts from the grand citadel of the privileged and bring it to the 
public at large. This democratization of the arts ennobles the American 
experience.
  Franklin Roosevelt once noted that, ``The arts cannot thrive except 
when men are free to be themselves and to be in charge of the 
discipline of their own energies and ardors.''

                              {time}  1915

  A corollary to this Rooseveltian precept is self-evident freedom 
itself is constrained if the arts are shackled. Americans need to be 
appreciative, rather than fear, artistic expression. We must understand 
that arts play an increasingly central role, particularly in education. 
Of all the learning disciplines, they most thoroughly tap and expand 
the human imagination. Without hesitation, therefore, we should be 
supportive of the Federal commitment to arts programs.
  Arts expression is an unquantifiable, but priceless, facet of our 
society.
  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the 
requisite number of words.
  (Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this 
amendment.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks-
Leach Amendment to increase funding for the National Endowment for the 
Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These 
endowment programs are vital to supporting the creation, preservation 
and presentation of the arts and humanities in America. In my district 
of Kansas City, Missouri, NEA and NEH grants have brought partnership 
projects such as the Coterie Theater and the Friends of Alvin Ailey's 
AileyCamp that help provide collaborative artist and youth activities 
which have enriched the local economy and educational experiences of 
our children.
  Studies have demonstrated that reading and math scores improve with 
participation in arts education classes. A U.S. Department of Justice 
study found that arts education reduced student delinquency in San 
Antonio by 13 percent and increased the communications skills of 
students in Atlanta by 57 percent. Test Results from the College Board 
have shown that college bound students involved in the arts and 
humanities have higher overall SAT scores than other students.
  There is no excuse for funding for the NEA at a level that is 30 
percent below the 1994 level. Adopting the amendment before us would 
increase funding by $10 million for NEA and $5 million for the NEH. 
This would bring NEA and NEH funding to the level that the House 
approved last year by a vote of 234-192, but was later stripped from 
the bill in conference. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. 
Investment in the arts and humanities has proven to be an invaluable 
contribution to American economy and the future success of our 
children.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I want to applaud our colleagues, the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Slaughter) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. 
Shays), co-chairs of the Arts Caucus, and their staff for their 
leadership on this issue of national importance, and I rise today also 
in strong support of this amendment.
  Congress has the responsibility to provide adequate funding to the 
National Endowment for the Humanities, which is the largest single 
funder of humanities programs in our country; and the National 
Endowment for the Arts, the infrastructure for private nonprofit and 
Federal arts initiatives.
  The current state of the economy has stifled private funding which 
subsidizes many arts and humanities programs nationwide. The economic 
downturn and our budget crisis is crippling arts initiatives in many, 
many States, especially in my home State of California. For example, in 
Oakland, one of the cities in my district, most of the arts education 
programs are facing real extinction. The result is the gradual 
disappearance of arts initiatives for people of all ages, ethnic 
backgrounds, social and economic backgrounds.
  In the vibrant, very diverse Ninth Congressional District of 
California, this strikes a significant blow at the foundation of our 
community.
  It is imperative that we support funding for the NEH, which is at the 
forefront of preservation of our historical and cultural heritage. For 
more than 20 years, the NEH has supported efforts to stabilize 
historical materials such as crumbling books, archives, newspapers, 
sound recordings, films, photographs, and archeological and 
ethnographic objects. These are treasures which will be lost forever.
  Mr. Chairman, I wish you could listen to the stories of my 
constituents in the Bay area. Art and music teachers have been laid 
off. For example, Ms. Bonnie Noble, an art teacher at McClymonds High 
School in Oakland, explained that students tend to take art courses to 
escape the harsh reality of violence which has escalated with the 
downfall of the economy. Already she has difficulty convincing students 
to pursue arts in their postsecondary studies for fear that it will 
distract them from securing a good job in an apparently vicious 
competitive market.
  Mr. Chairman, every year Members of Congress proudly exhibit the art 
work of the winners of the Artistic Discovery Arts Competition from 
their districts in the halls which provide the foundation of the United 
States Capitol. It seems contradictory to cut funding to the programs 
which support creativity in our community. We enjoy the fruits of their 
works and witness the products of this young talent every time we walk 
through the tunnel for a vote when we come over to this Capitol. Can 
you imagine walking through those dreary tunnels with bare walls simply 
because we refused to adequately fund arts and humanities programs and 
there were no teachers left to instruct our students?
  This amendment also provides funding for the NEA, which is an 
investment in the economic growth of communities with grants reaching 
every congressional district in the country. During the last 14 years, 
the NEA has provided funding for over 123 programs in my district 
alone, including the Berkley Symphony Orchestra, the Axis Dance 
Company, and the East Bay Institute for Urban Arts and the Museum of 
Children's Art.
  Clearly, a vote against this amendment, which is endorsed by the 
bipartisan Arts Caucus, is really an action against the vital thread 
which sustains the pulse of American culture. I urge all Members to 
support this amendment.
  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment to increase 
funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National 
Endowment for the Humanities. I support this very modest amendment and 
know increased funding would have a positive impact by bringing arts to 
underserved communities like our innercities and rural areas and by 
encouraging more support for preserving and promoting our cultural 
heritage, something all Americans should want to do.

[[Page H6979]]

  Federal funding helps symphonies, theaters, musical productions, 
ballet, and educational programs. I grew up in an arts family. My mom 
and dad, both performing actors, met in the theater and I know the arts 
make a significant contribution to all of our lives. The arts improve 
the lives of so many people including children, the elderly and those 
on limited budgets who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see 
some very beautiful, spiritual, and enriching performances.
  Federal funding helps enable talented individuals to pursue careers 
in the arts. Besides the obvious cultural benefit, the economic impact 
of the arts is real and impressive. I urge my colleagues to support 
this amendment and increase funding for the NEA and NEH.
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in very strong support of the Slaughter 
amendment. I appreciate the gentlewoman offering this bipartisan 
amendment. One of the highlights for me of the last school year was 
watching my 10-year-old daughter, Jackie, who took flute lessons for 
the first time, excel in a school musical. At this hour as we speak, my 
8-year-old daughter, Josie, is in a rehearsal for her role in community 
theater for ``Man of La Mancha.''
  The arts are an important part of our family, and we are a privileged 
family to have that involvement. But without the NEA and the NEH, there 
are many families in many corners of America who never experience the 
delight of the arts. The NEA and the NEH are about the democratization 
of arts in our country.
  Now, I have heard four arguments against amendments like that of my 
friend, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter). The first is it 
is too expensive to fund the NEA and the NEH. That is incorrect. The 
economic loss of withdrawal of support for the arts would be far 
greater than the modest cost of this amendment. Jobs that are created 
in tourism, in the hospitality industry, and directly through the arts 
themselves generate tax revenues that more than offset the very modest 
costs of this amendment.
  The second argument I have heard against the arts is sometimes the 
NEA or NEH funds a particular work of art that some Members here do not 
like. Let me say for the record, I hope the NEA and NEH always fund 
arts that some politicians find objectionable. That is the nature of 
the artistic process. The power of the NEA and the NEH is its peer-
driven mechanism, where decisions are made by people in the arts in 
consultation with their peers and not through the political process. 
May it always be that way. I commend the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Slaughter) for maintaining that tradition.
  The third argument that I hear is that this is an elitist segment of 
the Federal budget, that by funding the arts we are somehow propagating 
an elitism. The exact opposite is true. There are so many people in 
urban and rural low-income areas around our country who would never get 
the chance to experience the delight of a piece of theater by 
Shakespeare, the grace of a ballet, the innate beauty of a painting or 
sculpture were it not for the extension of the arts that was provided 
by NEA and NEH. In my district at Camden, New Jersey, at the Leap 
Charter School this summer there is a program in the arts in Greek 
mythology and Greek drama for children, most of whom come from the very 
lowest echelon on the economic ladder. But they are experiencing the 
arts in a positive and creative way for the very first time.
  Finally, we hear the argument that the amount of money is so modest 
that it really does not do arts organizations much good and that 
because there is so much money flowing into the coffers of arts 
organizations, they do not really need the money. Mr. Chairman, anybody 
who makes that argument has never been involved in a nonprofit arts 
organization. They have never known that that extra $10,000 or that 
extra $15,000 is make or break. It is the seed money that lets the 
organization get started so it can generate ticket revenues, so it can 
generate corporate and charitable contributions. It is the seed money 
that gives rise to the possibility of all the other revenues.
  In a country that spends over $2 trillion for its governance, this is 
frankly an embarrassingly modest commitment to the arts and humanities. 
It is wise. It is just, and it is one that should enjoy the bipartisan 
support of this House. I urge the adoption of the amendment.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite 
number of words.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of increased funding for the National 
Endowment of Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I 
represent a district that is rich in diversity, rich in pluralism, rich 
in people from different walks of life, different backgrounds. The 
grant provided from the NEA and NEH provides opportunities for people 
to better understand each other, to know what is going on with other 
people, to know what is in their thoughts, minds and ideas. We are not 
really talking about funding a program; we are talking about funding a 
way of life, to help keep America the diverse, understanding, 
pluralistic Nation that it is and to know what is happening in all 
parts of our communities and with people from all walks of life.
  As the country becomes more diverse and more pluralistic, it is 
absolutely essential that we find ways to better acquaint each other 
with cultural contributions, mores and folkways of different people 
within our society. Although we recognize the economic plight of our 
Nation, we know that inordinate resources must be devoted to anti-
terrorism and homeland security measures, but we also know that 
education and the transference of understanding are necessary to 
maintain and continue growth in our democracy.
  Mr. Chairman, the need for understanding is so great that we do not 
only pay attention to programs but we also have to keep the American 
Dream alive and the thoughts and ideas continuously moving. We must 
keep music, art, culture, and hope ever-present in our lives.
  The Illinois Humanities Council and others like them throughout the 
Nation do an outstanding job of dividing and allocating these 
resources. They spread them around. And we get great mileage from the 
meager resources that we expend. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I would urge 
my colleagues to vote in favor of increased funding for this great 
program that allows our Nation to flourish within many cultures. Again, 
it is not a program. It is keeping the doors of communication open and 
crossfertilizing different ways of life. It is important. I would urge 
its passage.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the gentlewoman from New York's 
(Ms. Slaughter) and the gentleman from Connecticut's (Mr. Shays) NEA 
amendment. Once again, the House of Representatives is considering an 
interior appropriations bill that does not include such funding for the 
National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the 
Humanities.
  Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts was cut drastically 
in 1995 by more than 40 percent, and it has never returned to adequate 
levels. This year the NEA and the NEH need our support more than ever 
before. Private funding for the arts and the humanities has diminished 
with the economic downturn, leaving valuable programs in jeopardy. We 
know that the funding we invest in the NEA and the NEH provide a huge 
economic return on our Federal investment both in dollars and in jobs.
  The nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic 
activity every year. It creates more than 4 million jobs and $10.5 
billion in Federal tax revenue. Let me say that again: $10.5 billion in 
Federal tax revenues. However, monetary reasons are not the only 
argument for increasing NEA and NEH funding. In a recent study by the 
Arts Education Partnership, a direct correlation was found between art 
education, cognitive capacity, and the motivation to learn.

                              {time}  1930

  Participation in the arts and humanities can also be a source of 
pride and positive self-esteem. I have been a witness to this during my 
district's congressional art competition. Students of all ages were 
present and proudly displayed the objects of their hard work.

[[Page H6980]]

These young people gained more than praise. They gained self-respect, a 
feeling they will carry in all of their endeavors.
  In addition, NEA programs such as Challenge America are using art as 
a means to bring communities together. Along with the United States 
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Guild of 
Community Schools, Challenge America has started a program that offers 
arts instruction to children living in public housing.
  When we deprive the NEA and NEH of the funds it needs, we deprive 
this entire Nation of an active cultural community. We live in the 
richest nation in the world, Mr. Chairman. We must not be the most 
culturally impoverished.
  The arts teach us to think. They encourage us to feel, to see in a 
new way and to speak. They help us to grow.
  The Slaughter-Shays amendment to increase funds for the National 
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities is 
a very small investment. It is an investment with a return as vast as 
the imagination.
  I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, I strongly support this bipartisan amendment to add the 
much-needed funds to the National Endowment for the Arts and the 
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our funding of the arts and 
humanities in the United States is meager indeed. It could be much 
greater. It should be much greater, but I would settle for at least the 
increase in the gentlewoman from New York's (Ms. Slaughter) amendment.
  The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for 
the Humanities play crucial roles in American cultural life. We have 
all heard over and over again of the benefits they bring to individuals 
and communities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEH.
  The funding of these institutions provide help to many organizations 
beyond those that directly receive the NEA and NEH grants. As a former 
teacher, I can tell my colleagues that arts education helps children be 
better students and helps them learn critical thinking skills. This is 
a long overdue and a modest funding increase to build programs that use 
the strength of the arts and our Nation's cultural life to enhance 
communities in every State and every county around America.
  The arts and humanities are important for our growth and our well-
being. The arts and humanities are among the best investments that we 
as a society can make. They help our children learn. They give the 
elderly sustenance. They power economic development in regions that are 
down and out. They tie our diverse society and country together.
  The arts represent the future. The arts challenge us. The arts wake 
us up. The arts help us learn who we are as a society and as 
individuals.
  Will the projects that would be sponsored by this increase in funding 
help defend our country? Probably not, but they will make our country 
more worth defending.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words.
  Mr. Chairman, today it is my pleasure to join with my colleagues in 
strong support of this critical amendment to increase funding for the 
National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the 
Humanities; and I thank my colleagues, the gentlewoman from New York 
(Ms. Slaughter), the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays), the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. 
Leach), for their leadership on this amendment to the Interior 
appropriations bill.
  The arts are our cultural language. They bring our communities 
together. They serve to define who we are as a people, as a society, 
and they help us to link with other communities around the world our 
cultural heritages and our vast resources of our diversity.
  Both the NEA and the NEH broaden public access to the arts and the 
humanities for all Americans. They improve the quality of our lives, 
those of ourselves and our children and our families.
  I have spent a good deal of my career in our public schools. I have 
seen firsthand the positive impacts that arts have in our children's 
education. The arts teach our children rhythm, design, creativity and 
critical thinking skills. The arts have also been shown to deter 
delinquent behavior of at-risk youth, to help dramatically improve the 
academic performance, truancy rates and other critical skills, crucial 
skills, among our young people.
  Today's economy demands a workforce that can think and work 
innovatively. Arts education provides a crucial part of those skills, 
skills that are not learned in academics of other kinds, in college, 
but in the child's elementary school class trip to the museum, art 
projects, experience with musical instruments and all of the vast array 
of art opportunities.
  In my district on the central coast of California, students have been 
exposed to the virtues of music, art, poetry and dance as a result of 
NEA and NEH support through a grant, for example, to Art Resources 
Transfer in New York. The Distribution to Underserved Communities 
program places books on art and culture into public schools and 
libraries free of charge. To help rebuild collections diminished from 
budget cuts, local librarians choose from a long list of available 
books, videos and interactive materials. The Laguna Middle School 
Library in San Luis Obispo receives materials from this program, and 
they are grateful for them.
  A grant to the University of California at Santa Barbara supports a 
partnership project of artist-led activities that provides positive 
alternatives for youth. I have seen our young college students interact 
with our elementary students in Santa Barbara, and it is a wonderful 
sight to behold.
  Through a partnership with the American Architectural Foundation in 
Washington, D.C., the Mayor's Institute on City Design hosts a series 
of symposiums attended by mayors, urban designers and developers. The 
Institute is designed to provide mayors with new perspectives on 
creative solutions to design issues in their communities. The mayor, 
Marty Blum of Santa Barbara, participates in this program.
  Finally, through a grant to California-based L.A. Theatre Works, 
audio plays that serve the visually impaired are distributed to 
libraries throughout the country. L.A. Theatre Works records in front 
of live studio audiences and features classic and contemporary works, 
for example, Arthur Miller's The Crucible and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez. 
L.A. Theatre Works distributes these audio recordings to the Buena High 
School in Ventura, California.
  These examples illustrate to me and to my constituents the value of 
the dollars we appropriate here that are multiplied as they are 
extended into partnerships throughout our country. I urge my colleagues 
to vote for our children, to support the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks-Leach 
amendment to strengthen both the NEA and the NEH.
  I will include a document about the arts programs in my district at 
this point in the Record.

                       Congressional District 22

       A partnership grant to the California Arts Council in 
     Sacramento supports statewide programming in arts education, 
     cultural development, artistic preservation, increased access 
     to the arts in underserved areas, and funding for artists and 
     arts organizations throughout the state.


                               new cuyama

       Through a grant to Art Resources Transfer in New York, the 
     Distribution to Underserved Communities program places books 
     on art and culture into public and school libraries free of 
     charge. To help rebuild collections diminished from budget 
     cuts, local librarians choose from a long list of available 
     books, videos and interactive materials. The Cuyama Valley 
     High School Library in New Cuyama receives materials from 
     this program.


                            san luis obispo

       Through a grant to the Group I Acting Company in New York 
     City, a touring production of Mark Twain's comedy Pudd'nhead 
     Wilson is performed at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis 
     Obispo.
       In partnership with regional arts organizations, the NEA 
     Regional Touring Program (RTP) support high-quality 
     performances and related educational activities in 
     communities across the country. As part of this program, 
     Elizabeth Streb and Company perform contemporary dance at 
     California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
       Through a grant to Art Resources Transfer in New York, the 
     Distribution to Underserved Communities program places books 
     on art and culture into public and school libraries free of 
     charge. To help rebuild collections diminished from budget 
     cuts, local librarians choose from a long list of available

[[Page H6981]]

     books, videos and interactive materials. The Laguna Middle 
     School Library in San Luis Obispo receives materials from 
     this program.


                             santa barbara

       A grant to the University of California at Santa Barbara 
     supports the post-production phase of Mary Anthony: A Life in 
     Modern Dance.
       A grant to the University of California at Santa Barbara 
     supports a partnership project of artist-led activities that 
     provides positive alternatives for youth.
       Through a grant to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at 
     Cornell University, the touring exhibition Byrdcliffe: An 
     American Arts and Crafts Colony celebrates the centennial of 
     Byrdcliffe, a colony founded as a center for artists and 
     craftsmen in Woodstock, NY, in 1902. The exhibition travels 
     to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
       Through a grant to New York's Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, 
     the orchestra tours with guest artists Dawn Upshaw and 
     Richard Goode to national venues such as the Arlington 
     Theatre in Santa Barbara.
       Through a grant to the Group I Acting Company in New York 
     City, a touring production of Mark Twain's comedy Pudd'nhead 
     Wilson is performed at Campbell Hall at the University of 
     California in Santa Barbara.
       Through a grant to California-based L.A. Theatre Works, 
     audio plays that serve the visually impaired are distributed 
     to libraries throughout the country. L.A. Theatre Works 
     records in front of live studio audiences and features 
     classic and contemporary works (e.g., Arthur Miller's The 
     Crucible and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez). L.A. Theatre Works 
     distributes these audio recordings to the Eastside Branch 
     Library in Santa Barbara.
       In partnership with regional arts organizations, the NEA 
     Regional Touring Program (RTP) supports high-quality 
     performances and related educational activities in 
     communities across the country. As part of this program, 
     Anoushka Shankar performs Indian sitar music at University of 
     California in Santa Barbara.
       Through a grant to the New England Foundation for the Arts 
     in Boston, the National Dance Project supports touring 
     performances of contemporary dance. As part of this project, 
     the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the Orion 
     String Quartet perform at University of California in Santa 
     Barbara.
       Through a grant to New York's Meet the Composer for its 
     Commissioning Music/USA program, composer Miles Green and 
     choreographer Elizabeth Streb present their new work Ripped 
     at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
       Through a grant to Ballet Hispanico of New York, the 
     company travels on a nationwide tour. Known as the foremost 
     dance interpreter of Latino culture in the United States, 
     Ballet Hispanico's innovative repertory blends ballet and 
     ethnic dance forms into a spirited image of contemporary 
     Hispanic-American culture. The company's tour includes 
     performances at the University of California in Santa 
     Barbara.
       Through a grant to L.A. Freewaves in Los Angeles, the 
     experimental media arts festival Appropriate/Appropriated 
     showcases artists working in the medium of film, video, web 
     sites, and multimedia installations. Films screen for the 
     general public in galleries, museums and other venues across 
     Southern California, including the Contemporary Arts Forum in 
     Santa Barbara.
       Through a partnership with the American Architectural 
     Foundation in Washington, D.C., the Mayor's Institute on City 
     Design hosts a series of symposiums attended by mayors, urban 
     designers, and developers. The Institute is designed to 
     provide mayors with new perspectives on creative solutions to 
     design issues in their communities. Marty Blum, Mayor of 
     Santa Barbara, participates in this program.

                       Congressional District 23

       A partnership grant to the California Arts Council in 
     Sacramento supports statewide programming in arts education, 
     cultural development, artistic preservation, increased access 
     to the arts in underserved areas, and funding for artists and 
     arts organizations throughout the state.


                               Camarillo

       Through a grant to California-based L.A. Theatre Works, 
     audio plays that serve the visually impaired are distributed 
     to libraries throughout the country. L.A. Theatre Works 
     records in front of live studio audiences and features 
     classic and contemporary works (e.g., Arthur Miller's The 
     Crucible and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez). L.A. Theatre Works 
     distributes these audio recordings to the Frontier High 
     School in Camarillo.
       Through a grant to Ririe-Woodbury Dance in Salt Lake City, 
     the company offers creative movement classes, performance 
     demonstrations and teacher workshops at Camarillo High 
     School.
       In partnership with regional arts organizations, the NEA 
     Regional Touring Program (RTP) supports high-quality 
     performances and related educational activities in 
     communities across the country. In Camarillo, the Ventura 
     County Superintendent of Schools presents the Footworks 
     Percussive Dance Company and the Ririe-Woodbury Dance 
     Company.


                                coalinga

       Through a grant to Art Resources Transfer in New York, the 
     Distribution to Underserved Communities program places books 
     on art and culture into public and school libraries free of 
     charge. To help rebuild collections diminished from budget 
     cuts, local librarians choose from a long list of available 
     books, videos and interactive materials. The Coalinga 
     District Library receives materials from this program.


                                 malibu

       Through a grant to Inside Out Community Arts in Venice, the 
     School Project program is an after-school theater-based arts 
     program serving middle and high school students. Students 
     participating in the program attend a camping/rehearsal 
     retreat at Grindling Hilltop Camp in Malibu.


                                  ojai

       A grant to the Ojai Festival supports the 2002 Ojai Music 
     Festival and the theme Last Thoughts: Beethoven, Shostakovich 
     and Others.
       In partnership with regional arts organizations, the NEA 
     Regional Touring Program (RTP) supports high-quality 
     performances and related educational activities in 
     communities across the country. In Ojai, Performances To Grow 
     On presents the Princely Players, who sing and recite poetry 
     from the earliest sources of African-American music in this 
     country to the civil war and the civil rights movement.


                              simi valley

       Through a grant to Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, 
     the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition 
     and Festival distributes, free of charge, specially arranged 
     compositions of Duke Ellington's music and related 
     educational materials to schools throughout the country, 
     including Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley.
       Through a grant to California-based L.A. Theatre Works, 
     audio plays that serve the visually impaired are distributed 
     to libraries throughout the country. L.A. Theatre Works 
     records in front of live studio audiences and features 
     classic and contemporary works (e.g., Arthur Miller's The 
     Crucible and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez). L.A. Theatre Works 
     distributes these audio recordings to the Santa Susana High 
     School in Simi Valley.


                                ventura

       Through a grant to California-based L.A. Theatre Works, 
     audio plays that serve the visually impaired are distributed 
     to libraries throughout the country. L.A. Theatre Works 
     records in front of live studio audiences and features 
     classic and contemporary works (e.g., Arthur Miller's The 
     Crucible and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez). L.A. Theatre Works 
     distributes these audio recordings to the Buena High School 
     in Ventura.
       Through a grant to Art Resources Transfer in New York, the 
     Distribution to Underserved Communities program places books 
     on art and culture into public and school libraries free of 
     charge. To help rebuild collections diminished from budget 
     cuts, local librarians choose from a long list of available 
     books, videos and interactive materials. The Ventura County 
     Library receives materials from this program.

  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of 
words, and I rise in support of the Slaughter amendment and am proud to 
be a cosponsor of this amendment.
  We have offered this amendment successfully over the last 4 years, 
and I just want to say to my colleagues that I was on this committee 
when we were funding the arts and humanities at a much more robust 
level, and I agree, it is amazing that the endowments do as well as 
they do with the reduced funding that Congress has given them.
  This modest amendment, in my judgment, will do a great deal with the 
Challenge America program and at the Endowment for Humanities. In fact, 
the President asked for more money in humanities than we are giving him 
this year. So I think this is a very modest amendment.
  I can tell from my own State of Washington the appreciation of the 
arts organizations for the grants that they get from the National 
Endowment for the Arts, the universities, the people, the professors, 
teachers, all those who apply to the National Endowment for the 
Humanities, who also does an outstanding job, but at a time when our 
country needs to support job creation, the charts that were shown 
earlier, the number of people that are employed by the nonprofits that 
work in the arts is very substantial.
  This is an important part of our economy. This is not just in New 
York or Chicago or San Francisco. This is also in many of the smaller 
communities like my hometown of Bremerton, Washington. The Admiral 
Theater, they are having a group come in from Missoula, Montana.
  Arts education was mentioned. I can remember Jane Alexander taking me 
to Garfield High School in Seattle to see a whole group of African 
American youth working in an arts program. Dale Chihuly with glass in 
Tacoma, his hometown, one of the most prolific glass artists in the 
world.
  I think this is such a small part of the budget but such an important 
part,

[[Page H6982]]

and I am so pleased that so many of my colleagues stayed this evening 
after the last vote to express their support. I hope that tomorrow 
morning we will be able to have another victory, and I urge everyone to 
be here early and to help work the body and get the same great vote 
that we had last year when we won by 42 votes, with bipartisan support.
  I urge everyone who is watching this back in their offices to be here 
early to support this amendment tomorrow morning when we will vote on 
it.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of 
the Slaughter Amendment to increase funding to the National Endowment 
for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  NEA is a great investment in the economic growth of communities. The 
nonprofit arts industry alone generates $134 billion annually in 
economic activity and $10.5 billion in federal tax revenue.
  NEA's Challenge America program has strong bipartisan support and has 
helped broaden access to the arts and provide funds to first-time grant 
recipients in small & rural towns. All forms of support for the arts 
and humanities--State and local government, foundation, corporate, and 
individual donations--are down from last year, but needs are greater 
than ever.
  NEA requires state and local arts agencies as well as private 
organizations to provide matching funds, ensuring that dollars continue 
to flow to the arts even during difficult economic times. NEA nurtures 
artistic excellence in every corner of the country, with grants 
reaching every state and every congressional district, including my own 
district, in Houston, Texas.
  Funding for the arts and humanities is more than making pretty 
paintings or sculptures. It is now about national security. I serve on 
the Science Committee and push hard to ensure that America stays on the 
cutting edge in math and science--fields that we usually think of as 
being the bedrock upon which a strong economy are built. We spend much 
time and resources pushing ``back to the basics'' campaigns in our 
educational systems, to improve reading, writing, and arithmetic. But 
perhaps the tragic events of September 11th, and some of the struggles 
we have been grappling with since, indicate that in our quest to 
improve the basics, we have under-emphasized other critical areas of 
intellectual and spiritual growth.

  It seems that many of the challenges we are facing overseas are 
exacerbated by the fact that we, as a nation, tend to be ignorant of 
other cultures, languages, and religions. In our haste to drive our 
children and young adults toward technology and mechanical work, we 
have neglected the importance of helping them understand people. 
Perhaps, this has contributed to the distance between us and our 
allies, and perhaps it has increased the hatred felt for us by our 
enemies.
  In the fight against terrorism, it is important that we truly 
understand the motivations of our enemies, and the cultural needs of 
our friends. In the aftermath of 9/11, we found that we have a shortage 
of Americans who speak Arabic, and various dialects, or who could speak 
persuasively to Afghanis. These things must change.
  The NEA and NEH are two of many organizations that raise our cultural 
competence. I serve on the Select Committee on Homeland Security, and 
in the scheme of our anti-terrorist efforts, it is an inexpensive part. 
But it is a critical part. Adding $15 million to budgets of the NEA and 
NEH is a small but important step in the right direction.
  The next generation of Americans needs to be culturally aware. They 
need to understand the history, art, culture, literature, sociology, 
archaeology--all of the cultural components that make people what they 
are and that drive people to do the things they do. As the President 
has said, this is going to be a different kind of battle, and it will 
take a long time to win it.
  The NEA should be part of that long-term strategy. It would be 
difficult to overspend on this enriching program.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the amendment 
offered by my friend from New York and strongly urge it's adoption.
  Mr. Chairman, throughout the course of history, the greatest 
civilizations are remembered for their contributions to the arts and 
humanities. Indeed, public commitment to the arts and humanities, along 
with dedication to free government, could be described as the 
benchmarks of a great society. As Americans we should be collectively 
committed to the documentation of our history and our accomplishments.
  The two greatest civilizations of the ancient world, the Greek and 
Roman Empires, are remembered as much for their dedications to their 
arts as they are with the creation of the democratic and republican 
forms of government. The architecture of these civilizations inspired 
our own Capitol building. The theater of Greece and the mosaics of Rome 
are timeless and engraved in history alongside the triumphs of 
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Every child learns the 
Renaissance and the Reformation were watershed events of European 
history that revolutionized the Western world. The lesson children 
learn is that religious and political freedom go hand in hand with 
greater artistic and rhetorical expression.
  In America, our contributions to democracy and free society 
throughout the world are unquestionable and unparalleled. But centuries 
from now the people of the world should look back with equal admiration 
to our commitment to the arts. But will they?

  We need not support the arts merely to support history and posterity; 
the arts also have a vital impact on our economy. In my home county of 
Westchester, New York, the arts support over two thousand jobs and 
generate over $11 million in revenue for the state and local 
government. In Fiscal Year 2000, the arts had a total economic impact 
of over $92 million in Westchester alone. Nationwide, the figures are 
even more impressive. The arts are a $134 billion industry sustaining 
nearly 5 million jobs. While the federal government spends only about 
$250 million on NEA and NEH annually, it collects over $10 billion in 
tax revenue related to the arts industry, a ratio of 40 to one.
  NEA and NEH dollars are crucial to the arts community, helping them 
leverage more state, local, and private funds. Clearly, the numbers 
show that investment in the arts is critical not only to our national 
identify, but also vital to our national economy.
  Mr. Chairman, our place in history demands that we act decisively, 
and commit ourselves to our national heritage and culture. I urge my 
colleagues to support the $15 million increase for NEA and NEH, to 
support creativity and expression, to support our economy, and to 
support the place of our American civilization within the pages of 
history, a place our nation so richly deserves.
  Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Slaughter-
Shays-Dicks-Leach Amendment to increase funding for the National 
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 
The arts and humanities are important both socially and economically to 
our nation as a whole.
  Studies have shown students benefit from exposure to both the arts 
and humanities. I have witnessed firsthand how rewarding arts and 
humanities programs can be to our nations' youth. For example, the 
Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education, which is partially funded 
by grants from the NEA, provides workshops and programs that encourage 
teachers to enrich classroom education for their students by utilizing 
the arts. They provide programs for students in dance, art, music, 
theater, and other skills essential to a well-rounded education. 
Because of funding by the NEA, the Delaware Institute for the Arts and 
other Delaware programs help give students lifetime skills of cultural 
appreciation, communication, critical thinking, and teamwork.
  While funding for the NEA encourages Arts education, part of the 
funds reserved for the NEH will support the important education 
initiative, We the People. We live in a country with a rich and 
rewarding history; a country where diversity helps create a uniquely 
American experience. It is vital that Americans understand our history 
in order to become more informed and civically minded citizens. 
Programs like the We the People initiative hope to do just that.
  It is important for us to remember, the collective benefits gained by 
not only our districts but also by the nation as a whole and that is 
why I rise today in strong support of increased funding for the NEA and 
the NEH.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Slaughter-
Dicks amendment to provide increased funding for the National Endowment 
for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These 
agencies are charged with bringing the history, the beauty, the 
creative genius of our culture to the lives of all Americans--young and 
old, rich and poor, urban and rural. These agencies make sure that the 
vast wealth that is our national heritage is accessible to all 
Americans, and that is a goal worthy of our support.
  Many years ago, I chaired the Greater New Haven Arts Council in 
Connecticut. I know first hand that the arts enrich lives, and they 
also contribute to the economic growth of the community.
  It is important to note that our small federal contribution to these 
agencies is only a tiny percentage of the overall public-private 
investment that flows into the non-profit arts every year. But these 
are the most important dollars--the ones that leverage billions of 
dollars in state, local and private funding and fuel what is a vital 
non-profit arts industry. This industry creates jobs, increases travel 
and tourism, and generates billions of dollars in economic activity 
every year. That means nearly

[[Page H6983]]

5 million jobs nationally and more than $24 billion in revenues, more 
than half of which goes to states and localities. In my state, more 
than 30,000 Connecticut jobs are connected to the non-profit arts.
  In addition, the NEA is an important partner in bringing innovative 
arts education programs to more American students. Arts education is 
critical in planting seeds of arts appreciation and in cultivating the 
talent that may have yet to be discovered in these young minds. The 
Endowment, in partnership with state arts agencies, provides millions 
of dollars in annual support for kindergarten through 12th grade arts 
education projects in communities across the country. It also funds 
professional development programs for arts specialists, classroom 
teachers, and artists.

  Study after study has shown that the arts have real value in 
restoring civility to our society and providing our children and 
communities real alternatives to substance abuse and delinquency. A 
study published in Business Week 3 years ago cited strong business 
support for government funding for the arts using empirical data that 
demonstrated students who participate in arts programs gain self-
esteem, learn to cooperate as a team--they show an improved ability to 
finish tasks, and a more positive attitude toward school. Business 
understands the value of these programs.
  We know that the arts build our economy, enrich our culture, and feed 
the minds of adults and children alike. The NEA and NEH need this 
increase to fulfill their missions, and it is time we gave them this 
support. Vote for this amendment. Preserve our heritage and make it 
accessible to all.
  Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Chairman, as a supporter of the arts and the 
humanities, I am pleased to support this amendment. During my time in 
Congress I have had the opportunity to meet with numerous constituents 
regarding the need for continued arts funding.
   In this time of daunting budget deficits, we must spend our 
collective resources as wisely as possible. Funding for the arts is 
sometimes construed as a giveaway on the part of the federal 
government, which does not result in tangible benefits to the nation. I 
dispute that claim--in my district in Utah, we are fortunate to have a 
thriving arts and humanities community that generates revenues for the 
local economy, teaches our children about American cultural traditions, 
and builds civic spirit through public events.
  I believed that our nation should invest in programs that generate 
benefits such as these and I hope my colleagues will join me in voting 
to restore funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the 
National Endowment for Humanities to last year's levels.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to voice my strong support 
for the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks amendment. This important amendment 
increases funding for the National Endowment for the Arts by $10 
million and the National Endowment for the Humanities by $5 million. It 
will continue the process of restoring federal arts funding to 
appropriate levels by simply providing the funding that the House 
passed last year.
  This money will allow millions of young people and children to be 
exposed to the arts. In addition to the enjoyment and life-enrichment 
that each participant in the arts experiences, the exposure of children 
to the arts has been shown to improve reading and language development, 
mathematics skills, fundamental cognitive skills, motivation to learn, 
and social behavior. It is crucial that we provide enough funds for our 
children to have the best chance to succeed.
  Sufficient funding for the arts is particularly important in these 
years following the tragic events of September 11. In my city of New 
York and across the nation, the arts have provided important outlets 
for the host of emotions brought on by the traumatic experiences and 
tremendous losses that we have all experienced.
  But the arts not only help us to heal as individuals, they contribute 
to the economic health of our nation. The non-profit art industry 
generates $134 billion in economic activity each year, providing nearly 
5 million full-time equivalent jobs and over $24 billion in federal, 
state, and local tax revenue.
  We can improve our economy, aid in the healing of our nation, help 
our children, and create and enduring cultural legacy--all by passing 
this necessary amendment.
  I support the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks amendment, and I urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter).
  The question was taken, and the Chairman announced that the ayes 
appeared to have it.
  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings 
on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Slaughter) will be postponed.
  Are there further amendments to that portion of the bill which is 
open for amendment?
  If not, the Clerk will read.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                        wildland fire management

       For necessary expenses for forest fire presuppression 
     activities on National Forest System lands, for emergency 
     fire suppression on or adjacent to such lands or other lands 
     under fire protection agreement, hazardous fuels reduction on 
     or adjacent to such lands, and for emergency rehabilitation 
     of burned-over National Forest System lands and water, 
     $1,624,632,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, 
     That such funds including unobligated balances under this 
     head, are available for repayment of advances from other 
     appropriations accounts previously transferred for such 
     purposes: Provided further, That not less than 50 percent of 
     any unobligated balances remaining (exclusive of amounts for 
     hazardous fuels reduction) at the end of fiscal year 2003 
     shall be transferred, as repayment for past advances that 
     have not been repaid, to the fund established pursuant to 
     section 3 of Public Law 71-319 (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.): 
     Provided further, That notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, $8,000,000 of funds appropriated under this 
     appropriation shall be used for Fire Science Research in 
     support of the Joint Fire Science Program: Provided further, 
     That all authorities for the use of funds, including the use 
     of contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements, available 
     to execute the Forest and Rangeland Research appropriation, 
     are also available in the utilization of funds for Fire 
     Science Research: Provided further, That funds provided shall 
     be available for emergency rehabilitation and restoration, 
     hazardous fuels reduction activities in the urban-wildland 
     interface, support to Federal emergency response, and 
     wildfire suppression activities of the Forest Service: 
     Provided further, That of the funds provided, $246,392,000 is 
     for hazardous fuels reduction activities, $40,000,000 is for 
     rehabilitation and restoration, $22,000,000 is for research 
     activities and to make competitive research grants pursuant 
     to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act, 
     as amended (16 U.S.C. 1641 et seq.), $51,000,000 is for State 
     fire assistance, $8,240,000 is for volunteer fire assistance, 
     $25,000,000 is for forest health activities on State, 
     private, and Federal lands, and $6,000,000 is for economic 
     action programs: Provided further, That amounts in this 
     paragraph may be transferred to the ``State and Private 
     Forestry'', ``National Forest System'', and ``Forest and 
     Rangeland Research'' accounts to fund State fire assistance, 
     volunteer fire assistance, forest health management, economic 
     action programs, forest and rangeland research, vegetation 
     and watershed management, heritage site rehabilitation, and 
     wildlife and fish habitat management and restoration: 
     Provided further, That transfers of any amounts in excess of 
     those authorized in this paragraph, shall require approval of 
     the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations in 
     compliance with reprogramming procedures contained in the 
     House report accompanying this Act: Provided further, That 
     the costs of implementing any cooperative agreement between 
     the Federal Government and any non-Federal entity may be 
     shared, as mutually agreed on by the affected parties: 
     Provided further, That in addition to funds provided for 
     State Fire Assistance programs, and subject to all 
     authorities available to the Forest Service under the State 
     and Private Forestry Appropriations, up to $15,000,000 may be 
     used on adjacent non-Federal lands for the purpose of 
     protecting communities when hazard reduction activities are 
     planned on national forest lands that have the potential to 
     place such communities at risk: Provided further, That 
     included in funding for hazardous fuel reduction is 
     $5,000,000 for implementing the Community Forest Restoration 
     Act, Public Law 106-393, title VI, and any portion of such 
     funds shall be available for use on non-Federal lands in 
     accordance with authorities available to the Forest Service 
     under the State and Private Forestry Appropriation: Provided 
     further, That in using the funds provided in this Act for 
     hazardous fuels reduction activities, the Secretary of 
     Agriculture may conduct fuel reduction treatments on Federal 
     lands using all contracting and hiring authorities available 
     to the Secretary applicable to hazardous fuel reduction 
     activities under the wildland fire management accounts: 
     Provided further, That notwithstanding Federal Government 
     procurement and contracting laws, the Secretaries may conduct 
     fuel reduction treatments, rehabilitation and restoration, 
     and other activities authorized under this heading on and 
     adjacent to Federal lands using grants and cooperative 
     agreements: Provided further, That notwithstanding Federal 
     Government procurement and contracting laws, in order to 
     provide employment and training opportunities to people in 
     rural communities, the Secretaries may award contracts, 
     including contracts for monitoring activities, to local 
     private, non-profit, or cooperative entities; Youth 
     Conservation Corps crews or related partnerships, with State, 
     local and non-profit youth groups; small or micro-businesses; 
     or other entities that will hire or train a significant 
     percentage of local people to complete such contracts: 
     Provided further, That the authorities described above 
     relating to contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements are 
     available until all funds

[[Page H6984]]

     provided in this title for hazardous fuels reduction 
     activities in the urban wildland interface are obligated: 
     Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior and the 
     Secretary of Agriculture may authorize the transfer of funds 
     appropriated for wildland fire management, in an aggregate 
     amount not to exceed $12,000,000, between the Departments 
     when such transfers would facilitate and expedite jointly 
     funded wildland fire management programs and projects.

                  capital improvement and maintenance

       For necessary expenses of the Forest Service, not otherwise 
     provided for, $560,473,000, to remain available until 
     expended for construction, reconstruction, maintenance and 
     acquisition of buildings and other facilities, and for 
     construction, reconstruction, repair, decommissioning, and 
     maintenance of forest roads and trails by the Forest Service 
     as authorized by 16 U.S.C. 532-538 and 23 U.S.C. 101 and 205: 
     Provided, That up to $15,000,000 of the funds provided herein 
     for road maintenance shall be available for the 
     decommissioning of roads, including unauthorized roads not 
     part of the transportation system, which are no longer 
     needed: Provided further, That no funds shall be expended to 
     decommission any system road until notice and an opportunity 
     for public comment has been provided on each decommissioning 
     project.

                            land acquisition

       For expenses necessary to carry out the provisions of the 
     Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended (16 
     U.S.C. 460l-4 through 11), including administrative expenses, 
     and for acquisition of land or waters, or interest therein, 
     in accordance with statutory authority applicable to the 
     Forest Service, $29,288,000, to be derived from the Land and 
     Water Conservation Fund and to remain available until 
     expended.

         acquisition of lands for national forests special acts

       For acquisition of lands within the exterior boundaries of 
     the Cache, Uinta, and Wasatch National Forests, Utah; the 
     Toiyabe National Forest, Nevada; and the Angeles, San 
     Bernardino, Sequoia, and Cleveland National Forests, 
     California, as authorized by law, $1,069,000, to be derived 
     from forest receipts.

            acquisition of lands to complete land exchanges

       For acquisition of lands, such sums, to be derived from 
     funds deposited by State, county, or municipal governments, 
     public school districts, or other public school authorities, 
     and for authorized expenditures from funds deposited by non-
     federal parties pursuant to Land Sale and Exchange Acts, 
     pursuant to the Act of December 4, 1967, as amended (16 
     U.S.C. 484a), to remain available until expended.

                         range betterment fund

       For necessary expenses of range rehabilitation, protection, 
     and improvement, 50 percent of all moneys received during the 
     prior fiscal year, as fees for grazing domestic livestock on 
     lands in National Forests in the 16 Western States, pursuant 
     to section 401(b)(1) of Public Law 94-579, as amended, to 
     remain available until expended, of which not to exceed 6 
     percent shall be available for administrative expenses 
     associated with on-the-ground range rehabilitation, 
     protection, and improvements.

    gifts, donations and bequests for forest and rangeland research

       For expenses authorized by 16 U.S.C. 1643(b), $92,000, to 
     remain available until expended, to be derived from the fund 
     established pursuant to the above Act.

        management of national forest lands for subsistence uses

       For necessary expenses of the Forest Service to manage 
     federal lands in Alaska for subsistence uses under title VIII 
     of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 
     (Public Law 96-487), $5,535,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

               administrative provisions, forest service

       Appropriations to the Forest Service for the current fiscal 
     year shall be available for: (1) purchase of not to exceed 
     124 passenger motor vehicles of which 21 will be used 
     primarily for law enforcement purposes and of which 124 shall 
     be for replacement; acquisition of 25 passenger motor 
     vehicles from excess sources, and hire of such vehicles; 
     operation and maintenance of aircraft, the purchase of not to 
     exceed seven for replacement only, and acquisition of 
     sufficient aircraft from excess sources to maintain the 
     operable fleet at 195 aircraft for use in Forest Service 
     wildland fire programs and other Forest Service programs; 
     notwithstanding other provisions of law, existing aircraft 
     being replaced may be sold, with proceeds derived or trade-in 
     value used to offset the purchase price for the replacement 
     aircraft; (2) services pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 2225, and not to 
     exceed $100,000 for employment under 5 U.S.C. 3109; (3) 
     purchase, erection, and alteration of buildings and other 
     public improvements (7 U.S.C. 2250); (4) acquisition of land, 
     waters, and interests therein pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 428a; (5) 
     for expenses pursuant to the Volunteers in the National 
     Forest Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 558a, 558d, and 558a note); (6) 
     the cost of uniforms as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5901-5902; and 
     (7) for debt collection contracts in accordance with 31 
     U.S.C. 3718(c).
       None of the funds made available under this Act shall be 
     obligated or expended to abolish any region, to move or close 
     any regional office for National Forest System administration 
     of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture without the 
     consent of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.
       Any appropriations or funds available to the Forest Service 
     may be transferred to the Wildland Fire Management 
     appropriation for forest firefighting, emergency 
     rehabilitation of burned-over or damaged lands or waters 
     under its jurisdiction, and fire preparedness due to severe 
     burning conditions if and only if all previously appropriated 
     emergency contingent funds under the heading ``Wildland Fire 
     Management'' have been released by the President and 
     apportioned and all funds under the heading ``Wildland Fire 
     Management'' are obligated.
       Funds appropriated to the Forest Service shall be available 
     for assistance to or through the Agency for International 
     Development and the Foreign Agricultural Service in 
     connection with forest and rangeland research, technical 
     information, and assistance in foreign countries, and shall 
     be available to support forestry and related natural resource 
     activities outside the United States and its territories and 
     possessions, including technical assistance, education and 
     training, and cooperation with United States and 
     international organizations.

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee 
do now rise.
  The motion was agreed to.
  Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. 
Burgess) having assumed the chair, Mr. LaTourette, Chairman of the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that 
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2691) 
making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related 
agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other 
purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

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