[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 132 (Wednesday, September 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11898-S11900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the conference report to 
accompany H.R. 2657.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Committee of Conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     2657) making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for 
     the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other 
     purposes, having met, have agreed that the House recede from 
     its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate, and agree to 
     the same with an amendment, signed by a majority of the 
     conferees on the part of both Houses.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The Conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of September 18, 2003.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, I am pleased to present the conference 
report to accompany the legislative branch fiscal year 2004 
appropriations.
  I thank Senator Durbin and his staff for all their help and hard 
work. He was certainly cooperative in this process. I also thank 
Chairman Stevens, chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, who 
has been extremely helpful in getting the conference report to the 
Senate.
  The legislative branch bill totals $3.549 billion, just 2.5 percent 
of the fiscal year 2003 level. Highlights of the bill include funding 
of $220 million for the Capitol Police for a total of 1,592 police 
officers. In addition, the police would have authority to hire 75 
civilian personnel to improve administrative operations and move about 
30 officers from desk jobs to field jobs.
  Funding is included for a mounted horse unit which will provide 
enumerable benefits for the police department. I understand they are 
working out an agreement with the Park Service to house the horses with 
the Park Service horses.
  The bill also includes language that will move forward the merger of 
the Library of Congress police force with the U.S. Capitol Police to 
improve the security of the entire Capitol complex.
  The Architect of the Capitol: Funds total $405 million, which 
includes $47.8 million for the Capitol Visitors Center so we can 
finally move forward and fill up that big hole that is outside our 
front door. The Visitors Center project funding is partially offset by 
using unobligated prior year funds.
  The Library of Congress: Funds total $528 million for the library 
with funding going to such important programs as the veterans history 
project and the audio-visual conservation center being built in 
Culpeper.
  The Open World Program is funded at $13.5 million. This program has 
been very successful in showing firsthand democracy and how we lead a 
country in democratic institutions to emerging Russian leaders and has 
been expanded to include certain countries of the former Soviet Union.
  Funds are also included for the General Accounting Office, the 
Congressional Budget Office, and the Government Printing Office, as 
well as the House and Senate.
  The supplemental appropriations portion totals $937.6 million in 
title III of this bill for the emergency supplemental items, such as 
additional funding for FEMA, which has been doing such a terrific job 
facing the number of natural catastrophes we have had in America this 
last year.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois is recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am happy to have worked with Senator 
Campbell of Colorado on this fiscal year 2004 legislative branch 
appropriations bill. It is a good and fair bill. Considering our 
limited resources, I think it accomplishes many objectives.

[[Page S11899]]

The bill totals $3.547 billion, which is $27 million below the Senate 
and $36 million above the House. The Senate portion totals $717 
million.
  The Capitol Police funding totals $220 million. The Architect of the 
Capitol funding is $405 million, including $47.8 million for the 
Capitol Visitors Center. The funding for the tunnel from the new 
Capitol Visitors Center to the Library of Congress is capped at $10 
million. This is pursuant to an amendment offered by a conferee, 
Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin.
  The Library of Congress total funding is $528 million. The Open World 
Leadership Center is funded at $13.5 million. I am especially happy to 
see the Visitors Center fully funded. This was quite a challenge for 
Congress but well worth the effort. Beyond everything else this center 
has to offer, security remains the top benefit.
  Many of us can still recall vividly September 11, 2001, when in the 
early morning hours we were forced to evacuate the Capitol for fear 
that this building, this symbol of our great country, was under attack. 
We learned later from some of the sources available to us that the 
plane that was brought down by the heroic passengers in Pennsylvania 
was destined to crash into the U.S. Capitol Building, undoubtedly 
resulting in a lot of innocent people dying. The heroism of the 
passengers and crew on that United Airlines plane saved our lives, and 
we are forever grateful to them and their families for their 
extraordinary feats of bravery.
  I can recall that day, going down the steps of the Senate onto the 
lawn, and standing there with thousands of people who didn't know which 
way to turn. Elderly tourists came up to me and said: ``Where are we 
supposed to go, do you know?'' The obvious answer was that there was no 
place to go. You could hardly direct those people or the visitors and 
staff and Members working in this Capitol Building to a safe location.
  At the time, it was my honor to serve as chairman of the Legislative 
Appropriations Subcommittee, and I felt at that moment that I had to do 
whatever I could to accelerate the conversation leading to the 
construction of the Capitol Visitors Center--a place clearly to be 
designed for security and designed to accommodate the needs of the 
growing responsibilities of the U.S. Capitol.
  I am happy to report that President Bush agreed and the leaders in 
Congress came to a similar agreement. And if anyone has visited 
Washington since then, they know we have a massive excavation taking 
place outside the Capitol Building, which, over time--a reasonable 
period of time--will be filled with an extraordinary engineering feat, 
a Capitol Visitors Center, which will give us security and a lot of the 
space we dearly need to serve the people of the country.
  I am glad that this appropriations bill, among others, appropriates 
some $48 million for that purpose. It makes certain we are going to 
maintain our responsibility in seeing this through to its completion. 
We simply cannot afford to put the security of those who visit the 
Capitol and those who work here in jeopardy. Having been here on 
September 11, 2001, seeing so many people at a loss as to where to turn 
for safety, I understand we are going to give them the answer--the very 
best answer--when it comes to security when they visit one of the most 
well-known and important buildings in our entire Nation. This project 
deserves to go forward as planned, and it will when this conference 
report is adopted for this legislative branch appropriation.

  I also wish to say a few words about the Capitol Police. After 
September 11, we spent a lot of time acknowledging the overtime and 
extraordinary courage of these men and women who protect us every 
single day. They had to change their family lives, their personal 
lives, and make a career commitment to all of us who work here, and 
they did it. We can never thank them enough for all they have done. 
Since then, we have tried to increase staffing as necessary and make 
certain that those who were hired--men and women--met the highest 
standards of all who have served before them. I am happy to say that 
funding for the Capitol Police totals $220 million.
  The key differences from the bill we passed include no additional 
hires of sworn officers until they have a final strategic plan. One of 
the other things we do, though, is really take an important step 
forward in integrating the security force of the Library of Congress 
with the Capitol Hill Police.
  It is going to become, I hope, a seamless security force on Capitol 
Hill, and this is an important step forward.
  We also provide for Library of Congress police officers to be hired 
by the Capitol Police and allow for their training by police officers 
in the Capitol Police Department.
  We also make certain that several important projects at the Library 
of Congress are well funded: $528 million for the Library of Congress. 
There are funds for ``Adventures of the American Mind'' totaling over 
$8 million. From my personal experience, this has been a very 
successful project engaging the universities and colleges around the 
country and in my State of Illinois to discover what we have to offer 
at the Library of Congress. I encourage all who are following this 
debate to go to the Web site of the Library of Congress, and you will 
find an amazing array of opportunities for knowledge and information.
  Mr. President, I am prepared to recommend to my colleagues when this 
conference report comes to the floor that they all vote favorably.
  I thank Drew Willison, Nancy Olkewicz, and Pat Souders of my personal 
staff for their very hard work in helping prepare this legislative 
branch appropriations conference report. I think it is a product well 
worthy of the support of all Senators of both political parties.
  I am prepared to yield the floor to my colleague from Colorado, if he 
is prepared to say a few words on behalf of the conference report. I 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to inform the 
members of this distinguished body about H.R. 2657, the legislative 
branch appropriations bill for FY 2004, as reported by the Senate 
Committee on Appropriations.
  The pending bill provides $3.5 billion in new budget authority and 
$3.7 billion in new outlays for FY 2004 to fund the operations of the 
Senate and House of Representatives; the Architect of the Capitol; the 
U.S. Capitol Police; and the Library of Congress. With outlays from 
prior-years and other completed actions, the Senate bill totals $3.6 
billion in budget authority and $3.8 billion in outlays.
  For discretionary spending, which represents the bulk of the funding 
in this bill, the Senate bill is $73 million below the subcommittee's 
302(b) allocation for budget authority, and is at its 302(b) allocation 
for outlays. The Senate bill is $312 million in BA and $130 million in 
outlays below the President's budget request.
  In addition to providing appropriations for FY 2004 for the 
legislative branch, the committee-reported bill contains various 
supplemental appropriations for FY 2003. The FY 2004 concurrent 
resolution on the budget, H. Con. Res. 95, established levels for FY 
2003 and provided an allocation, pursuant to section 302(a) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, to the Committee on Appropriations 
for FY 2003 in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the 
resolution, see page 130 of H. Rept. 108-71.
  As a point of information, I would like to call my colleagues' 
attention to section 302(c) of the Congressional Budget Act. Section 
302(c) provides that it is not in order to consider a bill making 
appropriations for a fiscal year until the Committee on Appropriations 
has made the suballocations required by section 302. It appears that 
the Committee on Appropriations has yet to file 302(b) allocations for 
2003. This point of order may be waived, or a ruling of the Chair 
appealed, with 60 votes.
  With regard to the emergency 2003 supplemental funding, the conferees 
did not fund all elements of the President's request, they did not 
exceed the total amount of his request, as adjusted for the 
supplemental FEMA appropriations already enacted in July.

[[Page S11900]]

  I ask unanimous consent that a table displaying the Budget Committee 
scoring of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      H.R. 2657, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPORPRIATIONS, 2004: SPENDING
                     COMPARSIONS--CONFERENCE REPORT
               [Fiscal year 2004, in millions of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        General
                                        purpose    Mandatory     Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conference Report:
  Budget authority..................      3,539         109       3,648
  Outlays...........................      3,737         109       3,846
Senate 302(b) allocation:
  Budget authority..................      3,612         109       3,721
  Outlays...........................      3,737         109       3,846
2003 level:
  Budget authority..................      3,620         104       3,724
  Outlays...........................      3,327         103       3,430
President's request:
  Budget authority..................      3,851         109       3,960
  Outlays...........................      3,867         109       3,976
House-passed bill:
  Budget authority..................      3,480         109       3,589
  Outlays...........................      3,599         109       3,708
Senate-passed bill:
  Budget authority..................      3,575         109       3,648
  Outlays...........................      3,689         109       3,798
 
                     CONFERENCE REPORT COMPARED TO--
 
Senate 302(b) allocation:
  Budget authority..................        (73)  ..........        (73)
  Outlays...........................  ..........  ..........  ..........
2003 level:
  Budget authority..................        (81)          5         (76)
  Outlays...........................        410           6         416
President's request:
  Budget authority..................       (312)  ..........       (312)
  Outlays...........................       (130)  ..........       (130)
House-passed bill:
  Budget authority..................         59   ..........         59
  Outlays...........................        138   ..........        138
Senate-passed bill:
  Budget authority..................        (36)  ..........        (36)
  Outlays...........................         48   ..........         48
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Details may not add to totals due to rounding. Totals adjusted for
  consistency with scorekeeping conventions.
Prepared by SBC Majority Staff, 9/24/2003.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be 
yielded back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Under the previous order, the conference report is agreed to and the 
motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________