[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 120 (Thursday, September 4, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H7900-H7922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2004

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 351 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. 2989.

                              {time}  1915


                     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 further consideration of 
the bill (H.R. 2989) making appropriations for the Departments of 
Transportation and Treasury, and independent agencies for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes, with Mr. Dreier 
in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.

                              {time}  1915

  The CHAIRMAN. When the Committee of the Whole rose earlier today, a 
request for a recorded vote on the amendment by the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) had been postponed.
  Pursuant to the order of the House of today, no amendment to the bill 
may be offered except:
  Pro forma amendments by the chairman or ranking minority member of 
the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of 
debate;
  The amendments printed in the Congressional Record and numbered 1, 6, 
11, 14 and 24;
  The amendment printed in the Congressional Record and numbered 2, 
which shall be debatable for 15 minutes;
  The amendment printed in the Congressional Record and numbered 15, 
which shall be debatable for 20 minutes;
  An amendment by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) regarding 
OMB Circular A-76, which shall be debatable for 30 minutes;
  One proper amendment by the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) 
regarding a district court memorandum and order addressing IBM's 
pension plan, which shall be debatable for 1 hour;
  An amendment by the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) regarding the 
Help America Vote Act;
  An amendment by the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) 
regarding OMB Circular A-76, which shall be debatable for 30 minutes;
  One proper amendment by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) 
regarding Cuba travel, which shall be debatable for 1 hour;
  An amendment by the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) regarding 
San Jose light rail;
  An amendment by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) or the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) regarding tax law enforcement, which shall be 
debatable for 1 hour;
  An amendment by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Davis) regarding 
educational exchanges with Cuba;
  An amendment by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) regarding the 
National Railroad Passenger Corporation;
  An amendment by the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) regarding 
locality pay;
  And an amendment by the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) regarding 
essential air service program.
  Each amendment may be offered only by the Member designated, or a 
designee, or the Member who caused it to be printed, or a designee; 
shall be considered as read; shall not be subject to amendment; and 
shall not be subject to a demand for a division of the question. Except 
as specified, each amendment shall be debatable for 10 minutes, equally 
divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. An amendment 
shall be considered to fit the description stated in this request if it 
addresses in whole or in part the object described.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the remainder 
of the bill through page 157, line 2 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 
Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the bill from page 53, line 3, through page 157, line 2 
is as follows:
       Sec. 164. Section 5323(j) of title 49, United States Code, 
     is amended--
       (1) by adding at the end of paragraph (1) the following: 
     ``The term `manufactured goods' as used in this paragraph 
     means each individual item specified in each line item of a 
     procurement. If the individual items to be procured are 
     listed in the bill of materials and specifications rather 
     than a line item, the term `manufactured goods' shall apply 
     to each such item. The definition of `manufactured goods' 
     shall not be applicable to the procurement of rolling stock 
     as set forth in paragraph (2)(C).'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (7) as 
     paragraphs (4) through (8), respectively;
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
       ``(3) When issuing a waiver based upon a public interest 
     determination under paragraph (2)(A), the Secretary shall 
     produce a detailed written justification as to why the waiver 
     is in the public interest. The Secretary shall publish this 
     justification in the Federal Register and provide the public 
     a reasonable period for notice and comment.''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(9) Application of waivers.--The Secretary may grant a 
     waiver under paragraph (2) for a microprocessor, but not for 
     microcomputer equipment. For purposes of this paragraph 
     `microprocessor' means a computer processor on a microchip.
       ``(10) Administrative review.--A party adversely affected 
     by an agency action under this subsection shall have the 
     right to seek review under section 702 of the Administrative 
     Procedure Act, title 5, United States Code.''.
       Sec. 165. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds 
     made available for the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, 
     Colorado, under Public Laws 106-69 and 106-346 shall be made 
     available for the Roaring Fork Valley Bus Rapid Transit 
     project.

             SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

       The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation is hereby 
     authorized to make such expenditures, within the limits of 
     funds and borrowing authority available to the Corporation, 
     and in accord with law, and to make such contracts and 
     commitments without regard to fiscal year limitations as 
     provided by section 104 of the Government Corporation Control 
     Act, as amended, as may be necessary in carrying out the 
     programs set forth in the Corporation's budget for the 
     current fiscal year.

                       Operations and Maintenance


                    (harbor maintenance trust fund)

       For necessary expenses for operations and maintenance of 
     those portions of the Saint

[[Page H7901]]

     Lawrence Seaway operated and maintained by the Saint Lawrence 
     Seaway Development Corporation, $14,700,000, to be derived 
     from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, pursuant to Public 
     Law 99-662.

                        MARITIME ADMINISTRATION

                       Maritime Security Program

       For necessary expenses to maintain and preserve a U.S.-flag 
     merchant fleet to serve the national security needs of the 
     United States, $98,700,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

                        Operations and Training

       For necessary expenses of operations and training 
     activities authorized by law, $105,897,000, of which 
     $22,000,000 shall remain available until September 30, 2004, 
     for salaries and benefits of employees of the United States 
     Merchant Marine Academy; of which $13,000,000 shall remain 
     available until expended for capital improvements at the 
     United States Merchant Marine Academy; of which $9,063,000 
     shall remain available until expended for the State Maritime 
     Schools Schoolship Maintenance and Repair; of which $500,000 
     shall remain available until expended for the evaluation and 
     provision of the fourteen commercially strategic ports; and 
     of which $1,000,000 shall remain available until September 
     30, 2005, for Maritime Security Professional Training in 
     support of Section 109 of the Maritime Transportation 
     Security Act of 2002.

                             Ship Disposal

       For necessary expenses related to the disposal of obsolete 
     vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet of the Maritime 
     Administration, $14,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended.

              General Provisions--Maritime Administration

       Sec. 170. Notwithstanding any other provision of this or 
     any other Act, the Maritime Administration is authorized to 
     furnish utilities and services and make necessary repairs in 
     connection with any lease, contract, or occupancy involving 
     Government property under control of the Maritime 
     Administration, and payments received therefore shall be 
     credited to the appropriation charged with the cost thereof: 
     Provided, That rental payments under any such lease, 
     contract, or occupancy for items other than such utilities, 
     services, or repairs shall be deposited into the Treasury as 
     miscellaneous receipts. No obligations shall be incurred 
     during the current fiscal year from the construction fund 
     established by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, or otherwise, 
     in excess of the appropriations and limitations contained in 
     this Act or in any prior Appropriations Act.
       Sec. 171. Chapter 10 of title I of the Emergency Wartime 
     Supplemental Appropriations Act (Public Law 108-11) is 
     amended by striking ``For the cost of guaranteed loans, as 
     authorized, $25,000,000, to remain available until September 
     30, 2005:'' and inserting ``For the cost of guaranteed loans 
     and associated administrative expenses, as authorized, 
     $25,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2005, of 
     which up to $4,498,000 may be used for associated 
     administrative expenses:''.

              RESEARCH AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS ADMINISTRATION

                     Research and Special Programs

       For expenses necessary to discharge the functions of the 
     Research and Special Programs Administration, $47,018,000, of 
     which $645,000 shall be derived from the Pipeline Safety 
     Fund, and of which $2,437,000 shall remain available until 
     September 30, 2006: Provided, That up to $1,200,000 in fees 
     collected under 49 U.S.C. 5108(g) shall be deposited in the 
     general fund of the Treasury as offsetting receipts: Provided 
     further, That there may be credited to this appropriation, to 
     be available until expended, funds received from States, 
     counties, municipalities, other public authorities, and 
     private sources for expenses incurred for training, for 
     reports publication and dissemination, and for travel 
     expenses incurred in performance of hazardous materials 
     exemptions and approvals functions.

                            Pipeline Safety


                         (pipeline safety fund)

                    (oil spill liability trust fund)

       For expenses necessary to conduct the functions of the 
     pipeline safety program, for grants-in-aid to carry out a 
     pipeline safety program, as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 60107, 
     and to discharge the pipeline program responsibilities of the 
     Oil Pollution Act of 1990, $64,054,000, of which $9,000,000 
     shall be derived from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and 
     shall remain available until September 30, 2006; of which 
     $55,054,000 shall be derived from the Pipeline Safety Fund, 
     of which $21,786,000 shall remain available until September 
     30, 2006.

                     Emergency Preparedness Grants


                     (emergency preparedness fund)

       For necessary expenses to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5127(c), 
     $200,000, to be derived from the Emergency Preparedness Fund, 
     to remain available until September 30, 2006: Provided, That 
     not more than $14,300,000 shall be made available for 
     obligation in fiscal year 2004 from amounts made available by 
     49 U.S.C. 5116(i), 5127(c), and 5127(d): Provided further, 
     That none of the funds made available by 49 U.S.C. 5116(i), 
     5127(c), and 5127(d) shall be made available for obligation 
     by individuals other than the Secretary of Transportation, or 
     his designee.

                      OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General 
     to carry out the provisions of the Inspector General Act of 
     1978, as amended, $55,000,000: Provided, That the Inspector 
     General shall have all necessary authority, in carrying out 
     the duties specified in the Inspector General Act, as amended 
     (5 U.S.C. App. 3) to investigate allegations of fraud, 
     including false statements to the government (18 U.S.C. 
     1001), by any person or entity that is subject to regulation 
     by the Department: Provided further, That the funds made 
     available under this heading shall be used to investigate, 
     pursuant to section 41712 of title 49, United States Code: 
     (1) unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of 
     competition by domestic and foreign air carriers and ticket 
     agents; and (2) the compliance of domestic and foreign air 
     carriers with respect to item (1) of this proviso.

                      SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Surface Transportation Board, 
     including services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, $19,521,000: 
     Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     not to exceed $1,050,000 from fees established by the 
     Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board shall be 
     credited to this appropriation as offsetting collections and 
     used for necessary and authorized expenses under this 
     heading: Provided further, That the sum herein appropriated 
     from the general fund shall be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar 
     basis as such offsetting collections are received during 
     fiscal year 2004, to result in a final appropriation from the 
     general fund estimated at no more than $18,471,000.

                  TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

                          DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES

                         Salaries and Expenses


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses of the Departmental Offices 
     including operation and maintenance of the Treasury Building 
     and Annex; hire of passenger motor vehicles; maintenance, 
     repairs, and improvements of, and purchase of commercial 
     insurance policies for, real properties leased or owned 
     overseas, when necessary for the performance of official 
     business; not to exceed $3,000,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2005 for information technology modernization 
     requirements; not to exceed $150,000 for official reception 
     and representation expenses; not to exceed $258,000 for 
     unforeseen emergencies of a confidential nature, to be 
     allocated and expended under the direction of the Secretary 
     of the Treasury and to be accounted for solely on his 
     certificate, $175,809,000: Provided, That no less than 
     $21,855,000 is for the Office of Foreign Assets Control: 
     Provided further, That of these amounts $2,900,000 is 
     available for grants to State and local law enforcement 
     groups to help fight money laundering: Provided further, That 
     of these amounts, $3,393,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2005, shall be for the Treasury-wide Financial 
     Statement Audit Program, of which such amounts as may be 
     necessary may be transferred to accounts of the Department's 
     offices and bureaus to conduct audits: Provided further, That 
     this transfer authority shall be in addition to any other 
     provided in this Act.

        Department-Wide Systems and Capital Investments Programs


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For development and acquisition of automatic data 
     processing equipment, software, and services for the 
     Department of the Treasury, $36,653,000, to remain available 
     until September 30, 2006: Provided, That these funds shall be 
     transferred to accounts and in amounts as necessary to 
     satisfy the requirements of the Department's offices, 
     bureaus, and other organizations: Provided further, That this 
     transfer authority shall be in addition to any other transfer 
     authority provided in this Act.

                      Office of Inspector General


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General 
     in carrying out the provisions of the Inspector General Act 
     of 1978, as amended, not to exceed $2,000,000 for official 
     travel expenses, including hire of passenger motor vehicles; 
     not to exceed $2,500 for official reception and 
     representation expenses; and not to exceed $100,000 for 
     unforeseen emergencies of a confidential nature, to be 
     allocated and expended under the direction of the Inspector 
     General of the Treasury, $12,792,000.

           Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Treasury Inspector General 
     for Tax Administration in carrying out the Inspector General 
     Act of 1978, as amended, including purchase (not to exceed 
     150 for replacement only for police-type use) and hire of 
     passenger motor vehicles (31 U.S.C. 1343(b)); services 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, at such rates as may be 
     determined by the Inspector General for Tax Administration; 
     not to exceed $6,000,000 for official travel expenses; and 
     not to exceed $500,000 for unforeseen emergencies of a 
     confidential nature, to be allocated and expended under the 
     direction of the Inspector General for Tax Administration, 
     $128,034,000.

[[Page H7902]]

                Air Transportation Stabilization Program

       For necessary expenses to administer the Air Transportation 
     Stabilization Board established by section 102 of the Air 
     Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (Public 
     Law 107-42), $2,538,000, to remain available until expended.

           Treasury Building and Annex Repair and Restoration

       For the repair, alteration, and improvement of the Treasury 
     Building and Annex, $25,000,000, to remain available until 
     September 30, 2006.

                  FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Financial Crimes Enforcement 
     Network, including hire of passenger motor vehicles; travel 
     expenses of non-Federal law enforcement personnel to attend 
     meetings concerned with financial intelligence activities, 
     law enforcement, and financial regulation; not to exceed 
     $14,000 for official reception and representation expenses; 
     and for assistance to Federal law enforcement agencies, with 
     or without reimbursement, $57,571,000, of which not to exceed 
     $4,500,000 shall remain available until September 30, 2006; 
     and of which $8,152,000 shall remain available until 
     September 30, 2005: Provided, That funds appropriated in this 
     account may be used to procure personal services contracts.

                      FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SERVICE

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Financial Management Service, 
     $228,558,000, of which not to exceed $9,220,000 shall remain 
     available until September 30, 2006, for information systems 
     modernization initiatives; and of which not to exceed $2,500 
     shall be available for official reception and representation 
     expenses.

                ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE BUREAU

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of carrying out section 1111 of the 
     Homeland Security Act of 2002, including hire of passenger 
     motor vehicles, $80,000,000; of which not to exceed $6,000 
     for official reception and representation expenses; not to 
     exceed $50,000 for cooperative research and development 
     programs for Laboratory Services; and provision of laboratory 
     assistance to State and local agencies with or without 
     reimbursement.

                           UNITED STATES MINT

               United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund

       Pursuant to section 5136 of title 31, United States Code, 
     the United States Mint is provided funding through the United 
     States Mint Public Enterprise Fund for costs associated with 
     the production of circulating coins, numismatic coins, and 
     protective services, including both operating expenses and 
     capital investments. The aggregate amount of new liabilities 
     and obligations incurred during fiscal year 2004 under such 
     section 5136 for circulating coinage and protective service 
     capital investments of the United States Mint shall not 
     exceed $40,652,000. From amounts in the United States Mint 
     Public Enterprise Fund, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
     pay to the Comptroller General an amount not to exceed 
     $375,000 to reimburse the Comptroller General for the cost of 
     a study to be contracted for by the Comptroller General on 
     the potential and cost-effectiveness of expanded use of pre-
     made ``blanks'' by the U.S. Mint in the production of 
     circulating coins. The amounts reimbursed to the Comptroller 
     General pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited to the 
     appropriation of the General Accounting Office then available 
     and remain available until expended.

                       BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT

                     Administering the Public Debt

       For necessary expenses connected with any public-debt 
     issues of the United States, $178,052,000, of which not to 
     exceed $2,500 shall be available for official reception and 
     representation expenses, and of which not to exceed 
     $2,000,000 shall remain available until expended for systems 
     modernization: Provided, That the sum appropriated herein 
     from the General Fund for fiscal year 2004 shall be reduced 
     by not more than $4,400,000 as definitive security issue fees 
     and Treasury Direct Investor Account Maintenance fees are 
     collected, so as to result in a final fiscal year 2004 
     appropriation from the General Fund estimated at 
     $173,652,000. In addition, $40,000 to be derived from the Oil 
     Spill Liability Trust Fund to reimburse the Bureau for 
     administrative and personnel expenses for financial 
     management of the Fund, as authorized by section 1012 of 
     Public Law 101-380.

                        INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

                 Processing, Assistance, and Management

       For necessary expenses of the Internal Revenue Service for 
     pre-filing taxpayer assistance and education, filing and 
     account services, shared services support, general management 
     and administration; and services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 
     3109, at such rates as may be determined by the Commissioner, 
     $4,037,834,000, of which $4,250,000 shall be for the Tax 
     Counseling for the Elderly Program, of which $8,000,000 shall 
     be available for low-income taxpayer clinic grants, and of 
     which not to exceed $25,000 shall be for official reception 
     and representation expenses.

                          Tax Law Enforcement

       For necessary expenses of the Internal Revenue Service for 
     determining and establishing tax liabilities; providing 
     litigation support; conducting criminal investigation and 
     enforcement activities; securing unfiled tax returns; 
     collecting unpaid accounts; conducting a document matching 
     program; resolving taxpayer problems through prompt 
     identification, referral and settlement; compiling statistics 
     of income and conducting compliance research; funding 
     essential earned income tax credit compliance and error 
     reduction initiatives; purchase (for police-type use, not to 
     exceed 850) and hire of passenger motor vehicles (31 U.S.C. 
     1343(b)); and services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, at 
     such rates as may be determined by the Commissioner, 
     $4,221,408,000, of which not to exceed $1,000,000 shall 
     remain available until September 30, 2006, for research, and 
     of which not to exceed $10,000,000 may be used to reimburse 
     the Social Security Administration for the costs of 
     implementing section 1090 of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 
     (Public Law 105-33).

                          Information Systems

       For necessary expenses of the Internal Revenue Service for 
     information systems and telecommunications support, including 
     developmental information systems and operational information 
     systems; the hire of passenger motor vehicles (31 U.S.C. 
     1343(b)); and services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, at 
     such rates as may be determined by the Commissioner, 
     $1,628,739,000, of which $165,000,000 shall remain available 
     until September 30, 2005.

                     Business Systems Modernization

       For necessary expenses of the Internal Revenue Service, 
     $429,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2006, 
     for the capital asset acquisition of information technology 
     systems, including management and related contractual costs 
     of said acquisitions, including contractual costs associated 
     with operations authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109: Provided, That 
     none of these funds may be obligated until the Internal 
     Revenue Service submits to the Committees on Appropriations, 
     and such Committees approve, a plan for expenditure that: (1) 
     meets the capital planning and investment control review 
     requirements established by the Office of Management and 
     Budget, including Circular A-11 part 3; (2) complies with the 
     Internal Revenue Service's enterprise architecture, including 
     the modernization blueprint; (3) conforms with the Internal 
     Revenue Service's enterprise life cycle methodology; (4) is 
     approved by the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of 
     the Treasury, and the Office of Management and Budget; (5) 
     has been reviewed by the General Accounting Office; and (6) 
     complies with the acquisition rules, requirements, 
     guidelines, and systems acquisition management practices of 
     the Federal Government.

               Health Insurance Tax Credit Administration

       For expenses necessary to implement the health insurance 
     tax credit included in the Trade Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-
     210), $35,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 
     2005.

             GENERAL PROVISIONS--DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

       Sec. 201. Not to exceed 5 percent of any appropriation made 
     available in this Act to the Internal Revenue Service may be 
     transferred to any other Internal Revenue Service 
     appropriation upon the advance approval of the Committees on 
     Appropriations.
       Sec. 202. The Internal Revenue Service shall maintain a 
     training program to ensure that Internal Revenue Service 
     employees are trained in taxpayers' rights, in dealing 
     courteously with the taxpayers, and in cross-cultural 
     relations.
       Sec. 203. The Internal Revenue Service shall institute and 
     enforce policies and procedures that will safeguard the 
     confidentiality of taxpayer information.
       Sec. 204. Funds made available by this or any other Act to 
     the Internal Revenue Service shall be available for improved 
     facilities and increased manpower to provide sufficient and 
     effective 1-800 help line service for taxpayers. The 
     Commissioner shall continue to make the improvement of the 
     Internal Revenue Service 1-800 help line service a priority 
     and allocate resources necessary to increase phone lines and 
     staff to improve the Internal Revenue Service 1-800 help line 
     service.
       Sec. 205. Appropriations to the Department of the Treasury 
     in this Act shall be available for uniforms or allowances 
     therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901), including 
     maintenance, repairs, and cleaning; purchase of insurance for 
     official motor vehicles operated in foreign countries; 
     purchase of motor vehicles without regard to the general 
     purchase price limitations for vehicles purchased and used 
     overseas for the current fiscal year; entering into contracts 
     with the Department of State for the furnishing of health and 
     medical services to employees and their dependents serving in 
     foreign countries; and services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109.
       Sec. 206. Not to exceed 2 percent of any appropriations in 
     this Act made available to the Departmental Offices--Salaries 
     and Expenses, Office of Inspector General, Financial 
     Management Service, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 
     Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and Bureau of the 
     Public Debt, may be transferred between

[[Page H7903]]

     such appropriations upon the advance approval of the 
     Committees on Appropriations. No transfer may increase or 
     decrease any such appropriation by more than 2 percent.
       Sec. 207. Not to exceed 2 percent of any appropriation made 
     available in this Act to the Internal Revenue Service may be 
     transferred to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax 
     Administration's appropriation upon the advance approval of 
     the Committees on Appropriations. No transfer may increase or 
     decrease any such appropriation by more than 2 percent.
       Sec. 208. None of the funds appropriated in this Act or 
     otherwise available to the Department of the Treasury or the 
     Bureau of Engraving and Printing may be used to redesign the 
     $1 Federal Reserve note.
       Sec. 209. The Secretary of the Treasury may transfer funds 
     from ``Salaries and Expenses'', Financial Management Service, 
     to the Debt Services Account as necessary to cover the costs 
     of debt collection: Provided, That such amounts shall be 
     reimbursed to such Salaries and Expenses account from debt 
     collections received in the Debt Services Account.
       Sec. 210. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this or any other Act may be used by the United 
     States Mint to construct or operate any museum without the 
     explicit approval of the House Committee on Financial 
     Services and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
     Urban Affairs.
       Sec. 211. For fiscal year 2004 and each fiscal year 
     thereafter, there are appropriated to the Secretary of the 
     Treasury such sums as may be necessary to reimburse financial 
     institutions in their capacity as depositaries and financial 
     agents of the United States for all services required or 
     directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary's 
     designee, to be performed by such financial institutions on 
     behalf of the Department of the Treasury or other Federal 
     agencies, including services rendered prior to fiscal year 
     2004.


          prohibition on contracts with corporate expatriates

       Sec. 212. (a) In General.--The Secretary may not enter into 
     any contract with a foreign incorporated entity which is 
     treated as an inverted domestic corporation under subsection 
     (b), or any subsidiary of such entity.
       (b) Inverted Domestic Corporation.--For purposes of this 
     section, a foreign incorporated entity shall be treated as an 
     inverted domestic corporation if, pursuant to a plan (or a 
     series of related transactions)--
       (1) the entity has completed the direct or indirect 
     acquisition of substantially all of the properties held 
     directly or indirectly by a domestic corporation or 
     substantially all of the properties constituting a trade or 
     business of a domestic partnership,
       (2) after the acquisition at least 80 percent of the stock 
     (by vote or value) of the entity is held--
       (A) in the case of an acquisition with respect to a 
     domestic corporation, by former shareholders of the domestic 
     corporation by reason of holding stock in the domestic 
     corporation, or
       (B) in the case of an acquisition with respect to a 
     domestic partnership, by former partners of the domestic 
     partnership by reason of holding a capital or profits 
     interest in the domestic partnership, and
       (3) the expanded affiliated group which after the 
     acquisition includes the entity does not have substantial 
     business activities in the foreign country in which or under 
     the law of which the entity is created or organized when 
     compared to the total business activities of such expanded 
     affiliated group.
       (c) Definitions and Special Rules.--For purposes of this 
     section--
       (1) Rules for application of subsection (b).--In applying 
     subsection (b) for purposes of subsection (a), the following 
     rules shall apply:
       (A) Certain stock disregarded.--There shall not be taken 
     into account in determining ownership for purposes of 
     subsection (b)(2)--
       (i) stock held by members of the expanded affiliated group 
     which includes the foreign incorporated entity, or
       (ii) stock of such entity which is sold in a public 
     offering related to the acquisition described in subsection 
     (b)(1).
       (B) Plan deemed in certain cases.--If a foreign 
     incorporated entity acquires directly or indirectly 
     substantially all of the properties of a domestic corporation 
     or partnership during the 4-year period beginning on the date 
     which is 2 years before the ownership requirements of 
     subsection (b)(2) are met, such actions shall be treated as 
     pursuant to a plan.
       (C) Certain transfers disregarded.--The transfer of 
     properties or liabilities (including by contribution or 
     distribution) shall be disregarded if such transfers are part 
     of a plan a principal purpose of which is to avoid the 
     purposes of this section.
       (D) Special rule for related partnerships.--For purposes of 
     applying subsection (b) to the acquisition of a domestic 
     partnership, except as provided in regulations, all 
     partnerships which are under common control (within the 
     meaning of section 482 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) 
     shall be treated as 1 partnership.
       (E) Treatment of certain rights.--The Secretary shall 
     prescribe such regulations as may be necessary--
       (i) to treat warrants, options, contracts to acquire stock, 
     convertible debt instruments, and other similar interests as 
     stock, and
       (ii) to treat stock as not stock.
       (2) Expanded affiliated group.--The term ``expanded 
     affiliated group'' means an affiliated group as defined in 
     section 1504(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (without 
     regard to section 1504(b) of such Code), except that section 
     1504(a) of such Code shall be applied by substituting ``more 
     than 50 percent'' for ``at least 80 percent'' each place it 
     appears.
       (3) Foreign incorporated entity.--The term ``foreign 
     incorporated entity'' means any entity which is, or but for 
     subsection (b) would be, treated as a foreign corporation for 
     purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
       (4) Other definitions.--The terms ``person'', ``domestic'', 
     and ``foreign'' have the meanings given such terms by 
     paragraphs (1), (4), and (5) of section 7701(a) of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986, respectively.
       (d) Waiver.--The President may waive subsection (a) with 
     respect to any specific contract if the President certifies 
     to Congress that the waiver is required in the interest of 
     national security.
       (e) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect one day 
     after the date of this bill's enactment.

                       TITLE III--POSTAL SERVICE

                   Payment to the Postal Service Fund

       For payment to the Postal Service Fund for revenue forgone 
     on free and reduced rate mail, pursuant to subsections (c) 
     and (d) of section 2401 of title 39, United States Code, 
     $65,521,000, of which $36,521,000 shall not be available for 
     obligation until October 1, 2004: Provided, That mail for 
     overseas voting and mail for the blind shall continue to be 
     free: Provided further, That 6-day delivery and rural 
     delivery of mail shall continue at not less than the 1983 
     level: Provided further, That none of the funds made 
     available to the Postal Service by this Act shall be used to 
     implement any rule, regulation, or policy of charging any 
     officer or employee of any State or local child support 
     enforcement agency, or any individual participating in a 
     State or local program of child support enforcement, a fee 
     for information requested or provided concerning an address 
     of a postal customer: Provided further, That none of the 
     funds provided in this Act shall be used to consolidate or 
     close small rural and other small post offices in fiscal year 
     2004.

 TITLE IV--EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND FUNDS APPROPRIATED TO 
                             THE PRESIDENT

                     Compensation of the President

       For compensation of the President, including an expense 
     allowance at the rate of $50,000 per annum as authorized by 3 
     U.S.C. 102, $450,000: Provided, That none of the funds made 
     available for official expenses shall be expended for any 
     other purpose and any unused amount shall revert to the 
     Treasury pursuant to section 1552 of title 31, United States 
     Code: Provided further, That none of the funds made available 
     for official expenses shall be considered as taxable to the 
     President.

                           White House Office


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses for the White House as authorized by 
     law, including not to exceed $3,850,000 for services as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109 and 3 U.S.C. 105; subsistence 
     expenses as authorized by 3 U.S.C. 105, which shall be 
     expended and accounted for as provided in that section; hire 
     of passenger motor vehicles, newspapers, periodicals, 
     teletype news service, and travel (not to exceed $100,000 to 
     be expended and accounted for as provided by 3 U.S.C. 103); 
     and not to exceed $19,000 for official entertainment 
     expenses, to be available for allocation within the Executive 
     Office of the President, $66,057,000: Provided, That 
     $8,650,000 of the funds appropriated shall be available for 
     reimbursements to the White House Communications Agency.

                 Executive Residence at the White House


                           operating expenses

       For the care, maintenance, repair and alteration, 
     refurnishing, improvement, heating, and lighting, including 
     electric power and fixtures, of the Executive Residence at 
     the White House and official entertainment expenses of the 
     President, $12,501,000, to be expended and accounted for as 
     provided by 3 U.S.C. 105, 109, 110, and 112-114.


                         reimbursable expenses

       For the reimbursable expenses of the Executive Residence at 
     the White House, such sums as may be necessary: Provided, 
     That all reimbursable operating expenses of the Executive 
     Residence shall be made in accordance with the provisions of 
     this paragraph: Provided further, That, notwithstanding any 
     other provision of law, such amount for reimbursable 
     operating expenses shall be the exclusive authority of the 
     Executive Residence to incur obligations and to receive 
     offsetting collections, for such expenses: Provided further, 
     That the Executive Residence shall require each person 
     sponsoring a reimbursable political event to pay in advance 
     an amount equal to the estimated cost of the event, and all 
     such advance payments shall be credited to this account and 
     remain available until expended: Provided further, That the 
     Executive Residence shall require the national committee of 
     the political party of the President to maintain on deposit 
     $25,000, to be separately accounted for and available for 
     expenses relating to reimbursable political events sponsored 
     by such committee during such fiscal year: Provided further, 
     That the Executive Residence shall ensure

[[Page H7904]]

     that a written notice of any amount owed for a reimbursable 
     operating expense under this paragraph is submitted to the 
     person owing such amount within 60 days after such expense is 
     incurred, and that such amount is collected within 30 days 
     after the submission of such notice: Provided further, That 
     the Executive Residence shall charge interest and assess 
     penalties and other charges on any such amount that is not 
     reimbursed within such 30 days, in accordance with the 
     interest and penalty provisions applicable to an outstanding 
     debt on a United States Government claim under section 3717 
     of title 31, United States Code: Provided further, That each 
     such amount that is reimbursed, and any accompanying interest 
     and charges, shall be deposited in the Treasury as 
     miscellaneous receipts: Provided further, That the Executive 
     Residence shall prepare and submit to the Committees on 
     Appropriations, by not later than 90 days after the end of 
     the fiscal year covered by this Act, a report setting forth 
     the reimbursable operating expenses of the Executive 
     Residence during the preceding fiscal year, including the 
     total amount of such expenses, the amount of such total that 
     consists of reimbursable official and ceremonial events, the 
     amount of such total that consists of reimbursable political 
     events, and the portion of each such amount that has been 
     reimbursed as of the date of the report: Provided further, 
     That the Executive Residence shall maintain a system for the 
     tracking of expenses related to reimbursable events within 
     the Executive Residence that includes a standard for the 
     classification of any such expense as political or 
     nonpolitical: Provided further, That no provision of this 
     paragraph may be construed to exempt the Executive Residence 
     from any other applicable requirement of subchapter I or II 
     of chapter 37 of title 31, United States Code.

                   White House Repair and Restoration

       For the repair, alteration, and improvement of the 
     Executive Residence at the White House, $4,225,000, to remain 
     available until expended, for required maintenance, safety 
     and health issues, and continued preventative maintenance.

                      Council of Economic Advisers


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Council of Economic Advisors 
     in carrying out its functions under the Employment Act of 
     1946 (15 U.S.C. 1021), $4,000,000.

                      Office of Policy Development


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Policy Development, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109 and 3 
     U.S.C. 107, $4,109,000.

                       National Security Council


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the National Security Council, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, 
     $9,000,000.

                        Office of Administration


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Administration, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109 and 3 
     U.S.C. 107, and hire of passenger motor vehicles, 
     $82,826,000, of which $17,470,000 shall remain available 
     until expended for the Capital Investment Plan for continued 
     modernization of the information technology infrastructure 
     within the Executive Office of the President.

                    Office of Management and Budget


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Management and 
     Budget, including hire of passenger motor vehicles and 
     services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109 and to carry out the 
     provisions of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 
     $62,772,000, of which not to exceed $1,500 shall be available 
     for official representation expenses: Provided, That, as 
     provided in 31 U.S.C. 1301(a), appropriations shall be 
     applied only to the objects for which appropriations were 
     made except as otherwise provided by law: Provided further, 
     That none of the funds appropriated in this Act for the 
     Office of Management and Budget may be used for the purpose 
     of reviewing any agricultural marketing orders or any 
     activities or regulations under the provisions of the 
     Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 (7 U.S.C. 601 et 
     seq.): Provided further, That none of the funds made 
     available for the Office of Management and Budget by this Act 
     may be expended for the altering of the transcript of actual 
     testimony of witnesses, except for testimony of officials of 
     the Office of Management and Budget, before the Committees on 
     Appropriations or the Committees on Veterans' Affairs or 
     their subcommittees: Provided further, That the preceding 
     shall not apply to printed hearings released by the 
     Committees on Appropriations or the Committees on Veterans' 
     Affairs: Provided further, That none of the funds 
     appropriated in this Act may be available to pay the salary 
     or expenses of any employee of the Office of Management and 
     Budget who, after February 15, 2003, calculates, prepares, or 
     approves any tabular or other material that proposes the sub-
     allocation of budget authority or outlays by the Committees 
     on Appropriations among their subcommittees.

                 Office of National Drug Control Policy


                         salaries and expenses

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses of the Office of National Drug 
     Control Policy; for research activities pursuant to the 
     Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 
     1998 (21 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) as amended; not to exceed 
     $10,000 for official reception and representation expenses; 
     and for participation in joint projects or in the provision 
     of services on matters of mutual interest with nonprofit, 
     research, or public organizations or agencies, with or 
     without reimbursement, $28,790,000; of which $2,850,000 shall 
     remain available until expended, consisting of $1,350,000 for 
     policy research and evaluation, and $1,500,000 for the 
     National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws: Provided, That 
     the Office is authorized to accept, hold, administer, and 
     utilize gifts, both real and personal, public and private, 
     without fiscal year limitation, for the purpose of aiding or 
     facilitating the work of the Office.

                Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses for the Counterdrug Technology 
     Assessment Center for research activities pursuant to the 
     Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 
     1998 (21 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) as amended, $40,000,000, which 
     shall remain available until expended, consisting of 
     $18,000,000 for counternarcotics research and development 
     projects, and $22,000,000 for the continued operation of the 
     technology transfer program: Provided, That the $18,000,000 
     for counternarcotics research and development projects shall 
     be available for transfer to other Federal departments or 
     agencies.

                     Federal Drug Control Programs


             high intensity drug trafficking areas program

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses of the Office of National Drug 
     Control Policy's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas 
     Program, $226,350,000, for drug control activities consistent 
     with the approved strategy for each of the designated High 
     Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, of which no less than 51 
     percent shall be transferred to State and local entities for 
     drug control activities, which shall be obligated within 120 
     days of the date of the enactment of this Act: Provided, That 
     up to 49 percent, to remain available until September 30, 
     2005, may be transferred to Federal agencies and departments 
     at a rate to be determined by the Director, of which not less 
     than $2,100,000 shall be used for auditing services and 
     associated activities, and at least $500,000 of the 
     $2,100,000 shall be used to develop and implement a data 
     collection system to measure the performance of the High 
     Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program: Provided further, 
     That High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Programs 
     designated as of September 30, 2003, shall be funded at no 
     less than the fiscal year 2003 initial allocation levels 
     unless the Director submits to the Committees on 
     Appropriations, and the Committees approve, justification for 
     changes in those levels based on clearly articulated 
     priorities for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas 
     Programs, as well as published Office of National Drug 
     Control Policy performance measures of effectiveness: 
     Provided further, That no funds of an amount in excess of the 
     fiscal year 2004 budget request shall be obligated prior to 
     the approval of the Committee on Appropriations.

                  Other Federal Drug Control Programs


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For activities to support a national anti-drug campaign for 
     youth, and for other purposes, authorized by (21 U.S.C. 1701 
     et seq.) as amended, $230,000,000, to remain available until 
     expended, of which the following amounts are available as 
     follows: $150,000,000 to support a national media campaign; 
     $70,000,000 for a program of assistance and matching grants 
     to local coalitions and other activities, as authorized in 
     chapter 2 of the National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988, 
     as amended; $4,500,000 for the Counterdrug Intelligence 
     Executive Secretariat; $2,000,000 for evaluations and 
     research related to National Drug Control Program performance 
     measures; $1,000,000 for the National Drug Court Institute; 
     $1,500,000 for the United States Anti-Doping Agency for anti-
     doping activities; and $1,000,000 for the United States 
     membership dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency: Provided, 
     That such funds may be transferred to other Federal 
     departments and agencies to carry out such activities: 
     Provided further, That of the amounts appropriated for a 
     national media campaign, no less than 77 percent shall be 
     used for the purchase of advertising time and space for the 
     national media campaign.

                          Unanticipated Needs

       For expenses necessary to enable the President to meet 
     unanticipated needs, in furtherance of the national interest, 
     security, or defense which may arise at home or abroad during 
     the current fiscal year, as authorized by 3 U.S.C. 108, 
     $1,000,000.

 Special Assistance to the President and the Official Residence of the 
                             Vice President


                         salaries and expenses

       For necessary expenses to enable the Vice President to 
     provide assistance to the President in connection with 
     specially assigned functions; services as authorized by 5 
     U.S.C. 3109 and 3 U.S.C. 106, including subsistence expenses 
     as authorized by 3 U.S.C. 106, which shall be expended and 
     accounted for as provided in that section; and hire of 
     passenger motor vehicles, $4,461,000.

[[Page H7905]]

                           operating expenses

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For the care, operation, refurnishing, improvement, and to 
     the extent not otherwise provided for, heating and lighting, 
     including electric power and fixtures, of the official 
     residence of the Vice President; the hire of passenger motor 
     vehicles; and not to exceed $90,000 for official 
     entertainment expenses of the Vice President, to be accounted 
     for solely on his certificate, $331,000: Provided, That 
     advances or repayments or transfers from this appropriation 
     may be made to any department or agency for expenses of 
     carrying out such activities.

                     TITLE V--INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

       ARCHITECTURAL AND TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS COMPLIANCE BOARD

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For expenses necessary for the Architectural and 
     Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, as authorized by 
     section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended 
     $5,401,000: Provided, That, notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, there may be credited to this appropriation 
     funds received for publications and training expenses, to be 
     available for the purpose of this account.

                  NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the National Transportation 
     Safety Board, including hire of passenger motor vehicles and 
     aircraft; services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, but at 
     rates for individuals not to exceed the per diem rate 
     equivalent to the rate for a GS-15; uniforms, or allowances 
     therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901-5902) 
     $76,679,000, of which not to exceed $2,000 may be used for 
     official reception and representation expenses.

                             Emergency Fund

       For necessary expenses of the National Transportation 
     Safety Board for accident investigations, $600,000, to remain 
     available until expended: Provided, That these funds shall be 
     available only to the extent necessary to restore the balance 
     of the emergency fund to $2,000,000 (29 U.S.C. 1118 (b)).

 COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR SEVERELY DISABLED

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Committee for Purchase From 
     People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled established by 
     Public Law 92-28, $4,725,000.

                      FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of the 
     Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, 
     $50,440,000, of which no less than $6,389,900 shall be 
     available for internal automated data processing systems, and 
     of which not to exceed $5,000 shall be available for 
     reception and representation expenses.

                     ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses to carry out the Help America Vote 
     Act of 2002, $5,000,000.

                        Election Reform Programs

       For necessary expenses to carry out a program of 
     requirements payments to States as authorized by Section 257 
     of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, $495,000,000: Provided, 
     That no more that \1/10\ of 1 percent of funds available for 
     requirements payments under Section 257 of the Help America 
     Vote Act of 2002 shall be allocated to any territory.

                   FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses to carry out functions of the 
     Federal Labor Relations Authority, pursuant to Reorganization 
     Plan Numbered 2 of 1978, and the Civil Service Reform Act of 
     1978, including services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, and 
     including hire of experts and consultants, hire of passenger 
     motor vehicles, and rental of conference rooms in the 
     District of Columbia and elsewhere, $29,611,000: Provided, 
     That public members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel may 
     be paid travel expenses and per diem in lieu of subsistence 
     as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5703) for persons employed 
     intermittently in the Government service, and compensation as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109: Provided further, That 
     notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, funds received from fees 
     charged to non-Federal participants at labor-management 
     relations conferences shall be credited to and merged with 
     this account, to be available without further appropriation 
     for the costs of carrying out these conferences.

                      FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses of the Federal Maritime Commission 
     as authorized by section 201(d) of the Merchant Marine Act, 
     1936, as amended (46 U.S.C. App. 1111), including services as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; hire of passenger motor vehicles 
     as authorized by 31 U.S.C. 1343(b); and uniforms or 
     allowances therefore, as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5901-5902, 
     $18,471,000: Provided, That not to exceed $2,000 shall be 
     available for official reception and representation expenses.

                    GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

                        Real Property Activities


                        (federal buildings fund)

                (limitations on availability of revenue)

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For an additional amount to be deposited in, and to be used 
     for the purposes of, the Fund established pursuant to section 
     210(f) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services 
     Act of 1949, as amended (40 U.S.C. 592), $247,350,000. The 
     revenues and collections deposited into the Fund shall be 
     available for necessary expenses of real property management 
     and related activities not otherwise provided for, including 
     operation, maintenance, and protection of federally owned and 
     leased buildings; rental of buildings in the District of 
     Columbia; restoration of leased premises; moving governmental 
     agencies (including space adjustments and telecommunications 
     relocation expenses) in connection with the assignment, 
     allocation and transfer of space; contractual services 
     incident to cleaning or servicing buildings, and moving; 
     repair and alteration of federally owned buildings including 
     grounds, approaches and appurtenances; care and safeguarding 
     of sites; maintenance, preservation, demolition, and 
     equipment; acquisition of buildings and sites by purchase, 
     condemnation, or as otherwise authorized by law; acquisition 
     of options to purchase buildings and sites; conversion and 
     extension of federally owned buildings; preliminary planning 
     and design of projects by contract or otherwise; construction 
     of new buildings (including equipment for such buildings); 
     and payment of principal, interest, and any other obligations 
     for public buildings acquired by installment purchase and 
     purchase contract; in the aggregate amount of $6,557,518,000, 
     of which: (1) $406,168,000 shall remain available until 
     expended for construction (including funds for sites and 
     expenses and associated design and construction services) of 
     additional projects at the following locations:
       New Construction:
       California:
       San Diego, Border Station, $34,211,000
       Georgia:
       Atlanta, Tuttle Building Annex, $10,600,000
       Maine:
       Jackman, Border Station, $7,712,000
       Maryland:
       Suitland, United States Census Bureau, $146,451,000
       Michigan:
       Detroit, Ambassador Bridge Border Station, $25,387,000
       New York:
       Champlain, Border Station, $31,031,000
       Texas:
       Del Rio, Border Station, $23,966,000
       Eagle Pass, Border Station, $31,980,000
       Houston, Federal Bureau of Investigation, $58,080,000
       McAllen, Border Station, $17,938,000
       Washington:
       Blaine, Border Station, $9,812,000
       Nonprospectus Construction, $9,000,000:
    

     Provided, That each of the foregoing limits of costs on new 
     construction projects may be exceeded to the extent that 
     savings are effected in other such projects, but not to 
     exceed 10 percent of the amounts included in an approved 
     prospectus, if required, unless advance approval is obtained 
     from the Committees on Appropriations of a greater amount: 
     Provided further, That all funds for direct construction 
     projects shall expire on September 30, 2005, and remain in 
     the Federal Buildings Fund except for funds for projects as 
     to which funds for design or other funds have been obligated 
     in whole or in part prior to such date; (2) $1,010,454,000 
     shall remain available until expended for repairs and 
     alterations, which includes associated design and 
     construction services:
       Colorado:
       Denver, Byron G. Rogers Federal Building--Courthouse, 
     $39,436,000
       District of Columbia:
       320 First Street, $7,485,000
       Eisenhower Executive Office Building, $65,757,000
       Federal Office Building 8, $134,872,000
       Main Interior Building, $15,603,000
       Fire & Life Safety, $68,188,000
       Georgia:
       Atlanta, Richard B. Russell Federal Building, $32,173,000
       Illinois:
       Chicago, Dirksen Courthouse & Kluczynski Federal Building, 
     $24,056,000
       Springfield, Paul H. Findley Federal Building--Courthouse, 
     $6,183,000
       Massachusetts:
       Boston, John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse, 
     $73,037,000
       New York:
       Brooklyn, Emanuel Celler Courthouse, $65,511,000
       North Dakota:
       Fargo, Federal Building--Post Office, $5,801,000
       Ohio:
       Columbus, John W. Bricker Federal Building, $10,707,000
       Washington:
       Auburn, Building 7, Auburn Federal Building, $18,315,000
       Seattle, Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, $6,868,000
       Special Emphasis Programs:
       Chlorofluorocarbons Program, $5,000,000
       Energy Program, $5,000,000
       Glass Fragmentation Program, $20,000,000
       Design Program, $41,462,000
       Basic Repairs and Alterations, $365,000,000:
    

     Provided further, That of the funds provided in this Act for 
     the repair of the Eisenhower

[[Page H7906]]

     Executive Office Building, $30,757,000 is not available for 
     obligation until 15 days after the Executive Office of the 
     President submits a report to the Committees on 
     Appropriations regarding the use of non-Federal funding in 
     renovation and furnishing efforts for the Eisenhower 
     Executive Office Building: Provided further, That funds made 
     available in any previous Act in the Federal Buildings Fund 
     for Repairs and Alterations shall, for prospectus projects, 
     be limited to the amount identified for each project, except 
     each project in any previous Act may be increased by an 
     amount not to exceed 10 percent unless advance approval is 
     obtained from the Committees on Appropriations of a greater 
     amount: Provided further, That additional projects for which 
     prospectuses have been fully approved may be funded under 
     this category only if advance approval is obtained from the 
     Committees on Appropriations: Provided further, That the 
     amounts provided in this or any prior Act for ``Repairs and 
     Alterations'' may be used to fund costs associated with 
     implementing security improvements to buildings necessary to 
     meet the minimum standards for security in accordance with 
     current law and in compliance with the reprogramming 
     guidelines of the appropriate Committees of the House and 
     Senate: Provided further, That the difference between the 
     funds appropriated and expended on any projects in this or 
     any prior Act, under the heading ``Repairs and Alterations'', 
     may be transferred to Basic Repairs and Alterations or used 
     to fund authorized increases in prospectus projects: Provided 
     further, That all funds for repairs and alterations 
     prospectus projects shall expire on September 30, 2005 and 
     remain in the Federal Buildings Fund except funds for 
     projects as to which funds for design or other funds have 
     been obligated in whole or in part prior to such date: 
     Provided further, That the amount provided in this or any 
     prior Act for Basic Repairs and Alterations may be used to 
     pay claims against the Government arising from any projects 
     under the heading ``Repairs and Alterations'' or used to fund 
     authorized increases in prospectus projects; (3) $169,745,000 
     for installment acquisition payments including payments on 
     purchase contracts which shall remain available until 
     expended; (4) $3,308,187,000 for rental of space which shall 
     remain available until expended; and (5) $1,608,708,000 for 
     building operations which shall remain available until 
     expended: Provided further, That funds available to the 
     General Services Administration shall not be available for 
     expenses of any construction, repair, alteration and 
     acquisition project for which a prospectus, if required by 
     the Public Buildings Act of 1959, as amended, has not been 
     approved, except that necessary funds may be expended for 
     each project for required expenses for the development of a 
     proposed prospectus: Provided further, That funds available 
     in the Federal Buildings Fund may be expended for emergency 
     repairs when advance approval is obtained from the Committees 
     on Appropriations: Provided further, That amounts necessary 
     to provide reimbursable special services to other agencies 
     under section 210(f)(6) of the Federal Property and 
     Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (40 U.S.C. 
     592(b)(2)) and amounts to provide such reimbursable fencing, 
     lighting, guard booths, and other facilities on private or 
     other property not in Government ownership or control as may 
     be appropriate to enable the United States Secret Service to 
     perform its protective functions pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3056, 
     shall be available from such revenues and collections: 
     Provided further, That revenues and collections and any other 
     sums accruing to this Fund during fiscal year 2004, excluding 
     reimbursements under section 210(f)(6) of the Federal 
     Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 
     592(b)(2)) in excess of $6,557,518,000 shall remain in the 
     Fund and shall not be available for expenditure except as 
     authorized in appropriations Acts.

                           General Activities


                         governmentwide policy

       For expenses authorized by law, not otherwise provided for, 
     for Government-wide policy and evaluation activities 
     associated with the management of real and personal property 
     assets and certain administrative services; Government-wide 
     policy support responsibilities relating to acquisition, 
     telecommunications, information technology management, and 
     related technology activities; and services as authorized by 
     5 U.S.C. 3109, $56,383,000.


                           operating expenses

       For expenses authorized by law, not otherwise provided for, 
     for Government-wide activities associated with utilization 
     and donation of surplus personal property; disposal of real 
     property; telecommunications, information technology 
     management, and related technology activities; providing 
     Internet access to Federal information and services; agency-
     wide policy direction and management, and Board of Contract 
     Appeals; accounting, records management, and other support 
     services incident to adjudication of Indian Tribal Claims by 
     the United States Court of Federal Claims; services as 
     authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; and not to exceed $7,500 for 
     official reception and representation expenses, $79,110,000.


                      office of inspector general

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General 
     and services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, $39,169,000: 
     Provided, That not to exceed $15,000 shall be available for 
     payment for information and detection of fraud against the 
     Government, including payment for recovery of stolen 
     Government property: Provided further, That not to exceed 
     $2,500 shall be available for awards to employees of other 
     Federal agencies and private citizens in recognition of 
     efforts and initiatives resulting in enhanced Office of 
     Inspector General effectiveness.


                       electronic government fund

                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses in support of interagency projects 
     that enable the Federal Government to expand its ability to 
     conduct activities electronically, through the development 
     and implementation of innovative uses of the Internet and 
     other electronic methods, $1,000,000, to remain available 
     until expended: Provided, That these funds may be transferred 
     to Federal agencies to carry out the purposes of the Fund: 
     Provided further, That this transfer authority shall be in 
     addition to any other transfer authority provided in this 
     Act: Provided further, That such transfers may not be made 
     until 10 days after a proposed spending plan and 
     justification for each project to be undertaken has been 
     submitted to the Committees on Appropriations.

           allowances and office staff for former presidents


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For carrying out the provisions of the Act of August 25, 
     1958, as amended (3 U.S.C. 102 note), and Public Law 95-138, 
     $3,393,000: Provided, That the Administrator of General 
     Services shall transfer to the Secretary of the Treasury such 
     sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of such 
     Acts.

          General Provisions--General Services Administration

       Sec. 501. The appropriate appropriation or fund available 
     to the General Services Administration shall be credited with 
     the cost of operation, protection, maintenance, upkeep, 
     repair, and improvement, included as part of rentals received 
     from Government corporations pursuant to law (40 U.S.C. 129).
       Sec. 502. Funds available to the General Services 
     Administration shall be available for the hire of passenger 
     motor vehicles.
       Sec. 503. Funds in the Federal Buildings Fund made 
     available for fiscal year 2004 for Federal Buildings Fund 
     activities may be transferred between such activities only to 
     the extent necessary to meet program requirements: Provided, 
     That any proposed transfers shall be approved in advance by 
     the Committees on Appropriations.
       Sec. 504. No funds made available by this Act shall be used 
     to transmit a fiscal year 2005 request for United States 
     Courthouse construction that: (1) does not meet the design 
     guide standards for construction as established and approved 
     by the General Services Administration, the Judicial 
     Conference of the United States, and the Office of Management 
     and Budget; and (2) does not reflect the priorities of the 
     Judicial Conference of the United States as set out in its 
     approved 5-year construction plan: Provided, That the fiscal 
     year 2005 request must be accompanied by a standardized 
     courtroom utilization study of each facility to be 
     constructed, replaced, or expanded.
       Sec. 505. None of the funds provided in this Act may be 
     used to increase the amount of occupiable square feet, 
     provide cleaning services, security enhancements, or any 
     other service usually provided through the Federal Buildings 
     Fund, to any agency that does not pay the rate per square 
     foot assessment for space and services as determined by the 
     General Services Administration in compliance with the Public 
     Buildings Amendments Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-313).
       Sec. 506. Funds provided to other Government agencies by 
     the Information Technology Fund, General Services 
     Administration, under section 110 of the Federal Property and 
     Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 757) and 
     sections 5124(b) and 5128 of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 
     (40 U.S.C. 1424(b) and 1428), for performance of pilot 
     information technology projects which have potential for 
     Government-wide benefits and savings, may be repaid to this 
     Fund from any savings actually incurred by these projects or 
     other funding, to the extent feasible.
       Sec. 507. From funds made available under the heading 
     ``Federal Buildings Fund, Limitations on Availability of 
     Revenue'', claims against the Government of less than 
     $250,000 arising from direct construction projects and 
     acquisition of buildings may be liquidated from savings 
     effected in other construction projects with prior 
     notification to the Committees on Appropriations.
       Sec. 508. None of the funds in this Act may be used by the 
     General Services Administration to develop or implement a 
     mandatory system without exceptions that requires agencies 
     government-wide to use a specific electronic travel solution 
     or the eTravel Service: Provided, That this section shall 
     also apply to the Department of Transportation in any 
     development of electronic travel solutions for its modal 
     administrations.
       Sec. 509. (a) The Administrator of General Services shall 
     carry out the authority of the Election Assistance Commission 
     to make election assistance payments under subtitle D of 
     title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, including the 
     authority under such subtitle to receive statements and 
     applications from entities seeking such payments and reports 
     from entities receiving such payments.
       (b) The authority of the Administrator of General Services 
     under subsection (a) shall apply with respect to amounts 
     appropriated

[[Page H7907]]

     for fiscal year 2004 and amounts appropriated for fiscal year 
     2003 which remain unobligated and unexpended at the end of 
     fiscal year 2003, except that this authority shall expire 
     upon the earlier of--
       (1) the expiration of the 3-month period which begins on 
     the date on which all members of the Election Assistance 
     Commission are appointed; or
       (2) June 30, 2004.
       (c) Upon the appointment of all members of the Election 
     Assistance Commission, the Administrator of General Services 
     shall transmit to the Commission all statements, 
     applications, and reports received by the Administrator in 
     carrying out this section.
       Sec. 510. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be used by the General Services Administration to establish a 
     quick response team processing center on East Brainerd Road 
     in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

                     MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD

                         Salaries and Expenses


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For necessary expenses to carry out functions of the Merit 
     Systems Protection Board pursuant to Reorganization Plan 
     Numbered 2 of 1978 and the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, rental of 
     conference rooms in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, 
     hire of passenger motor vehicles, and direct procurement of 
     survey printing, $32,877,000, together with not to exceed 
     $2,626,000 for administrative expenses to adjudicate 
     retirement appeals to be transferred from the Civil Service 
     Retirement and Disability Fund in amounts determined by the 
     Merit Systems Protection Board.

 MORRIS K. UDALL SCHOLARSHIP AND EXCELLENCE IN NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL 
                           POLICY FOUNDATION

 Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental 
                           Policy Trust Fund

       For payment to the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and 
     Excellence in National Environmental Policy Trust Fund, 
     pursuant to the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in 
     National Environmental and Native American Public Policy Act 
     of 1992 (20 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.), $1,300,000, to remain 
     available until expended of which $100,000 shall be used to 
     conduct financial audits pursuant to the Accountability of 
     Tax Dollars Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-289) notwithstanding 
     sections 8 and 9 of Public Law 102-259: Provided, That up to 
     70 percent of such funds may be transferred by the Morris K. 
     Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental 
     Policy Foundation for the necessary expenses of the Native 
     Nations Institute.

                 Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund

       For payment to the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund to 
     carry out activities authorized in the Environmental Policy 
     and Conflict Resolution Act of 1998, $1,300,000, to remain 
     available until expended.

              NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

                           Operating Expenses

       For necessary expenses in connection with the 
     administration of the National Archives and Records 
     Administration (including the Information Security Oversight 
     Office) and archived Federal records and related activities, 
     as provided by law, and for expenses necessary for the review 
     and declassification of documents, and for the hire of 
     passenger motor vehicles, $255,191,000: Provided, That the 
     Archivist of the United States is authorized to use any 
     excess funds available from the amount borrowed for 
     construction of the National Archives facility, for expenses 
     necessary to provide adequate storage for holdings: Provided 
     further, That, of the funds provided in this paragraph, 
     $600,000 shall be for the preservation of the records of the 
     Freedmen's Bureau.

                       Electronic Records Archive

       For necessary expenses in connection with the development 
     of an electronic records archive, to include all direct 
     project costs associated with research, analysis, design, 
     development, and program management, $35,914,000, of which 
     $22,000,000 shall remain available until September 30, 2006.

                        Repairs and Restoration

       For the repair, alteration, and improvement of archives 
     facilities, and to provide adequate storage for holdings, 
     $6,458,000, to remain available until expended, of which 
     $500,000 is for the Military Personnel Records Center 
     requirements study.

        National Historical Publications and Records Commission


                             grants program

       For necessary expenses for allocations and grants for 
     historical publications and records as authorized by 44 
     U.S.C. 2504, as amended, $10,000,000, to remain available 
     until expended.

                      OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses to carry out functions of the Office 
     of Government Ethics pursuant to the Ethics in Government Act 
     of 1978, as amended and the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, rental of 
     conference rooms in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, 
     hire of passenger motor vehicles, and not to exceed $1,500 
     for official reception and representation expenses, 
     $10,738,000.

                     OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

                         Salaries and Expenses


                  (including transfer of trust funds)

       For necessary expenses to carry out functions of the Office 
     of Personnel Management pursuant to Reorganization Plan 
     Numbered 2 of 1978 and the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, 
     including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109; medical 
     examinations performed for veterans by private physicians on 
     a fee basis; rental of conference rooms in the District of 
     Columbia and elsewhere; hire of passenger motor vehicles; not 
     to exceed $2,500 for official reception and representation 
     expenses; advances for reimbursements to applicable funds of 
     the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation for expenses incurred under Executive Order No. 
     10422 of January 9, 1953, as amended; and payment of per diem 
     and/or subsistence allowances to employees where Voting 
     Rights Act activities require an employee to remain overnight 
     at his or her post of duty, $119,498,000, of which $2,000,000 
     shall remain available until expended for the cost of the 
     enterprise human resources integration project, $2,500,000 
     shall remain available until expended for the cost of leading 
     the government-wide initiative to modernize federal payroll 
     systems and service delivery, and $2,500,000 shall remain 
     available through September 30, 2005 to coordinate and 
     conduct program evaluation and performance measurement; and 
     in addition $126,854,000 for administrative expenses, to be 
     transferred from the appropriate trust funds of the Office of 
     Personnel Management without regard to other statutes, 
     including direct procurement of printed materials, for the 
     retirement and insurance programs, of which $27,640,000 shall 
     remain available until expended for the cost of automating 
     the retirement recordkeeping systems: Provided, That the 
     provisions of this appropriation shall not affect the 
     authority to use applicable trust funds as provided by 
     sections 8348(a)(1)(B), 8909(g), and 9004(f)(1)(A) and (2)(A) 
     of title 5, United States Code: Provided further, That no 
     part of this appropriation shall be available for salaries 
     and expenses of the Legal Examining Unit of the Office of 
     Personnel Management established pursuant to Executive Order 
     No. 9358 of July 1, 1943, or any successor unit of like 
     purpose: Provided further, That the President's Commission on 
     White House Fellows, established by Executive Order No. 11183 
     of October 3, 1964, may, during fiscal year 2004, accept 
     donations of money, property, and personal services in 
     connection with the development of a publicity brochure to 
     provide information about the White House Fellows, except 
     that no such donations shall be accepted for travel or 
     reimbursement of travel expenses, or for the salaries of 
     employees of such Commission.

                      Office of Inspector General

                         Salaries and Expenses


                  (including transfer of trust funds)

       For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General 
     in carrying out the provisions of the Inspector General Act, 
     as amended, including services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 
     3109, hire of passenger motor vehicles, $1,498,000, and in 
     addition, not to exceed $14,427,000 for administrative 
     expenses to audit, investigate, and provide other oversight 
     of the Office of Personnel Management's retirement and 
     insurance programs, to be transferred from the appropriate 
     trust funds of the Office of Personnel Management, as 
     determined by the Inspector General: Provided, That the 
     Inspector General is authorized to rent conference rooms in 
     the District of Columbia and elsewhere.

      Government Payment for Annuitants, Employees Health Benefits

       For payment of Government contributions with respect to 
     retired employees, as authorized by chapter 89 of title 5, 
     United States Code, and the Retired Federal Employees Health 
     Benefits Act (74 Stat. 849), as amended, such sums as may be 
     necessary.

       Government Payment for Annuitants, Employee Life Insurance

       For payment of Government contributions with respect to 
     employees retiring after December 31, 1989, as required by 
     chapter 87 of title 5, United States Code, such sums as may 
     be necessary.

        Payment to Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund

       For financing the unfunded liability of new and increased 
     annuity benefits becoming effective on or after October 20, 
     1969, as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 8348, and annuities under 
     special Acts to be credited to the Civil Service Retirement 
     and Disability Fund, such sums as may be necessary: Provided, 
     That annuities authorized by the Act of May 29, 1944, as 
     amended, and the Act of August 19, 1950, as amended (33 
     U.S.C. 771-775), may hereafter be paid out of the Civil 
     Service Retirement and Disability Fund.

                     Human Capital Performance Fund


                     (including transfer of funds)

       For a human capital performance fund, $2,500,000: Provided, 
     That such amount shall not be available for obligation or 
     transfer until enactment of legislation that establishes a 
     human capital performance fund within the Office of Personnel 
     Management: Provided further, That such amounts as determined 
     by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management may be 
     transferred to federal agencies to carry out the purposes of 
     this fund as authorized: Provided further, That no funds 
     shall be available for obligation or transfer to any federal 
     agency until the Director has notified the relevant 
     subcommittees of jurisdiction of the Committees on 
     Appropriations of the approval of a

[[Page H7908]]

     performance pay plan for that agency, and the prior approval 
     of such subcommittees has been attained.

                       OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses to carry out functions of the Office 
     of Special Counsel pursuant to Reorganization Plan Numbered 2 
     of 1978, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-
     454), as amended, the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 
     (Public Law 101-12), as amended, Public Law 103-424, and the 
     Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994 
     (Public Law 103-353), including services as authorized by 5 
     U.S.C. 3109, payment of fees and expenses for witnesses, 
     rental of conference rooms in the District of Columbia and 
     elsewhere, and hire of passenger motor vehicles; $13,504,000.

                        UNITED STATES TAX COURT

                         Salaries and Expenses

       For necessary expenses, including contract reporting and 
     other services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, $40,187,000: 
     Provided, That travel expenses of the judges shall be paid 
     upon the written certificate of the judge.

      WHITE HOUSE COMMISSION ON THE NATIONAL MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE

       For necessary expenses of the White House Commission on the 
     National Moment of Remembrance, $250,000.

                      TITLE VI--GENERAL PROVISIONS

                                This Act


                     (including transfers of funds)

       Sec. 601. During the current fiscal year applicable 
     appropriations to the Department of Transportation shall be 
     available for maintenance and operation of aircraft; hire of 
     passenger motor vehicles and aircraft; purchase of liability 
     insurance for motor vehicles operating in foreign countries 
     on official department business; and uniforms, or allowances 
     therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901-5902).
       Sec. 602. Such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 
     2004 pay raises for programs funded in this Act shall be 
     absorbed within the levels appropriated in this Act or 
     previous appropriations Acts.
       Sec. 603. Appropriations contained in this Act for the 
     Department of Transportation shall be available for services 
     as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, but at rates for individuals 
     not to exceed the per diem rate equivalent to the rate for an 
     Executive Level IV.
       Sec. 604. None of the funds in this Act shall be available 
     for salaries and expenses of more than 110 political and 
     Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation: 
     Provided, That none of the personnel covered by this 
     provision may be assigned on temporary detail outside the 
     Department of Transportation.
       Sec. 605. None of the funds in this Act shall be used for 
     the planning or execution of any program to pay the expenses 
     of, or otherwise compensate, non-Federal parties intervening 
     in regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings funded in this Act.
       Sec. 606. None of the funds appropriated in this Act shall 
     remain available for obligation beyond the current fiscal 
     year, nor may any be transferred to other appropriations, 
     unless expressly so provided herein.
       Sec. 607. The expenditure of any appropriation under this 
     Act for any consulting service through procurement contract 
     pursuant to section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, 
     shall be limited to those contracts where such expenditures 
     are a matter of public record and available for public 
     inspection, except where otherwise provided under existing 
     law, or under existing Executive order issued pursuant to 
     existing law.
       Sec. 608. None of the funds in this Act shall be used to 
     implement section 404 of title 23, United States Code.
       Sec. 609. (a) No recipient of funds made available in this 
     Act shall disseminate personal information (as defined in 18 
     U.S.C. 2725(3)) obtained by a State department of motor 
     vehicles in connection with a motor vehicle record as defined 
     in 18 U.S.C. 2725(1), except as provided in 18 U.S.C. 2721 
     for a use permitted under 18 U.S.C. 2721.
       (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), no department or agency 
     shall withhold funds provided in this Act for any grantee if 
     a State is in noncompliance with this provision.
       Sec. 610. Funds received by the Federal Highway 
     Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Federal 
     Railroad Administration from States, counties, 
     municipalities, other public authorities, and private sources 
     for expenses incurred for training may be credited 
     respectively to the Federal Highway Administration's 
     ``Federal-Aid Highways'' account, the Federal Transit 
     Administration's ``Transit Planning and Research'' account, 
     and to the Federal Railroad Administration's ``Safety and 
     Operations'' account, except for State rail safety inspectors 
     participating in training pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 20105.
       Sec. 611. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule 
     or regulation, the Secretary of Transportation is authorized 
     to allow the issuer of any preferred stock heretofore sold to 
     the Department to redeem or repurchase such stock upon the 
     payment to the Department of an amount determined by the 
     Secretary.
       Sec. 612. None of the funds in title I of this Act may be 
     used to make a grant unless the Secretary of Transportation 
     notifies the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations 
     not less than 3 full business days before any discretionary 
     grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant 
     agreement totaling $1,000,000 or more is announced by the 
     department or its modal administrations from: (1) any 
     discretionary grant program of the Federal Highway 
     Administration other than the emergency relief program; (2) 
     the airport improvement program of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration; or (3) any program of the Federal Transit 
     Administration other than the formula grants and fixed 
     guideway modernization programs: Provided, That no 
     notification shall involve funds that are not available for 
     obligation.
       Sec. 613. For the purpose of any applicable law, for fiscal 
     year 2004, the city of Norman, Oklahoma, shall be considered 
     to be part of the Oklahoma City Transportation Management 
     Area.
       Sec. 614. None of the funds in this Act may be obligated 
     for the Office of the Secretary of Transportation to approve 
     assessments or reimbursable agreements pertaining to funds 
     appropriated to the modal administrations in this Act, except 
     for activities underway on the date of enactment of this Act, 
     unless such assessments or agreements have completed the 
     normal reprogramming process for Congressional notification.
       Sec. 615. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be transferred to any department, agency, or instrumentality 
     of the United States Government, except pursuant to a 
     transfer made by, or transfer authority provided in, this Act 
     or any other appropriations Act.
       Sec. 616. Rebates, refunds, incentive payments, minor fees 
     and other funds received by the Department of Transportation 
     from travel management centers, charge card programs, the 
     subleasing of building space, and miscellaneous sources are 
     to be credited to appropriations of the Department of 
     Transportation and allocated to elements of the Department of 
     Transportation using fair and equitable criteria and such 
     funds shall be available until expended.
       Sec. 617. Amounts made available in this or any other Act 
     that the Secretary determines represent improper payments by 
     the Department of Transportation to a third party contractor 
     under a financial assistance award, which are recovered 
     pursuant to law, shall be available--
       (1) to reimburse the actual expenses incurred by the 
     Department of Transportation in recovering improper payments; 
     and
       (2) to pay contractors for services provided in recovering 
     improper payments: Provided, That amounts in excess of that 
     required for paragraphs (1) and (2)--
       (A) shall be credited to and merged with the appropriation 
     from which the improper payments were made, and shall be 
     available for the purposes and period for which such 
     appropriations are available; or
       (B) if no such appropriation remains available, shall be 
     deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts: Provided 
     further, That prior to the transfer of any such recovery to 
     an appropriations account, the Secretary shall notify the 
     House and Senate Committees on Appropriations of the amount 
     and reasons for such transfer: Provided further, That for 
     purposes of this section, the term ``improper payments,'' has 
     the same meaning as that provided in section 2(d)(2) of 
     Public Law 107-300.
       Sec. 618. The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to 
     transfer the unexpended balances available for the bonding 
     assistance program from ``Office of the Secretary, Salaries 
     and expenses'' to ``Minority Business Outreach''.
       Sec. 619. None of the funds made available by this Act 
     shall be available for any activity or for paying the salary 
     of any Government employee where funding an activity or 
     paying a salary to a Government employee would result in a 
     decision, determination, rule, regulation, or policy that 
     would prohibit the enforcement of section 307 of the Tariff 
     Act of 1930.
       Sec. 620. No part of any appropriation contained in this 
     Act shall be available to pay the salary for any person 
     filling a position, other than a temporary position, formerly 
     held by an employee who has left to enter the Armed Forces of 
     the United States and has satisfactorily completed his period 
     of active military or naval service, and has within 90 days 
     after his release from such service or from hospitalization 
     continuing after discharge for a period of not more than 1 
     year, made application for restoration to his former position 
     and has been certified by the Office of Personnel Management 
     as still qualified to perform the duties of his former 
     position and has not been restored thereto.
       Sec. 621. No funds appropriated pursuant to this Act may be 
     expended by an entity unless the entity agrees that in 
     expending the assistance the entity will comply with sections 
     2 through 4 of the Act of March 3, 1933 (41 U.S.C. 10a-10c, 
     popularly known as the ``Buy American Act'').
       Sec. 622. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, 
     not to exceed 50 percent of unobligated balances remaining 
     available at the end of fiscal year 2004 from appropriations 
     made available for salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2004 
     in this Act, shall remain available through September 30, 
     2005, for each such account for the purposes authorized: 
     Provided, That a request shall be submitted to the Committees 
     on Appropriations for approval prior to the expenditure of 
     such funds: Provided further, That these requests shall be 
     made in compliance with reprogramming guidelines.
       Sec. 623. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be used by the Executive Office of the President to request 
     from the Federal Bureau of Investigation any official 
     background investigation report on any individual, except 
     when--
       (1) such individual has given his or her express written 
     consent for such request not

[[Page H7909]]

     more than 6 months prior to the date of such request and 
     during the same presidential administration; or
       (2) such request is required due to extraordinary 
     circumstances involving national security.
       Sec. 624. For the purpose of resolving litigation and 
     implementing any settlement agreements regarding the 
     nonforeign area cost-of-living allowance program, the Office 
     of Personnel Management may accept and utilize (without 
     regard to any restriction on unanticipated travel expenses 
     imposed in an Appropriations Act) funds made available to the 
     Office pursuant to court approval.
       Sec. 625. No funds appropriated or otherwise made available 
     under this Act shall be made available to any person or 
     entity that has been convicted of violating the Buy American 
     Act (41 U.S.C. 10a-10c).
       Sec. 626. No funds appropriated by this Act shall be 
     available to pay for an abortion, or the administrative 
     expenses in connection with any health plan under the Federal 
     employees health benefits program which provides any benefits 
     or coverage for abortions.
       Sec. 627. The provision of section 626 shall not apply 
     where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus 
     were carried to term, or the pregnancy is the result of an 
     act of rape or incest.
       Sec. 628. For the purpose of assisting State-supported 
     intercity rail service, in order to demonstrate whether 
     competition will provide higher quality rail passenger 
     service at reasonable prices, the Secretary of 
     Transportation, working with affected States, shall develop 
     and implement a procedure for fair competitive bidding by 
     Amtrak and non-Amtrak operators for State-supported routes: 
     Provided, That in the event a State desires to select or 
     selects a non-Amtrak operator for the route, the State may 
     make an agreement with Amtrak to use facilities and equipment 
     of, or have services provided by, Amtrak under terms agreed 
     to by the State and Amtrak to enable the non-Amtrak operator 
     to provide the State-supported service: Provided further, 
     That if the parties cannot agree on terms, the Secretary 
     shall, as a condition of receipt of Federal grant funds, 
     order that the facilities and equipment be made available and 
     the services be provided by Amtrak under reasonable terms and 
     compensation: Provided further, That when prescribing 
     reasonable compensation to Amtrak, the Secretary shall 
     consider quality of service as a major factor when 
     determining whether, and the extent to which, the amount of 
     compensation shall be greater than the incremental costs of 
     using the facilities and providing the services: Provided 
     further, That the Secretary may reprogram up to $5,000,000 
     from the Amtrak operating grant funds for costs associated 
     with the implementation of the fair bid procedure and 
     demonstration of competition under this section.
       Sec. 629. None of the funds provided in this Act, provided 
     by previous appropriations Acts to the agencies or entities 
     funded in this Act that remain available for obligation or 
     expenditure in fiscal year 2004, or provided from any 
     accounts in the Treasury derived by the collection of fees 
     and available to the agencies funded by this Act, shall be 
     available for obligation or expenditure through a 
     reprogramming of funds that--
       (1) creates a new program;
       (2) eliminates a program, project, or activity;
       (3) increases funds for any program, project, or activity 
     for which funds have been denied or restricted by the 
     Congress;
       (4) proposes to use funds directed for a specific activity 
     by either the House or Senate Committees on Appropriations 
     for a different purpose;
       (5) augments existing programs, projects, or activities in 
     excess of $5,000,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less; or
       (6) reduces existing programs, projects, or activities by 
     10 percent--
     unless the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations are 
     notified at least 15 days in advance of such reprogramming.
       Sec. 630. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be used to require a State or local government to post a 
     traffic control device or variable message sign, or any other 
     type of traffic warning sign, in a language other than 
     English, except with respect to the names of cities, streets, 
     places, events, or signs related to an international border.
       Sec. 631. Exemption From Limitations on Procurement of 
     Foreign Information Technology That Is a Commercial Item.--
     (a) Exemption.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     in order to promote Government access to commercial 
     information technology, the restriction on purchasing 
     nondomestic articles, materials, and supplies set forth in 
     the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a et seq.), and the 
     prohibition on acquiring foreign products under section 
     302(a)(1) of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (Public Law 96-
     39; 19 U.S.C. 2512(a)(1)), shall not apply to the acquisition 
     by the Federal Government of information technology (as 
     defined in section 11101 of title 40, United States Code, 
     that is a commercial item (as defined in section 4(12) of the 
     Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12)).
       (b) Definition.--Section 11101(6) of title 40, United 
     States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after ``storage,'' 
     the following: ``analysis, evaluation,''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``ancillary 
     equipment,'' and inserting ``ancillary equipment (including 
     imaging peripherals, input, output, and storage devices 
     necessary for security and surveillance), peripheral 
     equipment designed to be controlled by the central processing 
     unit of a computer,''.
       Sec. 632. It is the sense of the House of Representatives 
     that empowerment zones within cities should have the 
     necessary flexibility to expand to include relevant 
     communities so that empowerment zone benefits are equitably 
     distributed.
       Sec. 633. It is the sense of the House of Representatives 
     that all census tracts contained in an empowerment zone, 
     either fully or partially, should be equitably accorded the 
     same benefits.
       Sec. 634. None of the funds made available in this Act may 
     be used to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce--
       (1) the proposed rule relating to the determination that 
     real estate brokerage is an activity that is financial in 
     nature or incidental to a financial activity published in the 
     Federal Register on January 3, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 307 et 
     seq.); or
       (2) the revision proposed in such rule to section 1501.2 of 
     title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
       Sec. 635. It is the sense of Congress that, after proper 
     documentation, justification, and review, the Department of 
     Transportation should consider programs to reimburse general 
     aviation ground support services at Ronald Reagan Washington 
     National Airport, and airports located within fifteen miles 
     of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, for their 
     financial losses due to Government actions after the 
     terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
       Sec. 636. It is the sense of the House of Representatives 
     that public private partnerships (PPPs) could help eliminate 
     some of the cost drivers behind complex, capital-intensive 
     highway and transit projects. The House of Representatives 
     encourages the Secretary of Transportation to apply available 
     funds to select projects that are in the development phase, 
     eligible under title 23 and title 49, United States Code, 
     except 23 U.S.C. 133(b)(8), and that employ a PPP strategy.

                     TITLE VII--GENERAL PROVISIONS

                Departments, Agencies, and Corporations

       Sec. 701. Funds appropriated in this or any other Act may 
     be used to pay travel to the United States for the immediate 
     family of employees serving abroad in cases of death or life 
     threatening illness of said employee.
       Sec. 702. No department, agency, or instrumentality of the 
     United States receiving appropriated funds under this or any 
     other Act for fiscal year 2004 shall obligate or expend any 
     such funds, unless such department, agency, or 
     instrumentality has in place, and will continue to administer 
     in good faith, a written policy designed to ensure that all 
     of its workplaces are free from the illegal use, possession, 
     or distribution of controlled substances (as defined in the 
     Controlled Substances Act) by the officers and employees of 
     such department, agency, or instrumentality.
       Sec. 703. Unless otherwise specifically provided, the 
     maximum amount allowable during the current fiscal year in 
     accordance with section 16 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (60 
     Stat. 810), for the purchase of any passenger motor vehicle 
     (exclusive of buses, ambulances, law enforcement, and 
     undercover surveillance vehicles), is hereby fixed at $8,100 
     except station wagons for which the maximum shall be $9,100: 
     Provided, That these limits may be exceeded by not to exceed 
     $3,700 for police-type vehicles, and by not to exceed $4,000 
     for special heavy-duty vehicles: Provided further, That the 
     limits set forth in this section may not be exceeded by more 
     than 5 percent for electric or hybrid vehicles purchased for 
     demonstration under the provisions of the Electric and Hybrid 
     Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976: 
     Provided further, That the limits set forth in this section 
     may be exceeded by the incremental cost of clean alternative 
     fuels vehicles acquired pursuant to Public Law 101-549 over 
     the cost of comparable conventionally fueled vehicles.
       Sec. 704. Appropriations of the executive departments and 
     independent establishments for the current fiscal year 
     available for expenses of travel, or for the expenses of the 
     activity concerned, are hereby made available for quarters 
     allowances and cost-of-living allowances, in accordance with 
     5 U.S.C. 5922-5924.
       Sec. 705. Unless otherwise specified during the current 
     fiscal year, no part of any appropriation contained in this 
     or any other Act shall be used to pay the compensation of any 
     officer or employee of the Government of the United States 
     (including any agency the majority of the stock of which is 
     owned by the Government of the United States) whose post of 
     duty is in the continental United States unless such person: 
     (1) is a citizen of the United States; (2) is a person in the 
     service of the United States on the date of the enactment of 
     this Act who, being eligible for citizenship, has filed a 
     declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United 
     States prior to such date and is actually residing in the 
     United States; (3) is a person who owes allegiance to the 
     United States; (4) is an alien from Cuba, Poland, South 
     Vietnam, the countries of the former Soviet Union, or the 
     Baltic countries lawfully admitted to the United States for 
     permanent residence; (5) is a South Vietnamese, Cambodian, or 
     Laotian refugee paroled in the United States after January 1, 
     1975; or (6) is a national of the People's Republic of China 
     who qualifies for adjustment of status pursuant to the 
     Chinese

[[Page H7910]]

     Student Protection Act of 1992: Provided, That for the 
     purpose of this section, an affidavit signed by any such 
     person shall be considered prima facie evidence that the 
     requirements of this section with respect to his or her 
     status have been complied with: Provided further, That any 
     person making a false affidavit shall be guilty of a felony, 
     and, upon conviction, shall be fined no more than $4,000 or 
     imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both: Provided 
     further, That the above penal clause shall be in addition to, 
     and not in substitution for, any other provisions of existing 
     law: Provided further, That any payment made to any officer 
     or employee contrary to the provisions of this section shall 
     be recoverable in action by the Federal Government. This 
     section shall not apply to citizens of Ireland, Israel, or 
     the Republic of the Philippines, or to nationals of those 
     countries allied with the United States in a current defense 
     effort, or to international broadcasters employed by the 
     United States Information Agency, or to temporary employment 
     of translators, or to temporary employment in the field 
     service (not to exceed 60 days) as a result of emergencies.
       Sec. 706. Appropriations available to any department or 
     agency during the current fiscal year for necessary expenses, 
     including maintenance or operating expenses, shall also be 
     available for payment to the General Services Administration 
     for charges for space and services and those expenses of 
     renovation and alteration of buildings and facilities which 
     constitute public improvements performed in accordance with 
     the Public Buildings Act of 1959 (73 Stat. 749), the Public 
     Buildings Amendments of 1972 (87 Stat. 216), or other 
     applicable law.
       Sec. 707. In addition to funds provided in this or any 
     other Act, all Federal agencies are authorized to receive and 
     use funds resulting from the sale of materials, including 
     Federal records disposed of pursuant to a records schedule 
     recovered through recycling or waste prevention programs. 
     Such funds shall be available until expended for the 
     following purposes:
       (1) Acquisition, waste reduction and prevention, and 
     recycling programs as described in Executive Order No. 13101 
     (September 14, 1998), including any such programs adopted 
     prior to the effective date of the Executive order.
       (2) Other Federal agency environmental management programs, 
     including, but not limited to, the development and 
     implementation of hazardous waste management and pollution 
     prevention programs.
       (3) Other employee programs as authorized by law or as 
     deemed appropriate by the head of the Federal agency.
       Sec. 708. Funds made available by this or any other Act for 
     administrative expenses in the current fiscal year of the 
     corporations and agencies subject to chapter 91 of title 31, 
     United States Code, shall be available, in addition to 
     objects for which such funds are otherwise available, for 
     rent in the District of Columbia; services in accordance with 
     5 U.S.C. 3109; and the objects specified under this head, all 
     the provisions of which shall be applicable to the 
     expenditure of such funds unless otherwise specified in the 
     Act by which they are made available: Provided, That in the 
     event any functions budgeted as administrative expenses are 
     subsequently transferred to or paid from other funds, the 
     limitations on administrative expenses shall be 
     correspondingly reduced.
       Sec. 709. No part of any appropriation for the current 
     fiscal year contained in this or any other Act shall be paid 
     to any person for the filling of any position for which he or 
     she has been nominated after the Senate has voted not to 
     approve the nomination of said person.
       Sec. 710. No part of any appropriation contained in this or 
     any other Act shall be available for interagency financing of 
     boards (except Federal Executive Boards), commissions, 
     councils, committees, or similar groups (whether or not they 
     are interagency entities) which do not have a prior and 
     specific statutory approval to receive financial support from 
     more than one agency or instrumentality.
       Sec. 711. Funds made available by this or any other Act to 
     the Postal Service Fund (39 U.S.C. 2003) shall be available 
     for employment of guards for all buildings and areas owned or 
     occupied by the Postal Service and under the charge and 
     control of the Postal Service, and such guards shall have, 
     with respect to such property, the powers of special 
     policemen provided by the first section of the Act of June 1, 
     1948, as amended (62 Stat. 281; 40 U.S.C. 318), and, as to 
     property owned or occupied by the Postal Service, the 
     Postmaster General may take the same actions as the 
     Administrator of General Services may take under the 
     provisions of sections 2 and 3 of the Act of June 1, 1948, as 
     amended (62 Stat. 281; 40 U.S.C. 318a and 318b), attaching 
     thereto penal consequences under the authority and within the 
     limits provided in section 4 of the Act of June 1, 1948, as 
     amended (62 Stat. 281; 40 U.S.C. 318c).
       Sec. 712. None of the funds made available pursuant to the 
     provisions of this Act shall be used to implement, 
     administer, or enforce any regulation which has been 
     disapproved pursuant to a resolution of disapproval duly 
     adopted in accordance with the applicable law of the United 
     States.
       Sec. 713. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     and except as otherwise provided in this section, no part of 
     any of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 2004, by this 
     or any other Act, may be used to pay any prevailing rate 
     employee described in section 5342(a)(2)(A) of title 5, 
     United States Code--
       (1) during the period from the date of expiration of the 
     limitation imposed by the comparable section for the previous 
     fiscal years until the normal effective date of the 
     applicable wage survey adjustment that is to take effect in 
     fiscal year 2004, in an amount that exceeds the rate payable 
     for the applicable grade and step of the applicable wage 
     schedule in accordance with such section; and
       (2) during the period consisting of the remainder of fiscal 
     year 2004, in an amount that exceeds, as a result of a wage 
     survey adjustment, the rate payable under paragraph (1) by 
     more than the sum of--
       (A) the percentage adjustment taking effect in fiscal year 
     2004 under section 5303 of title 5, United States Code, in 
     the rates of pay under the General Schedule; and
       (B) the difference between the overall average percentage 
     of the locality-based comparability payments taking effect in 
     fiscal year 2004 under section 5304 of such title (whether by 
     adjustment or otherwise), and the overall average percentage 
     of such payments which was effective in the previous fiscal 
     year under such section.
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 
     prevailing rate employee described in subparagraph (B) or (C) 
     of section 5342(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, and no 
     employee covered by section 5348 of such title, may be paid 
     during the periods for which subsection (a) is in effect at a 
     rate that exceeds the rates that would be payable under 
     subsection (a) were subsection (a) applicable to such 
     employee.
       (c) For the purposes of this section, the rates payable to 
     an employee who is covered by this section and who is paid 
     from a schedule not in existence on September 30, 2003, shall 
     be determined under regulations prescribed by the Office of 
     Personnel Management.
       (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rates of 
     premium pay for employees subject to this section may not be 
     changed from the rates in effect on September 30, 2003, 
     except to the extent determined by the Office of Personnel 
     Management to be consistent with the purpose of this section.
       (e) This section shall apply with respect to pay for 
     service performed after September 30, 2003.
       (f) For the purpose of administering any provision of law 
     (including any rule or regulation that provides premium pay, 
     retirement, life insurance, or any other employee benefit) 
     that requires any deduction or contribution, or that imposes 
     any requirement or limitation on the basis of a rate of 
     salary or basic pay, the rate of salary or basic pay payable 
     after the application of this section shall be treated as the 
     rate of salary or basic pay.
       (g) Nothing in this section shall be considered to permit 
     or require the payment to any employee covered by this 
     section at a rate in excess of the rate that would be payable 
     were this section not in effect.
       (h) The Office of Personnel Management may provide for 
     exceptions to the limitations imposed by this section if the 
     Office determines that such exceptions are necessary to 
     ensure the recruitment or retention of qualified employees.
       Sec. 714. During the period in which the head of any 
     department or agency, or any other officer or civilian 
     employee of the Government appointed by the President of the 
     United States, holds office, no funds may be obligated or 
     expended in excess of $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the 
     office of such department head, agency head, officer, or 
     employee, or to purchase furniture or make improvements for 
     any such office, unless advance notice of such furnishing or 
     redecoration is expressly approved by the Committees on 
     Appropriations. For the purposes of this section, the term 
     ``office'' shall include the entire suite of offices assigned 
     to the individual, as well as any other space used primarily 
     by the individual or the use of which is directly controlled 
     by the individual.
       Sec. 715. Notwithstanding section 1346 of title 31, United 
     States Code, or section 710 of this Act, funds made available 
     for the current fiscal year by this or any other Act shall be 
     available for the interagency funding of national security 
     and emergency preparedness telecommunications initiatives 
     which benefit multiple Federal departments, agencies, or 
     entities, as provided by Executive Order No. 12472 (April 3, 
     1984).
       Sec. 716. (a) None of the funds appropriated by this or any 
     other Act may be obligated or expended by any Federal 
     department, agency, or other instrumentality for the salaries 
     or expenses of any employee appointed to a position of a 
     confidential or policy-determining character excepted from 
     the competitive service pursuant to section 3302 of title 5, 
     United States Code, without a certification to the Office of 
     Personnel Management from the head of the Federal department, 
     agency, or other instrumentality employing the Schedule C 
     appointee that the Schedule C position was not created solely 
     or primarily in order to detail the employee to the White 
     House.
       (b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to 
     Federal employees or members of the armed services detailed 
     to or from--
       (1) the Central Intelligence Agency;
       (2) the National Security Agency;
       (3) the Defense Intelligence Agency;
       (4) the offices within the Department of Defense for the 
     collection of specialized national foreign intelligence 
     through reconnaissance programs;
       (5) the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the 
     Department of State;

[[Page H7911]]

       (6) any agency, office, or unit of the Army, Navy, Air 
     Force, and Marine Corps, the Department of Homeland Security, 
     the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration of the Department of Justice, the Department 
     of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, and the 
     Department of Energy performing intelligence functions; and
       (7) the Director of Central Intelligence.
       Sec. 717. No department, agency, or instrumentality of the 
     United States receiving appropriated funds under this or any 
     other Act for the current fiscal year shall obligate or 
     expend any such funds, unless such department, agency, or 
     instrumentality has in place, and will continue to administer 
     in good faith, a written policy designed to ensure that all 
     of its workplaces are free from discrimination and sexual 
     harassment and that all of its workplaces are not in 
     violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as 
     amended, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 
     and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
       Sec. 718. No part of any appropriation contained in this or 
     any other Act shall be available for the payment of the 
     salary of any officer or employee of the Federal Government, 
     who--
       (1) prohibits or prevents, or attempts or threatens to 
     prohibit or prevent, any other officer or employee of the 
     Federal Government from having any direct oral or written 
     communication or contact with any Member, committee, or 
     subcommittee of the Congress in connection with any matter 
     pertaining to the employment of such other officer or 
     employee or pertaining to the department or agency of such 
     other officer or employee in any way, irrespective of whether 
     such communication or contact is at the initiative of such 
     other officer or employee or in response to the request or 
     inquiry of such Member, committee, or subcommittee; or
       (2) removes, suspends from duty without pay, demotes, 
     reduces in rank, seniority, status, pay, or performance of 
     efficiency rating, denies promotion to, relocates, reassigns, 
     transfers, disciplines, or discriminates in regard to any 
     employment right, entitlement, or benefit, or any term or 
     condition of employment of, any other officer or employee of 
     the Federal Government, or attempts or threatens to commit 
     any of the foregoing actions with respect to such other 
     officer or employee, by reason of any communication or 
     contact of such other officer or employee with any Member, 
     committee, or subcommittee of the Congress as described in 
     paragraph (1).
       Sec. 719. (a) None of the funds made available in this or 
     any other Act may be obligated or expended for any employee 
     training that--
       (1) does not meet identified needs for knowledge, skills, 
     and abilities bearing directly upon the performance of 
     official duties;
       (2) contains elements likely to induce high levels of 
     emotional response or psychological stress in some 
     participants;
       (3) does not require prior employee notification of the 
     content and methods to be used in the training and written 
     end of course evaluation;
       (4) contains any methods or content associated with 
     religious or quasi-religious belief systems or ``new age'' 
     belief systems as defined in Equal Employment Opportunity 
     Commission Notice N-915.022, dated September 2, 1988; or
       (5) is offensive to, or designed to change, participants' 
     personal values or lifestyle outside the workplace.
       (b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit, restrict, or 
     otherwise preclude an agency from conducting training bearing 
     directly upon the performance of official duties.
       Sec. 720. No funds appropriated in this or any other Act 
     may be used to implement or enforce the agreements in 
     Standard Forms 312 and 4414 of the Government or any other 
     nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement if such policy, 
     form, or agreement does not contain the following provisions: 
     ``These restrictions are consistent with and do not 
     supersede, conflict with, or otherwise alter the employee 
     obligations, rights, or liabilities created by Executive 
     Order No. 12958; section 7211 of title 5, United States Code 
     (governing disclosures to Congress); section 1034 of title 
     10, United States Code, as amended by the Military 
     Whistleblower Protection Act (governing disclosure to 
     Congress by members of the military); section 2302(b)(8) of 
     title 5, United States Code, as amended by the Whistleblower 
     Protection Act (governing disclosures of illegality, waste, 
     fraud, abuse or public health or safety threats); the 
     Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (50 U.S.C. 421 
     et seq.) (governing disclosures that could expose 
     confidential Government agents); and the statutes which 
     protect against disclosure that may compromise the national 
     security, including sections 641, 793, 794, 798, and 952 of 
     title 18, United States Code, and section 4(b) of the 
     Subversive Activities Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 783(b)). The 
     definitions, requirements, obligations, rights, sanctions, 
     and liabilities created by said Executive order and listed 
     statutes are incorporated into this agreement and are 
     controlling.'': Provided, That notwithstanding the preceding 
     paragraph, a nondisclosure policy form or agreement that is 
     to be executed by a person connected with the conduct of an 
     intelligence or intelligence-related activity, other than an 
     employee or officer of the United States Government, may 
     contain provisions appropriate to the particular activity for 
     which such document is to be used. Such form or agreement 
     shall, at a minimum, require that the person will not 
     disclose any classified information received in the course of 
     such activity unless specifically authorized to do so by the 
     United States Government. Such nondisclosure forms shall also 
     make it clear that they do not bar disclosures to Congress or 
     to an authorized official of an executive agency or the 
     Department of Justice that are essential to reporting a 
     substantial violation of law.
       Sec. 721. No part of any funds appropriated in this or any 
     other Act shall be used by an agency of the executive branch, 
     other than for normal and recognized executive-legislative 
     relationships, for publicity or propaganda purposes, and for 
     the preparation, distribution or use of any kit, pamphlet, 
     booklet, publication, radio, television or film presentation 
     designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the 
     Congress, except in presentation to the Congress itself.
       Sec. 722. None of the funds appropriated by this or any 
     other Act may be used by an agency to provide a Federal 
     employee's home address to any labor organization except when 
     the employee has authorized such disclosure or when such 
     disclosure has been ordered by a court of competent 
     jurisdiction.
       Sec. 723. None of the funds made available in this Act or 
     any other Act may be used to provide any non-public 
     information such as mailing or telephone lists to any person 
     or any organization outside of the Federal Government without 
     the approval of the Committees on Appropriations.
       Sec. 724. No part of any appropriation contained in this or 
     any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda 
     purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized 
     by the Congress.
       Sec. 725. Unless authorized in accordance with law or 
     regulations to use such time for other purposes, an employee 
     of an agency shall use official time in an honest effort to 
     perform official duties. An employee not under a leave 
     system, including a Presidential appointee exempted under 
     section 6301(2) of title 5, United States Code, has an 
     obligation to expend an honest effort and a reasonable 
     proportion of such employee's time in the performance of 
     official duties: Provided, That in this section the term 
     ``agency''--
       (1) means an Executive agency as defined under section 105 
     of title 5, United States Code;
       (2) includes a military department as defined under section 
     102 of such title, the Postal Service, and the Postal Rate 
     Commission; and
       (3) shall not include the General Accounting Office.
       Sec. 726. Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 1346 and section 710 of 
     this Act, funds made available for the current fiscal year by 
     this or any other Act to any department or agency, which is a 
     member of the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program 
     (JFMIP), shall be available to finance an appropriate share 
     of JFMIP administrative costs, as determined by the JFMIP, 
     but not to exceed a total of $800,000 including the salary of 
     the Executive Director and staff support.
       Sec. 727. Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 1346 and section 710 of 
     this Act, the head of each Executive department and agency is 
     hereby authorized to transfer to or reimburse the 
     ``Governmentwide Policy'' account, General Services 
     Administration, with the approval of the Director of the 
     Office of Management and Budget, funds made available for the 
     current fiscal year by this or any other Act, including 
     rebates from charge card and other contracts. These funds 
     shall be administered by the Administrator of General 
     Services to support Government-wide financial, information 
     technology, procurement, and other management innovations, 
     initiatives, and activities, as approved by the Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 
     appropriate interagency groups designated by the Director 
     (including the Chief Financial Officers Council and the Joint 
     Financial Management Improvement Program for financial 
     management initiatives, the Chief Information Officers 
     Council for information technology initiatives, and the 
     Procurement Executives Council for procurement initiatives). 
     The total funds transferred or reimbursed shall not exceed 
     $17,000,000. Such transfers or reimbursements may only be 
     made 15 days following notification of the Committees on 
     Appropriations by the Director of the Office of Management 
     and Budget.
       Sec. 728. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a 
     woman may breastfeed her child at any location in a Federal 
     building or on Federal property, if the woman and her child 
     are otherwise authorized to be present at the location.
       Sec. 729. Nothwithstanding section 1346 of title 31, United 
     States Code, or section 710 of this Act, funds made available 
     for the current fiscal year by this or any other Act shall be 
     available for the interagency funding of specific projects, 
     workshops, studies, and similar efforts to carry out the 
     purposes of the National Science and Technology Council 
     (authorized by Executive Order No. 12881), which benefit 
     multiple Federal departments, agencies, or entities: 
     Provided, That the Office of Management and Budget shall 
     provide a report describing the budget of and resources 
     connected with the National Science and Technology Council to 
     the Committees on Appropriations, the House Committee on 
     Science; and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation 90 days after enactment of this Act.
       Sec. 730. Any request for proposals, solicitation, grant 
     application, form, notification,

[[Page H7912]]

     press release, or other publications involving the 
     distribution of Federal funds shall indicate the agency 
     providing the funds, the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
     Assistance Number, as applicable,  and the amount provided. 
     This provision shall apply to direct payments, formula funds, 
     and grants received by a State receiving Federal funds.
       Sec. 731. Subsection (f) of section 403 of Public Law 103-
     356 (31 U.S.C. 501 note) is amended by striking ``October 1, 
     2001'' and inserting ``October 1, 2004''.
       Sec. 732. (a) Prohibition of Federal Agency Monitoring of 
     Personal Information on Use of Internet.--None of the funds 
     made available in this or any other Act may be used by any 
     Federal agency--
       (1) to collect, review, or create any aggregate list, 
     derived from any means, that includes the collection of any 
     personally identifiable information relating to an 
     individual's access to or use of any Federal Government 
     Internet site of the agency; or
       (2) to enter into any agreement with a third party 
     (including another government agency) to collect, review, or 
     obtain any aggregate list, derived from any means, that 
     includes the collection of any personally identifiable 
     information relating to an individual's access to or use of 
     any nongovernmental Internet site.
       (b) Exceptions.--The limitations established in subsection 
     (a) shall not apply to--
       (1) any record of aggregate data that does not identify 
     particular persons;
       (2) any voluntary submission of personally identifiable 
     information;
       (3) any action taken for law enforcement, regulatory, or 
     supervisory purposes, in accordance with applicable law; or
       (4) any action described in subsection (a)(1) that is a 
     system security action taken by the operator of an Internet 
     site and is necessarily incident to the rendition of the 
     Internet site services or to the protection of the rights or 
     property of the provider of the Internet site.
       (c) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
       (1) The term ``regulatory'' means agency actions to 
     implement, interpret or enforce authorities provided in law.
       (2) The term ``supervisory'' means examinations of the 
     agency's supervised institutions, including assessing safety 
     and soundness, overall financial condition, management 
     practices and policies and compliance with applicable 
     standards as provided in law.
       Sec. 733. (a) None of the funds appropriated by this Act 
     may be used to enter into or renew a contract which includes 
     a provision providing prescription drug coverage, except 
     where the contract also includes a provision for 
     contraceptive coverage.
       (b) Nothing in this section shall apply to a contract 
     with--
       (1) any of the following religious plans:
       (A) Personal Care's HMO; and
       (B) OSF Health Plans, Inc.; and
       (2) any existing or future plan, if the carrier for the 
     plan objects to such coverage on the basis of religious 
     beliefs.
       (c) In implementing this section, any plan that enters into 
     or renews a contract under this section may not subject any 
     individual to discrimination on the basis that the individual 
     refuses to prescribe or otherwise provide for contraceptives 
     because such activities would be contrary to the individual's 
     religious beliefs or moral convictions.
       (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require 
     coverage of abortion or abortion-related services.
       Sec. 734. The Congress of the United States recognizes the 
     United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as the official 
     anti-doping agency for Olympic, Pan American, and Paralympic 
     sport in the United States.
       Sec. 735. Not later than 6 months after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of each 
     applicable department or agency shall submit to the Committee 
     on Appropriations a report detailing what policies and 
     procedures are in place for each department or agency to give 
     first priority to the location of new offices and other 
     facilities in rural areas, as directed by the Rural 
     Development Act of 1972.
       Sec. 736. Each Executive department and agency shall 
     evaluate the creditworthiness of an individual before issuing 
     the individual a government travel charge card. The 
     department or agency may not issue a government travel charge 
     card to an individual that either lacks a credit history or 
     is found to have an unsatisfactory credit history as a result 
     of this evaluation: Provided, That this restriction shall not 
     preclude issuance of a restricted-use charge, debit, or 
     stored value card made in accordance with agency procedures 
     to (a) an individual with an unsatisfactory credit history 
     where such card is used to pay travel expenses and the agency 
     determines there is no suitable alternative payment mechanism 
     available before issuing the card, or (b) an individual who 
     lacks a credit history. Each Executive department and agency 
     shall establish guidelines and procedures for disciplinary 
     actions to be taken against agency personnel for improper, 
     fraudulent, or abusive use of government charge cards, which 
     shall include appropriate disciplinary actions for use of 
     charge cards for purposes, and at establishments, that are 
     inconsistent with the official business of the Department or 
     agency or with applicable standards of conduct.
       Sec. 737. Notwithstanding section 1346 of title 31, United 
     States Code, or section 710 of this Act, funds made available 
     for the current fiscal year by this or any other Act shall be 
     available for the interagency funding of the National 
     Oceanographic Partnership Program Office, authorized by 10 
     U.S.C. 7902, and the Coastal America program, which benefit 
     multiple Federal departments, agencies, or entities: 
     Provided, That the Department of Commerce shall provide a 
     report describing the budget of and resources connected with 
     the National Oceanographic Partnership Program Office and the 
     Coastal America program to the House and Senate Committees on 
     Appropriations, the House Committee on Science, and the 
     Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 90 
     days after the enactment of this Act.
       Sec. 738. Section 640(c) of the Treasury and General 
     Government Appropriations Act, 2000 (Public Law 106-58; 2 
     U.S.C. 437g note 1), as amended by section 642 of the 
     Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2002 
     (Public Law 107-67), is amended by striking ``December 31, 
     2003'' and inserting ``December 31, 2005''.
       Sec. 739. Section 304(a) of the Federal Election Campaign 
     Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended as follows:
       (1) in clauses (a)(2)(A)(i) and (a)(4)(A)(ii) by striking 
     the parenthetical ``(or posted by registered or certified 
     mail no later than the 15th day before)'' and inserting in 
     its place, ``(or posted by any of the following: registered 
     mail, certified mail, priority mail having a delivery 
     confirmation, or express mail having a delivery confirmation, 
     or delivered to an overnight delivery service with an on-line 
     tracking system, if posted or delivered no later than the 
     15th day before)''; and
       (2) by striking paragraph (a)(5) and inserting in its 
     place,
       ``(5) If a designation, report, or statement filed pursuant 
     to this Act (other than under paragraph (2)(A)(i) or 
     (4)(A)(ii) or subsection (g)(1)) is sent by registered mail, 
     certified mail, priority mail having a delivery confirmation, 
     or express mail having a delivery confirmation, the United 
     States postmark shall be considered the date of filing the 
     designation, report or statement. If a designation, report or 
     statement filed pursuant to this Act (other than under 
     paragraph (2)(A)(i) or (4)(A)(ii), or subsection (g)(1)) is 
     sent by an overnight delivery service with an on-line 
     tracking system, the date on the proof of delivery to the 
     delivery service shall be considered the date of filing of 
     the designation, report, or statement.''.
       Sec. 740. (a) The adjustment in rates of basic pay for 
     employees under the statutory pay systems that takes effect 
     in fiscal year 2004 under sections 5303 and 5304 of title 5, 
     United States Code, shall be an increase of 4.1 percent, and 
     this adjustment shall apply to civilian employees in the 
     Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security 
     and such adjustments shall be effective as of the first day 
     of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after 
     January 1, 2004.
       (b) Notwithstanding section 713 of this Act, the adjustment 
     in rates of basic pay for the statutory pay systems that take 
     place in fiscal year 2004 under sections 5344 and 5348 of 
     title 5, United States Code, shall be no less than the 
     percentage in paragraph (a) as employees in the same location 
     whose rates of basic pay are adjusted pursuant to the 
     statutory pay systems under section 5303 and 5304 of title 5, 
     United States Code. Prevailing rate employees at locations 
     where there are no employees whose pay is increased pursuant 
     to sections 5303 and 5304 of title 5 and prevailing rate 
     employees described in section 5343(a)(5) of title 5 shall be 
     considered to be located in the pay locality designated as 
     ``Rest of US'' pursuant to section 5304 of title 5 for 
     purposes of this paragraph.
       (c) Funds used to carry out this section shall be paid from 
     appropriations, which are made to each applicable department 
     or agency for salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2004.
       Sec. 741. Not later than December 31 of each year, the head 
     of each agency shall submit to Congress a report on the 
     competitive sourcing activities performed during the previous 
     fiscal year by Federal Government sources that are on the 
     list required under the Federal Activities Inventory Reform 
     Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-270; 31 U.S.C. 501 note). The 
     report shall include--
       (1) the number of full time equivalent Federal employees 
     studied for competitive sourcing;
       (2) the total agency cost required to carry out its 
     competitive sourcing program;
       (3) the costs attributable to paying outside consultants 
     and contractors to carry out the agency's competitive 
     sourcing program;
       (4) the costs attributable to paying agency personnel to 
     carry out its competitive sourcing program; and
       (5) an estimate of the savings attributed as a result of 
     the agency competitive sourcing program.


                            Points of Order

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state his point of order.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against section 164 
which begins on page 53, line 3 and ends on page 54, line 12. This 
section amends the Buy America requirements for transit capital 
purchases of steel, iron, manufactured goods, and rolling stock. The 
amendments made by section 164 are meant to strengthen Buy America, but 
the Department of Transportation

[[Page H7913]]

analysis has determined that there will be serious unintended 
consequences that will significantly slow the purchase and construction 
of transit system components and systems and also will result in more 
foreign-made products being purchased by transit agencies. This 
provision is legislative in nature and also in violation of rule XXI.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does any Member wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, we would concede the point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and sustained, and this 
section is stricken from the bill.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state his point of order.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I raise a point of order 
against section 212 on the grounds that the section changes existing 
law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI and is therefore 
legislation included in a general appropriations bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Do any Members wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, we would concede the point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and sustained, and this 
section is stricken from the bill.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state his point of order.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I raise a point of order 
against section 621. This section changes existing law in violation of 
clause 2(b) of House rule XXI and is therefore legislation included in 
a general appropriations bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does any Member wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, we would concede that point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and sustained, and that 
section is stricken from the bill.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I raise a point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state his point of order.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I raise a point of order against 
the words ``notwithstanding any other provision of law'' on page 126, 
lines 15 and 16, and beginning with the words ``the prohibition'' on 
page 126, line 20 through ``2512(a)(1)'' on line 23 on the grounds that 
this provision violates clause 2(b) of House rule XXI because it is 
legislation included in a general appropriations bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Does any Member wish to be heard on the point of order?
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, we would concede the point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN. The point of order is conceded and sustained and the 
language is stricken from the bill.


                    Amendment Offered by Mr. Cooper

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

       Amendment offered by Mr. Cooper:
       Page 67, line 23, after the first dollar amount insert 
     ``(reduced by $75,000,000) (increased by $75,000,000)''.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) and a Member opposed will each 
control 30 minutes.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the 
amendment.
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Istook) will control 
the time in opposition.
  The proponent of the amendment, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Cooper), is recognized for 30 minutes in support of his amendment.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, the purpose of the amendment that I am offering tonight 
along with the distinguished gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) 
and the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) is to decrease 
funding for very ill-considered and heavy-handed IRS enforcement effort 
that tries to precertify working poor families for the earned income 
tax credit or the EITC.
  The amendment we are proposing will reduce funding by $75 million for 
the IRS's precertification proposal and it would in turn increase 
funding by $75 million for investigation and audit of large and mid-
size corporations. The amendment would continue to allow $25 million 
for implementation of the precertification program.
  I certainly understand the Treasury's concerns about high error rates 
associated with the EITC. And as a proponent of good government, I am 
eager to reduce any waste, fraud or abuse in government. But the 
Treasury's proposal will create, probably, an even more burdensome 
bureaucracy than they realize, and it is a clumsy and heavy-handed 
attack on the poor.
  Even the IRS realizes this because in a recent announcement they 
decided to delay and decrease their precertification program. EITC 
compliance accounts for about 3 percent of the estimated total taxes 
that go uncollected, about 3 percent. But in contrast, according to the 
General Accounting Office, individuals who under report business income 
on their taxes are defrauding the government by about $40 billion a 
year or about 12 percent of uncollected taxes, more than the cost of 
the entire EITC program. Yet, guess what? There is no major effort to 
target these taxpayers even though it is a much larger amount.
  I suggest we follow the Willie Sutton rule, the famous bank robber, 
who when asked why he robbed banks, he said, ``That's where the money 
is.''
  Instead, the IRS has requested a 68.5 percent increase in EITC 
enforcement while barely increasing their other enforcement efforts. In 
my mind, this represents a gross misallocation of resources, especially 
in view of declining overall tax enforcement by the IRS.
  I am willing to bet that the administrative costs of precertification 
will far outstrip any potential savings, especially if the IRS goes 
forward with the plans to eventually expand the precertification 
process to as many as two million taxpayers. That is why our amendment 
would direct $75 million toward much more sensible and cost-effective 
compliance efforts, where the money is, toward auditing and 
investigating mid-size and large corporations. Because according to the 
IRS, 7,000 corporations that should be audited every year are not. This 
translates into a direct loss to the Treasury of $6.5 billion a year in 
tax revenues.
  Moreover, according to a recent report by former IRS Commissioner 
Rossotti, the IRS lacks the resources to carry out nearly a third of 
the corporate audits it should be accomplishing each year.
  So why is the administration focusing on the few dollars of poor 
working families under the EITC and not on the big dollars of these 
companies? Why is the U.S. Government trying to make this vital tax 
credit so hard to claim? I am afraid the real IRS motive may not be 
just a desire to curb waste, fraud and abuse. It may be gross 
insensitivity to the needs of working poor families, simple hard-
heartedness and lack of compassion for these hard-pressed American 
families.
  In the national metropolitan area which makes up the heart of my 
congressional district, approximately 14 percent of my constituents 
rely on the EITC every year, receiving a credit of about $1,500. In 
total, this credit puts about $87 million a year into these families 
and into the national economy. Nationally, the EITC is directly 
responsible for lifting some four million people every year above the 
poverty line, including two million children. Precertification 
programs, as proposed by the IRS, will discourage many of these 
families from even applying for the EITC.
  Under the precertification proposal, the IRS now says it will now 
want to prove that children claimed under the credit have been living 
with the claiming taxpayer for the required six months. The practical 
obstacles posed by this requirement are mind boggling. Although the IRS 
would allow a landlord or property manager to submit an affidavit, what 
landlords would testify on penalty of perjury to the intimate living 
arrangements of their tenants? Neighbors and relatives who are, in 
fact, in the best position to know these arrangements, are forbidden 
under the IRS approach from providing supporting documentation.
  I also object to the discriminatory treatment of lower income tax 
payers that would result from precertification. For those subject to 
the process of precertification, this effectively means a 100 percent 
chance of

[[Page H7914]]

audit in advance of even filing your tax return. No other taxpayers in 
America face a comparable burden. Why is the IRS not also demanding 
precertification for taxpayers claiming credits for dependent care 
expenses, educational expenses, or charitable contributions? There is 
significant evidence that these credits are a widespread source of 
exaggeration and noncompliance and abuse, yet no one is requiring these 
other taxpayers to file receipts in advance for day care expenses or 
donations of such things as used automobiles or clothing.
  I fear that rather than reducing errors, the IRS proposal would, in 
fact, intimidate people into not using the EITC at all, and that would 
be a severe injustice to these people.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, people are easily confused about what we are talking 
about here. And it is a very strange amendment that is being offered 
because, frankly, the amendment does not really do anything. It is an 
opportunity for people to get up and speak, but I will read, Mr. 
Chairman, what the text of the amendment says. It says: Take the dollar 
amount on page 67, line 23 and first reduce it by $75 million and then 
increase it by $75 million.

                              {time}  1930

  Well, the net effect of that is zero. The amendment makes no change 
in the amount of the money in the bill for the IRS to enforce the tax 
laws. No change whatsoever. It is simply an opportunity for people to 
get up and talk about it.
  It deserves to be opposed as something that is senseless and, for 
that matter, that blocks reform. Because although it is labeled as a, 
quote, tax credit, the EITC, earned income tax credit, is not a tax 
credit program. It is an assistance program designed for people with 
low income that says you tell us how much you made, and if it is not 
enough we are going to send you a check. It is a public assistance 
program.
  Now, any other public assistance program, you have to go through a 
process of showing that you are eligible. If you want food stamps, you 
go through a process to be certified that you are eligible for it. If 
you want housing subsidies, you go through a process to be certified 
that before you get this money from taxpayers that you are actually 
eligible for it, you qualify. If you want temporary assistance to needy 
families, you are certified in advance as being eligible.
  The big problem with the EITC is it is a public assistance program 
where there is no oversight. There are 19 million, let me repeat that 
figure, 19 million Americans each year that file an income tax return 
and say send me a check, I claim this. It is not a tax refund. It is a 
check over and beyond whatever you may have paid in in your income 
taxes.
  And it has been proven over the years that a fourth to a third of all 
those claims are for people who do not qualify. It is costing taxpayers 
$10 billion a year. That is not small change.
  That is not harassing people as the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Cooper) I believe represented. That is saying if we are going to have 
$35 billion and $10 billion of it goes to people who do not qualify 
under the program going out of the Treasury, not a refund, not getting 
a refund for taxes you paid in, but a form of public assistance, maybe 
we ought to pay attention to whether people are actually eligible 
before we spend this much money.
  The program that the IRS is putting into place will not affect 80 
percent of these 19 million people, but it is targeted to those that 
the IRS has reason to believe are the ones that are most likely to be 
part of that $10 billion a year that we are paying out that should not 
be paid out.
  We are saying we need you to do some verification to show to us that 
you are entitled to this taxpayer money just the same as you would do 
if you are asking for a government check for anything else. That is not 
burdensome. That is not too much.
  It really bothers me to hear the way that some of this rhetoric is 
being tossed about as though we are picking on people. No. People want 
the government to give them the check. If they qualify under the 
government program, then they have it coming. But they would not say I 
am just going to walk in off the street and say I ought to get food 
stamps, and that is it, and nobody ever checks to see if you are 
eligible.
  That is why we have this error rate, because we do not have anybody 
checking up on it. The IRS is trying to establish a system for the 
first time of doing some checking on this.
  Some people are more concerned about shoveling money out of the 
Federal Treasury faster, rather than saying we ought to be good 
stewards and prudent watchdogs of the taxpayers' money. That is all the 
IRS has tried to put into place.
  It really is rather silly to say that somehow we are even talking 
about or addressing this situation with an amendment that says add $75 
million to this tax enforcement program and then take $75 million of it 
away. It is a wash. It does nothing.
  The IRS is trying to do something. It is trying to be good stewards 
of our money. And it is not only going after the people in the EITC 
that are not eligible for it, it is going after the corporate 
scofflaws. It is going after the big businesses or small businesses or 
whatever they may be that are not being honest in how they file with 
the IRS and treat their taxes.
  The provision of the bill that we are talking about on page 67 makes 
it clear that this overall figure is for necessary expenses of the 
Internal Revenue Service for determining and establishing tax 
liabilities; providing litigation support; conducting criminal 
investigation and enforcement activities; securing unfiled tax returns, 
collecting unpaid accounts; conducting a document matching program; 
resolving taxpayer problems through prompt identification, referral and 
settlement; compiling statistics of income and conducting compliance 
research; funding essential earned income tax credit compliance and 
error reduction initiatives and services as authorized by law. All of 
these, one big catch-all figure.
  The gentleman has not singled out in his amendment the earned income 
tax initiative or compliance of it. He has taken all of the enforcement 
activities of the IRS, a $4.2 billion account, and said from that $4.2 
billion, subtract $75 million and then add $75 million. Total net 
change, zero.
  The amendment does not do what the gentleman has represented that it 
would do because it is not specific to EITC, but furthermore, the IRS 
needs to be going forward with this enforcement program. Those that say 
the government should send me a check above and beyond what may be a 
refund on my income taxes, they should have a little bit of burden of 
proof when the IRS says they ought to substantiate this; they ought to 
show something so that we can separate the honest people from the 
dishonest people that are costing taxpayers $10 billion a year.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The gentleman from Oklahoma has been quite unfair in his 
characterization, first in the nature of the amendment. We drafted this 
with the advice of the Parliamentarian as the only way to affect this 
important area in the bill without being subject to a point of order. I 
think the gentleman really thinks a more explicit amendment would have 
been subject to a point of order, which is exactly what the gentleman 
from Oklahoma would have preferred.
  Second point, picking on poor people. If my colleague is going to do 
it, at least be fair about it. Remember, under this bill we would still 
allow $25 million to be spent to implement the IRS precertification. 
Remember, again, that even the IRS has admitted that their prior 
efforts have gone too far because they, IRS, on their own initiative 
has delayed and canceled their program because even they have realized 
they were insensitive to the needs of these families.
  Another mischaracterization, the program was put into place, as I 
recall, years ago before my time by a Republican President, and I think 
it was Richard Nixon, because he and many Americans realized the 
detrimental effect of a high marginal rate of taxation. As a person 
works and moves out of poverty, they are subject to an extraordinarily 
high and punitive tax

[[Page H7915]]

rate. The EITC is designed to bring that back to a decent, bearable 
level for these hardworking families.
  So it is basically a Republican program we are talking about here. No 
one wants it to be abused. But I would suggest to the gentleman that 
there are other, fairer ways to police this program, and guess what, 
this and prior Congresses have already thought up several of them 
because, guess what, the study that the gentleman cited about waste or 
abuse in the program is from a 1999 study, and this Congress has 
already implemented several reforms to improve administration of this 
program. No study has been conducted since 1999. So let us at least 
find out the true facts before we jump to conclusions, especially when 
at the same time we are jumping on the backs of the poor.
  This is an important opportunity to balance IRS enforcement, to allow 
the IRS to go where the money really is. As I mentioned, the average 
recipient in my district, at least of this money, gets $1,500. There 
are many other places the IRS could go to really retrieve big dollars 
for the taxpayer. The IRS has listed them. We are allowing $75 million 
to go help the IRS in these efforts while we still preserve $25 million 
for this precertification program.
  So if the gentleman were more careful with his facts and more 
sensitive to the needs of the working poor, he would not simply dismiss 
this as a public assistance program. This is an example, if my 
colleague wants to use it, of compassionate conservatism, but 
unfortunately in this Congress we are seeing very little compassion.
  Let us have some compassion for the working poor, and this amendment 
is an opportunity to show it.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. 
Kilpatrick).
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague very much for 
bringing forth this very well-thought-out amendment in the time that we 
have, and I do know that he worked with the Parliamentarian to make it 
germane.
  Let me back up just a moment here before I get started. In the early 
seventies when the earned income tax credit was started, it was a 
Republican initiative, and the reason they put it forth and it was 
adopted is because they said if we give people who earn income, low 
income, I might tell my colleagues, with children, $34,600 and less, 
with children, if they will remain working, we will give them an earned 
income tax credit so that they can keep working and not go onto the 
welfare rolls. That was the reason for the earned income tax credit as 
it passed this Congress in the early seventies by Republican 
initiatives, and I think it was good then and it is certainly good now.
  As the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) states, this is a hit at 
those who can least afford it. Statistics show that this may recoup 
some $9 billion, and we need to go back for that. We need to go and 
look for the $9 billion for those people who have used the earned 
income tax credit and are not to get it, that they do not take that 
from the Treasury. We do need to go back on that, and I think we all 
feel that.
  We also ought to go after the $132 billion that individual taxpayers 
cheat on their tax forms with. We also need to go for the $70 billion 
that offshore corporations steal from our Federal Government, and we 
also need to go for the $46 billion that corporations cheat our Federal 
Government for.
  Our point is that in this budget, where I am proud to serve as a 
member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent 
Agencies with my esteemed chairman and ranking member, $100 million is 
allowed to go after 45,000 low-income people who work every day and 
earn less than $34,000 with children, one or more children. Why not go 
back where the money is?
  We have got the biggest deficit our country has ever seen. We need to 
go back and recoup some of that money. I am standing here in the well 
of the House tonight to tell my colleagues that money, yes, go get it 
from those people from the earned income tax credit who are cheating 
our government; but, more importantly, go after the big corporations, 
those offshore corporations and other high income and other individuals 
who cheat our country. This is not the time to again put a black eye 
and to go after those families who are working every day trying to 
raise their children. The earned income tax credit is a great program, 
and we ought not go after it to decimate it.
  So what our amendment says is of the $100 million that has been 
appropriated in this budget, leave $25 million there and go after them, 
try to find those low-income people who are using the system to cheat 
our government. We hope that we find them. But with the $75 million 
that is left of the $100 million, go after the offshore corporations 
who cheat our country, over $170 billion worth. Go after those 
corporations who cheat our citizens out of $46 billion. So we want to 
make it even. Go after those in the earned income tax credit who may be 
making those claims, and not justifiably, appropriately, for them.
  This line in our budget, enforcement compliance in the EITC has 
increased 68 percent over last year's budget. Do we need to increase it 
that much or should we go after where the big money is? That is all the 
Congressman is doing, and I surely support the Congressman and commend 
him for bringing the amendment forward. I am happy to be a cosponsor 
with it.
  The working poor deserve our support during these difficult times. 
Many of the working poor have sons and daughters who are fighting 
offshore. I have some of those in my district. I want to try to help 
them keep their families together, keep their children safe. And the 
EITC is just one small thing that this government gives them so that 
they continue to work, yes, many times with no health insurance, 
earning less than $35,000 a year, raising their families so that they 
do not go on welfare.

                              {time}  1945

  Of course we can do this, and we offer this amendment to say work 
with the low-income families. They are not asking for a handout. They 
just need a hand. And we are the Congress that can do that for them. So 
I support the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper). I think he has 
done an outstanding job here. I am proud to be a cosponsor. Let us go 
after the big cheats. That is what that $75 million is there for.
  All of us want to encourage policies that encourage tax compliance 
among tax filers, but we know 100 percent compliance is impossible to 
obtain. Part of the problem is that the IRS does not have the resources 
to perform the investigations and audits in just about all filing 
categories.
  However, over the years Congress has concentrated its emphasis on tax 
compliance efforts at the working poor. None of us wants to encourage 
tax scofflaws, but focusing greater tax compliance solely on the 
working poor who qualify for the earned income tax credit demonstrates 
the mistaken tax priorities of this administration.
  Former IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti has offered the estimate 
that the IRS assesses almost $30 billion of taxes that is cannot 
collect because of tax fraud. That is a big problem, especially when 
our government is going to generate a budget deficit of $480 billion 
and possibly even more by the end of the fiscal year.
  This bill provides more money for increase tax compliance efforts. 
But where does it focus its efforts at greater tax compliance: fraud 
and mistakes in the Earned Income Tax Credit Program. The 
administration is shocked by that the EITC has an error rate that is 
estimated between 27 and 32 percent. According to the IRS, the 
avoidance costs amount to $7.8 billion or 2.8 percent of the tax 
compliance problem. Now that's going after the big bucks.
  If you looked at the tax compliance mandate contained in this, you 
would come away with the impression that the working poor are the 
number one tax scofflaw problem facing the nation. This bill increases 
provides $100 million in the EITC enforcement budget, over a 68.percent 
increase. Never mind the fact that 56 percent of the non-compliant 
taxpayers have incomes in excess of $100,000, and yet they are in the 
income category that is less likely to be audited.

  Simply put, the tax compliance priorities contained in this bill is a 
misallocation of funds.
  The Cooper, DeLauro, Kilpatrick amendment scales back the EITC 
precertification pilot program to $25 million and intends to restore 
greater balance in our tax compliance efforts by making more money 
available for investigating and auditing large and medium sized 
businesses. That's where the money is. That's where the greater 
incidence of tax cheating occurs.

[[Page H7916]]

  The amendment allows the IRS to move forward with the 
precertification program, but it also encourages the IRS to go after 
the big tax dodgers like major tax shelters such as corporate trusts, 
offshore accounts, other abusive corporate tax shelters.
  This amendment says lets go after tax cheats poor and rich, and 
represents a departure from the administration's policy of increasing 
the tax burden on the poor.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The error rate we are discussing regarding the EITC is not an old 
number. This was something that a special task force was formed within 
the IRS and the Treasury Department, and their most recent 
comprehensive survey was January of last year, January of 2002, where 
they established the EITC error rate is between 27 and 32 percent. If 
we compare that with other major social benefit programs, such as 
temporary assistance to needy families, food stamps, Social Security, 
disability, and Medicaid, they have the error rates below 10 percent, 
whereas the EITC error rate is 27 to 32 percent. Three times as many 
mistakes. Why? Because we do not have any checking up on people.
  And we are not just checking up on this program. We have, in the IRS 
budget, an increase of $160 million going after upper-income taxpayers, 
people that may be scofflaws and trying to bend or twist or distort our 
tax laws. We are trying to go after this across the board, but we need 
to have verification and documentation for people that expect the 
taxpayers to be doing this for them.
  Under the EITC, a person can receive a check from the Federal 
Treasury for as much as $4,204. That is above and beyond whatever they 
might or might not have paid in income taxes. On average, for these 19 
million people, on average they receive $1,705 above and beyond what 
they paid in income taxes. Is it asking too much for someone that 
expects the taxpayers to write them a check for an average of $1,700 to 
do a little bit of documentation in 20 percent of the cases to show 
that they actually qualify? That is not asking much.
  In fact, it is not picking on the poor either, because more than a 
third, about 35 percent, more than a third of the EITC recipients 
exceed the poverty guidelines in their income. This is a program that 
goes beyond just helping the poor because it has become so easy for 
people to falsely or fraudulently, and, yes, sometimes mistakenly get 
this money from the Federal Treasury. We should not close the door on 
efforts to try to stop a wrongful outflow of $10 billion a year out of 
the Federal Treasury. We should oppose the amendment.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
to note once again that my friend, the gentleman from Oklahoma, is 
being unfair. We are not trying to stop enforcement of EITC. We are 
trying to do it in a fair and balanced way so that the IRS can go after 
where the big money is as well as where the small money is.
  And the gentleman is unfair as well because it is not just a little 
bit of paperwork. They have to find folks who will certify that their 
own children have been living with them for 6 months, and they 
disqualify relatives and neighbors and building managers. So who else 
can they turn to, people who do not know them? And under penalty of 
perjury, they want an absentee landlord to sign a piece of paper saying 
someone's kids have been living with them? Why not a simpler approach? 
Why not say, in the situation of a divorce or legal separation, why not 
go to the court and find out who has custody of the children and get a 
certificate there and make that work? That would be a simple, fair way 
to do it. But, no, the IRS has not chosen that path.
  There are other simpler ways of solving this problem, and that is all 
that we ask. Even the IRS acknowledges that. That is why they have, on 
their own initiative, delayed and downsized their proposed program.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut 
(Ms. DeLauro), my good friend and colleague and cosponsor of this key 
amendment.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I cannot tell you how proud I am to stand 
tonight with the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) and the 
gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) to offer this amendment, 
which in essence just says let us redirect. It does not close any 
doors. Let us redirect some of the funds intended for the IRS's EITC 
precertification program to increase tax compliance for mid- and large 
corporations. In fact, what this new IRS rule is all about is creating 
a two-tiered tax enforcement system, one for high-income Americans and 
one for low-wage workers that is far more burdensome.
  My colleague from Tennessee pointed out child care records, school 
records, medical records, leases, religious records, a letter on 
letterhead from a member of the clergy, child care providers, 
employers, health care providers, landlords, utility managers, third-
party affidavits. That is what they are asking of low-wage workers. No 
other group of taxpayers has got to go through those kinds of 
gyrations.
  But it is what we could anticipate. This is the same crowd that says 
no to a child tax credit for people who make $10,500 a year to $26,000 
a year. They are workers, hard workers; they just happen to make low 
wages, so let us go after them. That is what this new rule is about. We 
know their problems with the EITC.
  No one here is defending overclaims, but let us not forget a 2001 GAO 
report found that about 4.3 million eligible households did not claim 
the EITC in 1999. Overall, we know that every year we lose about $30 
billion through underpayment of taxes. Only a very small proportion of 
this comes from the EITC. The vast majority is high-income earners and 
corporations. And it is worth repeating what my colleagues have said 
tonight. The estimate of taxes that the IRS says are avoided, evaded or 
not paid by individuals, $132 billion, offshore accounts $70 billion.
  Let us remember offshore accounts. Only a few minutes ago on this 
floor the gentleman from Virginia got up and said we should not take up 
the issue of expatriates. These are companies that go offshore to avoid 
paying taxes then come back to the Federal Government to get contracts 
to further their own business interests. They do not want to discuss 
that. Seventy billion dollars is lost on taxes by those corporations 
who go offshore just specifically for the purpose of not paying taxes 
to the U.S. Government. Where is the task force, where is the task 
force that is going after that $70 billion? They do not want to go down 
that route.
  Partnership investors. Thirty billion dollars is lost. The fact of 
the matter is that the number that my colleague uses of $10 billion is 
a 1999 number as well. There have been subsequent changes to the tax 
law that would reduce that. We are talking about $6.5 billion, yes, 
that undeserved EITC tax credits paid, nowhere near what individuals or 
offshore accounts do. The government loses $6.5 billion in direct tax 
revenue annually from mid- and large corporations not audited due to 
the fact that the IRS does not have enforcement dollars to go after 
them.
  According to an end-of-term report by former IRS Commissioner 
Rossotti, the IRS lacks the resources to address 28 percent of the mid- 
and large corporation workload that should be accomplished each year. 
This amendment would begin to address that problem. It redirects $75 
million of funding from the EITC precertification initiative towards 
the investigation of high-yielding tax compliance activities. It does 
not stop the EITC initiative from moving forward. It will provide $25 
million for that program in addition to the $150 million that is 
already there to take a look at this issue.
  It simply ensures, quite frankly, that we will focus our interests on 
the area that gives us more bang for the buck. None of us wants to see 
fraud go unpunished; but let us be fair, my friends. Let us not require 
the lowest-income Americans to meet precertification standards that no 
one else is required to meet while at the same time failing to crack 
down at all on fraud in businesses and higher-income taxpayers.
  Support the Cooper-DeLauro-Kilpatrick amendment.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me

[[Page H7917]]

this time and for bringing this amendment forward.
  I want to say something about this issue that has to do with the 
broader impact that it has on the people of my State of South Carolina. 
If you were to look at the fact that according to GAO about 3 percent 
of the estimated total taxes that go uncollected for noncompliance 
compares with the fact that the underreporting of business income for 
taxes in fraud are over $40 billion a year, which is around $10 billion 
a year more than the EITC program is all together. I think the program 
is around $31 billion. Now, if we were to look at this and take into 
account what kind of fraud is taking place, one of the things we are 
going to see is what was just talked about, and that is about $70 
billion a year going to offshore companies.
  I have a real problem with that because in my State one of the 
industries that the people who are eligible for the earned income tax 
credits, one of the categories of work that they have relied on for 
years, working in the textile and apparel industry, has gone offshore 
to the tune of 50 percent in South Carolina. Ten years ago we had 
126,000 textile jobs in our State. Today, 63,000 textile jobs are going 
offshore. So not only do we see the money going offshore, we also see 
the jobs that these people have to rely upon going offshore.
  So I think this is a very good amendment because it will work to help 
us focus protection.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Olver), the ranking member of the subcommittee.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I rise in support of his amendment.
  The IRS has started, has already started an earned income tax credit 
pilot program that will require 45,000 EITC recipients in the 2003 
taxable year to precertify their eligibility before they can claim the 
tax credit. Without examining the results of that pilot and whatever 
impacts that precertification program would have on the participation 
in the program, and in fact the IRS has now slowed down their pilot 
project because of controversies it has raised, the IRS has included 
$100 million, and this budget includes that in their budget, so they 
can precertify not 45,000, but 2 million, households, and later 
increase that, ramp it up to 4 or 5 million households thereafter.
  Under the IRS proposal, 25 to 30 percent of all low-income working 
families that receive the EITC would be subject to the 
precertification. Well, that sounds like being guilty until you can 
prove yourself innocent to me. Clearly, this money would be better 
spent investigating high-yielding audits of midsize and large 
corporations.
  Let me remind my colleagues that the EITC is a tax credit program for 
the working poor, a program which former President Ronald Reagan called 
our most effective program to fight poverty. It is not a welfare 
program. No other group of tax filers is required to precertify 6 
months before filing their taxes for tax credits and deductions.

                              {time}  2000

  We do not require precertification for families and individuals that 
claim the child tax credit, home mortgage deductions, student loan 
deductions, lifetime learning credits, or any other tax program. Why 
target the working poor? Well, there is no question we should reduce 
illegitimate payments in the EITC. The highest estimates peg EITC 
overpayments at between $8 and $10 billion. Those estimates do not even 
take into account the tax changes in 2001 which are expected to reduce 
the overpayments by at least $2 billion.
  Finally, the alleged overpayments are a pittance compared to $132 
billion in lost tax revenue for individuals, the $70 billion in lost 
tax revenue for offshore accounts, and the $46 billion in lost tax 
revenues for corporations. Again I ask, why target the working poor? 
Let us put our enforcement resources where we get the highest return. I 
urge an aye vote for the Cooper amendment.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Chairman, I remain concerned that the proposed funding for the 
EITC compliance activities will create an undue burden on our most 
vulnerable citizens. The bill includes $100 billion to make it more 
difficult for hardworking families with low incomes to apply for the 
credit. That does not sound to me like the opportunity of society which 
the majority party talks so long and often about.
  If we must spend that much on EITC compliance, and all of us want to 
ensure that there is not fraud in the system, we agree on that. 
However, it would be better spent on hiring more customer service and 
assistant personnel to make sure that those who President Reagan 
thought ought to be helped were helped in a positive way by giving them 
a tax credit as opposed to a handout.
  Statistics illustrate that the focus on low-income filers rather than 
higher-income filers may be unwarranted. Audit rates are not consistent 
for different income levels. On 4-27 the New York Times said 1 of every 
175 individual tax returns was audited in 2002; 1 of every 64 EITC 
claimants was audited; but 1 of every 120 taxpayers with annual incomes 
over $100,000 was audited. In other words, we are doing one sixty-
fourth in terms of poorer people, and we are doing half of that for 
wealthier people.
  One in about every 400 partnerships were audited. Under the EITC 
precertification proposal, which is essentially a preaudit, between 1 
out of every 4 to 8 EITC claimants would be audited.
  That is a big expenditure for very small returns. Approximately 70 
percent of all EITC claimants receive tax return assistance from 
commercial tax preparers. Among taxpayers with incomes above $100,000, 
the chance of being audited fell 26 percent last year to an all-time 
low, yet this group is most likely to have income that is easiest to 
hide.
  The overwhelming majority of Americans, whether rich or poor, 
cooperate and are honest in filing their taxes; but clearly the people 
with the most income have the most incentive not to disclose income 
because they have the much greater savings, and in fact they have ways 
and means to hide it better.
  Since 1996, the number of revenue agents has dropped by 14,949 to 
11,752 in 2002. The number of collection revenue officers has dropped 
from 5,537 in 1996 to approximately 3,500 today.
  What is the point of all this? The point is if we are going to put 
resources in, as the chairman has suggested, and I might say the 
chairman has had a focus on EITC since becoming the chairman, but it is 
ironic in my opinion that a party that talked about opportunity for 
hardworking Americans is being so hard on those hard- working 
Americans.
  If there is fraud, we need to ferret it out; but we need to ferret it 
out whether you are making $10,000 or $100,000 or $1 million. And we 
ought to do it fairly, across the board, and not target the least among 
us.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Chairman, if it is just a little bit of paperwork, if it is not 
much hassle, if it is easy to comply with precertification, then I 
would suggest that the gentleman from Oklahoma in the next Congress 
apply the same rulings and regulations to all of the other taxpayers in 
this country.
  I think the gentleman will find that these paperwork requirements are 
indeed burdensome, unfair, and are indeed insensitive to the working 
poor, the folks we should be trying to help in this Congress, as they 
lift themselves out of poverty, using a Republican-borne program which 
has helped millions of Americans and their families escape the poverty 
trap, and it does so by allowing them to avoid the punitive marginal 
tax rates that the working poor face.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
in closing.
  Mr. Chairman, if someone wants taxpayer money to assist them with 
temporary assistance to needy families, they would fill out the 
paperwork and show they are eligible before they received it; 100 
percent would go through that process.
  If someone wants Social Security disability, for taxpayers to write a 
check

[[Page H7918]]

for your disability, you would go through a precertification process 
100 percent.
  If someone wanted Medicaid, if they wanted food stamps, they would, 
100 percent of the citizens that want that assistance, would go through 
a process in advance.
  Here we have a program that on average writes a check of $1,700 
beyond whatever they paid on their income taxes, writes a check on 
average for $1,700, and it goes out to 19 million Americans. And we are 
talking about saying maybe we ought to have at least a few thousand of 
them, of the people that are in the most questionable circumstances, go 
through a process of certification before they receive this taxpayers' 
money. And the $1,700 is an average. It goes up to $4,200.
  Only a fraction of the people under this program will be put through 
a certification, but maybe if we had more people going through the 
process, we would not have this error rate of a fourth to a third of 
the applicants, $10 billion a year, getting money to which they are not 
entitled. That is 3 times the error rate of these programs where they 
put 100 percent of the applicants through a certification process.
  We do not pick on people when we say they ought to show they are 
eligible before they ask for a check to be written out of the Treasury. 
We are not picking on anybody, and we are putting a lot more resources 
into going after the upper-income taxpayers. There is $4 billion for 
tax compliance efforts in this bill, and the other side of the aisle is 
complaining because we are spending a couple of hundred million on 
trying to keep $10 billion from walking out the door.
  We are not talking about people who are failing to send income to the 
Treasury, we are talking about people who are getting a check from the 
United States Government. It is common sense. It is just common sense 
to say that we ought to be doing a better job of making sure that 
people are eligible. It is not imposing on people that have to go 
through a lot more onerous requirements for other social assistance 
programs than this is asking a small fraction of those 19 million of 
those people to go through. This is common sense.
  And the amendment is saying well, we are going to reduce $75 million 
in this account and then add $75 million back in, and then claim they 
are accomplishing something. Talk about cosmetics, we do not need a 
cosmetic approach to this problem. We need a realistic approach to the 
problem. That is what the IRS is trying to do and that is why we are 
trying to help them do it.
  Mr. Chairman, hardworking people do not want people who are not 
qualified taking some of their hard-earned money, $10 billion a year, 
out of the U.S. Treasury. I ask that this amendment be defeated.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Sessions). The question is on the 
amendment offered by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper).
  The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the noes 
appeared to have it.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further 
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Tennessee 
(Mr. Cooper) will be postponed.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OLVER. I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague for giving me the 
opportunity to talk for a moment about the issue of corporate 
expatriates.
  I would like to express a serious opposition to the point of order 
that was offered by the gentleman from Virginia earlier tonight which 
removed the corporate expatriates contracting ban from this bill. I 
would like to point out the hypocrisy of what my friends on the other 
side of the aisle are doing here this evening.
  This is like deja vu for me. The same thing happened in June when we 
debated the homeland security appropriations bill. The Committee on 
Appropriations accepted my amendment by voice vote, only to turn around 
and use a legislative technicality to justify stripping it from the 
bill.
  In fact, the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young), for whom I have 
the utmost respect, promised during the committee consideration that he 
would support protecting this amendment when it went to the Committee 
on Rules.
  This amendment, let me just be honest, is a simple one; very, very 
simple. Quite frankly, some of what we are talking about here tonight 
would simply prohibit the Treasury Department from contracting with 
corporate expatriates. These are companies that operate here in the 
United States but they set up a shell corporation overseas for the 
express purpose of avoiding paying their taxes. They do not want to pay 
their taxes; and once again, we have not set up any kind of special 
task force within the IRS or anywhere else to investigate these folks. 
No one is doing that. It is the height of irony.
  Even the IRS, the agency that we have been talking about here 
tonight, which is looking at low-income wage earners and enforcement of 
low-income wage earners and what they ought to be doing to pay their 
taxes and not take any taxpayer dollars without precertifying, the IRS, 
the agency charged with collecting taxes, has willingly contracted with 
a company that has moved overseas in an effort to avoid paying their 
taxes.

                              {time}  2015

  I think we have an obligation to address this issue. American 
companies, particularly those contracting with our government, ought to 
pay American taxes just like every citizen in this country. By this 
action, the Republican majority is once again demonstrating that they 
do not hold these same values.
  Recent data show that corporate expatriates have actually increased 
the amount of Federal contracts they receive. Despite abandoning our 
country and costing our government $5 billion in lost tax revenue, 
corporate expatriates reaped $1.4 billion in Federal contracts last 
year alone. They do not pay their taxes; they go overseas and they get 
the largesse of the Federal Government to the tune of $1.4 billion, 
funds sorely needed particularly in the current fiscal climate. One 
example: While the committee has provided $900 million in funding for 
Amtrak, that funding level is far below the $1.8 billion requested by 
Amtrak and which is sorely needed to address a backlog of capital 
repairs. It is long past time that we stopped hiding behind procedural 
sleight-of-hand to disguise the fact that some in this body want to 
condone this practice.
  I will not call for a vote at this time, but I want to make clear 
that this issue is not going to go away. It is time that we draw a line 
in the sand and tell these corporate expatriates that they will no 
longer be rewarded with government contracts for taking and putting 
their business overseas, expressly for the purpose of not paying taxes 
in the United States. Let us be honest about what we do in this body 
and who ought to be paying their taxes if they expect to reap the 
benefits of Federal contracts. Let us not go after low-wage workers and 
have this two-tiered enforcement practice and allow these folks to get 
away without paying their taxes and come back and get billions in 
taxpayers' dollars that we so earnestly do not want to allow to low-
income wage workers but are willing to squander billions to those who 
care not to pay their taxes to the United States Government while they 
make their profits here.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OLVER. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. I thank the gentleman for yielding. The 
gentlewoman from Connecticut is exactly correct. The chairman did state 
that he would ask the rule to protect the amendment. The chairman did 
just that in a written request to the Committee on Rules to protect all 
of the amendments adopted during the full committee markup.
  So the gentlewoman is correct. The Committee on Rules chose not to 
agree with my request.
  Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the chairman for his efforts.
  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Sessions). The time of the gentleman

[[Page H7919]]

from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) has expired.
  (By unanimous consent, Mr. Olver was allowed to proceed for 30 
additional seconds.)
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to reiterate what had been 
said earlier today by my colleague from Massachusetts on this same 
point of the expatriate taxation, that what was won within the 
Committee on Appropriations and what the chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations attempted to protect was in fact lost by the actions of 
the Committee on Rules at a later point. I think that is unfortunate.


                    Amendment Offered by Ms. Kaptur

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

       Amendment offered by Ms. Kaptur:
       Page 106, insert after line 4 the following:
       Sec. 511. Section 257(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 
     2002 (42 U.S.C. 15407(a)) is amended by striking ``the 
     following amounts'' and all that follows and inserting ``an 
     aggregate amount of $3,000,000,000 for fiscal years 2003 
     through 2005''.

  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order.
  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The point of order is reserved.
  Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I begin by saying nothing is more sacred than our citizens' right to 
vote. The amendment that I seek to offer this evening would preserve 
the $3.65 billion in Federal funds that this Congress authorized over 
the next 3 years under the Help America Vote Act for upgrading election 
systems across our country. We originally passed this over 2 years ago, 
and I make this effort to preserve these funds because the Bush 
administration has not provided the necessary funds as authorized, and 
it is also 320 days late in appointing the election commission that was 
supposed to establish the Federal standards and guidelines to prevent 
fraud and abuse in these new electronic election technologies.
  The national election debacle that we witnessed as a country in the 
year of 2000 simply cannot ever happen again. That is why we passed the 
Help America Vote Act. Already, $650 million has gone out to the 
States, but only for the hardware. $3 billion that should be out there 
in the hands of the States is not there in order to buy the proper 
equipment, provide the training, register the voters, and really 
provide a revolution in new technology at the polls.
  Importantly, the election commission authorized by the Help America 
Vote Act has not been appointed. Indeed, the President is 320 days late 
in sending the nominees to the Senate, to the other body, for approval. 
That means there are no Federal standards and guidelines to prevent 
fraud and abuse. And so the States are floundering around out there 
being besieged by various companies trying to offer machines that they 
say are the greatest in the world when in fact they really are not.
  What this amendment seeks to do is to preserve the funds that we said 
were necessary and to preserve them over the 3-year period. Unless this 
amendment is adopted, the funding will expire, which means the States 
will even be in a worse position than they are today. The President 
should have had his nominees to the Federal Election Commission 
appointed February 26 of this year. That has not been done. That means 
there are no Federal standards or guidelines for election technologies.
  In my own State of Ohio, for example, we assembled a computer 
security team and sent them down to our State House to review the 
various election technologies. There was not one set of technologies 
that came back as either excellent or very good in the two most 
important categories of judgment, first, security of the system, the 
ability to prevent fraud and abuse in the software; and, secondly, ease 
of use by the voter. No system qualified. We have to get the money down 
there to these States and localities. There have to be Federal 
standards. Right now, less than half of the money that we should have 
appropriated has been provided in the 2004 bill; and in this year of 
2003, the money has not arrived. Less than half the money is there. 
What are we doing? We are setting ourselves up for another failure. So 
at least my amendment attempts to preserve the funds that were 
originally authorized.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) who 
understands this issue so well.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I thank her for 
her amendment. I believe the amendment is not at all harmful to the 
objective of putting in place an election system that works for every 
American and is accurate and accessible and trustworthy. Her suggestion 
that the money not lapse, that it moves forward, I think is an 
excellent suggestion. I strongly support her amendment and thank her 
for her work in this effort.
  Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman for his leadership in this in 
trying to provide an election system across this country that has 
integrity, dependability and sufficient funds to assure those 
qualities. What we are being given are half measures, empty promises 
and what is becoming more and more confusing at the local county level. 
No State standards, no Federal standards, and not enough money. America 
really deserves better. If we can afford to spend $4 billion a month in 
Iraq to secure democracy, can we not afford to spend $3 billion over 3 
years in our own country to help secure our democratic voting systems 
here in this Republic? I think it is really an important question for 
the Congress. In hopes of resolving this issue amicably, I will 
withdraw my amendment at this point in hopes that we might be able to 
deal with it in the upcoming supplemental.
  Mr. Chairman, I include the following material for the Record:

            [From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 28, 2003]

                       Voting Machine Controversy

                         (By Julie Carr Smyth)

       Columbus.--The head of a company vying to sell voting 
     machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising 
     letter that he is ``committed to helping Ohio deliver its 
     electoral votes to the president next year.''
       The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of 
     Diebold Inc.--who has become active in the re-election effort 
     of President Bush--prompted Democrats this week to question 
     the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes 
     in the 2004 presidential election.
       O'Dell attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush 
     benefactors--known as Rangers and Pioneers--at the 
     president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month. The 
     next week, he penned invitations to a $1,000-a-plate fund-
     raiser to benefit the Ohio Republican Party's federal 
     campaign fund--partially benefiting Bush--at his mansion in 
     the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington.
       The letter went out the day before Ohio Secretary of State 
     Ken Blackwell, also a Republic, was set to qualify Diebold as 
     one of three firms eligible to sell upgraded electronic 
     voting machines to Ohio counties in time for the 2004 
     election.
       Blackwell's announcement is still in limbo because of a 
     court challenge over the fairness of the selection process by 
     a disqualified bidder, Sequoia Voting Systems.
       In his invitation letter, O'Dell asked guests to consider 
     donating or raising up to $10,000 each for the federal 
     account that the state GOP will use to help Bush and other 
     federal candidates--money that legislative Democratic leaders 
     charged could come back to benefit Blackwell.
       They urged Blackwell to remove Diebold from the field of 
     voting-machine companies eligible to sell to Ohio counties.
       This is the second such request in as many months. State 
     Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton-area Republic an, asked 
     Blackwell in July to disqualify Diebold after security 
     concerns arose over its equipment.
       ``Ordinary Ohioans may infer that Blackwell's office is 
     looking past Diebold's security issues because it CEO is 
     seeking $10,000 donations for Blackwell's party--donations 
     that could be made with statewide elected officials right 
     here in the same room,'' said Senate Democratic Leader Greg 
     DiDonato.
       Diebold spokeswoman Michelle Griggy said O'Dell--who was 
     unavailable to comment personally--has held fund-raisers in 
     his home for many causes, including the Columbus Zoo, 
     Opera Columbus, Catholic Social Services and Ohio State 
     University.
       Ohio GOP spokesman Jason Mauk said the party approached 
     O'Dell about hosting the event at his home, the historic 
     Cotswold Manor, and not the other way around. Mauk said that 
     under federal campaign finance rules, the party cannot use 
     any money from its federal account for state-level 
     candidates.
       ``To think that Diebold is somehow tainted because they 
     have a couple folks on their board who support the president 
     is just unfair,'' Mauk said.

[[Page H7920]]

       Griggly said in an e-mail statement that Diebold could not 
     comment on the political contributions of individual company 
     employees.
       Blackwell said Diebold is not the only company with 
     political connections--nothing that lobbyists for voting-
     machine makers read like a who's who of Columbus' powerful 
     and politically connected.
       ``Let me put it to you this way: If there was one person 
     uniquely involved in the political process, that might be 
     troubling,'' he said. ``But there's no one that hasn't used 
     every legitimate avenue and bit of leverage that they could 
     legally use to get their product looked at. Believe me, if 
     there is a political lever to be pulled, all of them have 
     pulled it.''
       Blackwell said he stands by the process used for selecting 
     voting machine vendors as fair, thorough and impartial.
       As of yesterday, however, that determination lay with Ohio 
     Court of Claims Judge Fred Shoemaker.
       He heard closing arguments yesterday over whether Sequoia 
     was unfairly eliminated by Blackwell midway through the final 
     phase of negotiations.
       Shoemaker extended a temporary restraining order in the 
     case for 14 days, but said he hopes to issue his opinion 
     sooner than that.
                                  ____


                 [From the Toledo Blade, Sept. 3, 2003]

                          The Diebold Dilemma

       Did the head of an Ohio company hoping to land a big job 
     with the state to supply upgraded electronic voting machines 
     for the 2004 elections simply commit a faux pax? Or did the 
     high-level fund-raising activity Diebold's CEO has undertaken 
     for the Bush re-election campaign give his company a 
     calculated edge in securing a lucrative state contract?
       Either way the actions of chief executive Walden O'Dell and 
     the response of Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Ken 
     Blackwell raise inevitable and troubling questions about the 
     influence of money and politics on government decisions--
     especially ones as sensitive as the operation of election 
     systems.
       Mr. O'Dell is not just a contributor to GOP campaigns; he's 
     at the top of the fund-raising food chain. Recently, 
     according to published reports, he attended a strategy 
     session at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch with other 
     top Bush benefactors known as ``Rangers'' or ``Pioneers,'' 
     depending on the impressive amount of campaign money raised 
     for the Bush war chest.
       No doubt inspired by his inclusion in the elite circle of 
     wealthy Bush backers, Diebold's CEO sent an impassioned fund-
     raising letter to Ohio Republicans declaring that he is 
     ``committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to 
     the President next year.'' The bad judgment from the head of 
     a firm trying to sell voting machines to the state is 
     obvious.
       Moreover, in his note to party members pledging to deliver 
     Ohio to the President, Mr. O'Dell invited partisans to a 
     $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at his Columbus area mansion and 
     nudged them to also consider donating or raising an 
     additional $10,000 each for the state of GOP's use on federal 
     campaigns.
       Interestingly the missive was mailed the day before 
     Secretary of State Blackwell was due to name Diebold as one 
     of three firms eligible to sell voting machines to Ohio 
     counties. The Blackwell announcement was delayed by a court 
     challenge over the fairness of the state's bidding process by 
     one of the disqualified contenders.
       Mr. Blackwell, who insists that state voting machine 
     vendors were selected fairly and impartially, downplayed the 
     political connections of Diebold's chief executive as par for 
     the course in legitimate Columbus lobbying for influence and 
     attention.
       That may be so, but the appearance of conflict is clear 
     when a company that is spending money to influence the 
     outcome of an election also wants to help count the votes.
       Democratic lawmakers in Ohio say that's disturbing enough 
     to warrant disqualifying Diebold from selling voting machines 
     in this state. Two months ago Republican state Sen. Jeff 
     Jacobson from Dayton asked Mr. Blackwell to do the same thing 
     when security concerns were raised about some of Diebold's 
     equipment.
       Now critics are wondering if Mr. Blackwell's office 
     overlooked problems with Diebold because its CEO had 
     prominent GOP connections. It is premature to urge Diebold's 
     disqualification from the field of eligible vendors, but the 
     issue warrants the state's careful attention.
                                  ____


            [From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 1, 2003]

                        Taking Sides at Diebold

       In a perfect world, companies that make voting equipment 
     would be apolitical. But it's not a perfect world.
       Still, you would think that the CEO of a company that wants 
     to make a lot of money selling voting machines to Ohio would 
     see the value of at least pretending impartiality. Instead, 
     Diebold Chief Executive Walden O'Dell committed himself in a 
     recent fund-raising letter to work to ``deliver [Ohio's] 
     electoral votes'' to President George W. Bush.
       The letter accompanied invitations to a $1,000-a-plate 
     fund-raiser at O'Dell's Upper Arlington mansion--an 
     invitation issued days after he attended a strategy session 
     with major contributors at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
       O'Dell's firm public commitment to work for a particular 
     candidate--while Diebold is engaged in a vigorous competition 
     to provide voting machines to Ohio--gives Democrats powerful 
     ammunition to use against his company.
       Ohio, like many other states, decided it was time to retire 
     its punch-card machines after the Florida voting debacle 
     during the 2000 presidential election. And allegations have 
     been rampant recently that Ohio Secretary of State Ken 
     Blackwell would like to see the contract go to Canton-based 
     Diebold.
       That's going to be harder sell now.
       Makers of voting equipment routinely give to political 
     parties and candidates even as they are seeking lucrative 
     public contracts. That's bad enough. But O'Dell is setting 
     himself up as an integral part of Bush's re-election 
     apparatus. That's too close for comfort.
       If Diebold just made ATM's and industrial safes, his 
     actions would not be an issue. But Diebold wants Ohioans to 
     trust it to be fair and accurate in recording and tabulating 
     their choices at the polls. That requires impartiality. And 
     in the wake of O'Dell's letter, impartiality is not a trait 
     anyone can associate with Diebold at the moment.

  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman's 
amendment is withdrawn.
  There was no objection.


                     Amendment Offered by Mr. Farr

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

       Amendment offered by Mr. Farr:
       Page 157, after line 2, insert the following:
       Sec. 742. It is the sense of the Congress that none of the 
     funds made available in this Act should be used to 
     disestablish any pay locality (as defined by section 5302 of 
     title 5, United States Code).

  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
today, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) and a Member opposed 
each will control 5 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).
  Mr. FARR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
would like to thank Chairman Istook and Ranking Member Olver for 
accepting my sense of Congress amendment. Let me just quickly explain 
what it does. Every 10 years after the national census is taken, the 
Office of Management and Budget redefines and redesignates metropolitan 
statistical areas, known as MSAs. Then the Office of Personnel 
Management uses those MSA definitions to overlay their own geographic 
boundaries for so-called locality pay areas.
  This year the Office of Management and Budget came out with new 
definitions in June, but they radically changed their methodology to a 
point where the Office of Personnel Management said that the Office of 
Management and Budget definitions no longer were usable for purposes of 
determining locality pay boundaries. The Office of Personnel Management 
has begun the process of determining how to draw locality pay 
boundaries. The agency is more or less under the gun to do so by this 
October 7 so as to have this decided by the 2005 budget cycle. But the 
Office of Personnel Management held its first hearing on the issue only 
yesterday, September 3. The issue is too complex and too sensitive to 
figure out in a month. Thousands of Federal employee paychecks and 
consequently Federal agency missions hang in the balance.
  My amendment essentially states that Congress believes current 
locality pay areas should be held harmless over the next year. We ask 
that OPM not eliminate any current locality pay area, but we do not 
object to OPM adding any new areas. In the interim, the Office of 
Personnel Management has time to do the research right and to draw up a 
fair and defensible plan for locality pay boundary designations.
  I commend the chairman of the subcommittee for his leadership on this 
issue and thank him for accepting the amendment.
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Chairman, as the gentleman has represented, I am 
agreeable to accepting the amendment.
  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The question is on the amendment offered by 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).
  The amendment was agreed to.


          Sequential Votes Postponed in Committee of the Whole

  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, 
proceedings will now resume on those

[[Page H7921]]

amendments on which further proceedings were postponed in the following 
order: an amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-
Lee) and an amendment offered by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Cooper).
  The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. The 
second will be a 5-minute vote.


             Amendment Offered by Ms. Jackson-Lee of texas

  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The pending business is the demand for a 
recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas 
(Ms. Jackson-Lee) on which further proceedings were postponed and on 
which the noes prevailed by voice vote.
  The Clerk will designate the amendment.
  The Clerk designated the amendment.


                             Recorded Vote

  The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. A recorded vote has been demanded.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 188, 
noes 222, not voting 24, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 474]

                               AYES--188

     Alexander
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Ballance
     Becerra
     Bell
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carson (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Case
     Clyburn
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley (CA)
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Gillmor
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley (OR)
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     Kleczka
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lynch
     Majette
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Moore
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Pelosi
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Reyes
     Ross
     Rothman
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner (TX)
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wu
     Wynn

                               NOES--222

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burns
     Burr
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole
     Collins
     Cox
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     English
     Everett
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gingrey
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goss
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCotter
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Nethercutt
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schrock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stearns
     Strickland
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Turner (OH)
     Upton
     Vitter
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--24

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Clay
     DeGette
     Gephardt
     Janklow
     John
     Keller
     Kucinich
     McCrery
     Meehan
     Mollohan
     Myrick
     Payne
     Pickering
     Rangel
     Regula
     Rodriguez
     Roybal-Allard
     Ryan (WI)
     Thomas
     Waxman
     Woolsey
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  2048

  Messrs. GUTKNECHT, NEY, GILCHREST and EHLERS changed their vote from 
``aye'' to ``no.''
  Messrs. SPRATT, MURTHA, KANJORSKI, LUCAS of Kentucky and SKELTON 
changed their vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''
  So the amendment was rejected.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.


                      Announcement by the Chairman

  Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVI, any record vote on this next 
question will be a 5-minute vote.


                    Amendment Offered by Mr. Cooper

  The CHAIRMAN. The pending business is the demand for a recorded vote 
on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) 
on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes 
prevailed by voice vote.
  The Clerk will redesignate the amendment.
  The Clerk redesignated the amendment.


                             Recorded Vote

  The CHAIRMAN. A recorded vote has been demanded.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The CHAIRMAN. This will be a 5-minute vote.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 192, 
noes 219, not voting 23, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 475]

                               AYES--192

     Alexander
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Ballance
     Becerra
     Bell
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carson (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Case
     Clyburn
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     DeFazio
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley (CA)
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hill
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley (OR)
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind
     Kleczka
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lynch
     Majette
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McNulty
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Moore
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)

[[Page H7922]]


     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Reyes
     Ross
     Rothman
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Shays
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Turner (TX)
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wu
     Wynn

                               NOES--219

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burns
     Burr
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole
     Collins
     Cox
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     English
     Everett
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fossella
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goss
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas (OK)
     Manzullo
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McKeon
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Nethercutt
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Rehberg
     Renzi
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schrock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Toomey
     Turner (OH)
     Upton
     Vitter
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--23

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Clay
     Davis, Tom
     DeGette
     Gephardt
     Janklow
     John
     Keller
     Kucinich
     Meehan
     Mollohan
     Myrick
     Payne
     Pickering
     Rangel
     Regula
     Rodriguez
     Roybal-Allard
     Sherman
     Waxman
     Woolsey
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  2057

  Mr. LIPINSKI changed his vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''
  So the amendment was rejected.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  Mr. ISTOOK. 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. 
LaHood) having assumed the chair, Mr. Dreier, 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. 2989) making 
appropriations for the Departments of Transportation and Treasury, and 
independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and 
for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

                          ____________________