[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15088-S15090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004--CONFERENCE
REPORT
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now
proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R.
2754, the energy and water appropriations bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
(The text of the Conference Report is printed in the proceedings of
the House in the Record of November 7, 2003.)
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, today I bring to the floor the Energy
and Water Development Appropriations conference report for fiscal year
2004, approved by the conference committee last week.
My ranking member, Senator Reid, and I have worked very hard this
year to put together a fair conference report under extremely difficult
circumstances.
For fiscal year 2004, the allocation to the conference committee was
$27.3 billion, an amount that is only $381.8 million over the
President's request. This situation posed a daunting challenge to the
conference, both in terms of funding and philosophy.
As many of my colleagues know, the President's request dramatically
cut water projects well below the current year level. In fact, the
President's request was $530 million below the current year level for
water projects, and we received an increased allocation smaller than
what we considered the total need of our conference report.
Thus, the increased allocation, along with other funding adjustments,
was
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spread generally as follows: An additional $377 million to corps water
projects; an additional $70 million to Bureau of Reclamation water
projects; an additional $70 million to the independent regional
commissions, which were badly cut in the request, like the Appalachian
Regional Commission, Denali Regional Commission, and Delta Regional
Commission; and we held the Department of Energy at basically the
President's request level with adjustments to areas where the
conference felt the program growth was too rapid, relative to other
agencies under our jurisdiction.
I believe, and I think Senator Reid would agree with me, that this
was the fairest way to distribute the very limited resources available
to the Committee.
I will now highlight a few of the key areas of the conference report.
The conference report provides $4.57 billion for the Army Corps of
Engineers, that is $377 million above the President's request, but $120
million below the current year level. We have included limited new
construction projects and have focused our resources on restoring the
cuts to existing construction projects.
For the Bureau of Reclamation and related activities, the conference
report provides $990 million, which is $70 million above the
President's request, and $15 million above the current year level.
For nuclear weapons activities of the National Nuclear Security
Administration, NNSA, the conference report provides $6.27 billion,
which is $105 million over the President's request, and $360 million
over the current year level. The budget increases are consistent with a
major Defense Department initiative to restore our nuclear weapons
complex.
For nuclear non proliferation activities, the conference report
provides $1.37 billion, which is the same as the President's request
and $12 million above the current year level. The conference continues
its leadership role on countering nuclear terrorism. This budget
request, coupled with the $148 million added in last year's
supplemental, gives a strong boost to these highly important programs.
For environmental clean-up of Department of Energy sites, the
conference report provides $7.6 billion, which is $62 million below the
President's request and $238 million above the current year level. For
the first time in many years, the conference was not required to add
huge additional amounts to maintain clean-up budgets around the
country.
For the Yucca Mountain project, the Senate conference report provides
$580 million, which is $11 million below the President's request and
funding for this project, as many of my colleagues know, it was a major
point of contention in the conference with the House. This is a very
important matter to many members of the Senate, each for various
reasons.
For renewable energy R&D, the conference report provides $460
million, which is $40 million above the President's request and $40
million above the current year level. The conference report fully funds
the President's new hydrogen technology initiative.
For nuclear energy R&D, the conference report provides $413 million,
which is $136 million above the President's request and $147 million
over the comparable current year level. The members know that this is a
great priority of mine, as we continue to make investments that I
believe will eventually result in the construction of new commercial
power reactors in the United States.
For basic science research at DOE, the conference report provides
$3.47 billion, which is $150 million above the President's request and
$180 million above the current year level.
This conference report provides $55 million for the Denali
Commission, $66 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission, and $5
million for the Delta Regional Authority, an increase of $3 million
over the President's request.
This conference report also provides a total budget of $619 million
for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the same as the budget request
and an increase of $41 million over the current year level.
Given the overall constraints, we worked hard but were unfortunately
limited to accommodating only the highest priority requests of Members
wherever possible. This was a difficult conference, it I can honestly
say, it was truly a conference of compromise, one which I can assure my
colleagues was hard fought. In the end, I think what emerged was a
conference report which reflected the priorities of both Houses.
Finally, my colleagues should be fully aware that the conference
report I filed includes a provision regarding the Middle Rio Grande
River in New Mexico. The provision does two things. First it prohibits
the use of outer-basin water for endangered species purposes. Secondly,
it establishes how the Endangered Species Act will be complied with for
this river and the affected fish. This is a very important provision
that has the bipartisan support in the New Mexico delegation and at the
state level. Let me restate, so there is no confusion, both Governor
Richardson and Senator Bingaman, my colleague, fully support the
language on the silvery minnow that's contained in this conference
report.
I thank my ranking member and good friend, Senator Reid. This was one
of the toughest conferences he and I have been in together, but through
it all, I will tell my colleagues that Senator Reid supported me every
step of the way, and I thank him for that.
Also, I would like to thank his excellent staff, Drew Willison, Roger
Cockrell and Nancy Olkewicz, for all the effort put forth in getting
this conference report put together, without their close cooperation,
this conference report would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank my former staff, Clay Sell, for all the
work he did on this bill early in the year until his departure for the
White House. I thank Erin McHale of my staff for all of her hard work.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, it takes just a few seconds to do this, but
this is the culmination of weeks and weeks of work. I want to spread on
the Record the affection I have for the chairman of the Energy and
Water Subcommittee, Senator Pete Domenici. This has been a very tough
process this year. But for his advocacy in protecting the Senate's
position, this bill would not be in the position it is. I, again, want
the Record spread with the partnership that he and I have on this
legislation. This is legislation that is very good for the country.
By and large, I am pleased with the bill that the conferees have
produced.
As conferees we are tasked with reconciling House and Senate bills
that were written with very different visions and very different world
views.
Reconciling them has not been easy, nor has it been accomplished
without a great deal of pain on both sides.
As these things usually are, this final bill is a product of hard
fought compromise and, often, splitting the difference between
competing views. The result is a bill with much for both sides to like
and much for both sides to dislike.
As Senate conferees, Chairman Domenici and I were faced with trying
to work out the differences between our bill, a fairly typical Senate
Energy and Water bill, and a House bill that was far different than the
ones produced in recent years by the other body.
Chairman Hobson placed a far higher priority on Yucca Mountain than
his predecessors ever did and he added nearly $175 more than the
President asked for to the project. At the same time, he placed a far
lower emphasis on activities requested by the President within our
Nation's nuclear weapons complex, cutting nearly $300 million from the
program, including nearly $200 million from the nuclear weapons
laboratories in New Mexico. As most of you know, Chairman Domenici has
a passing interest in the health and well-being of those labs.
Obviously, none of this was done with any personal malice, but these
honest differences of opinion sure made for a lively conference.
The final bill contains $27.3 billion in funding for the Department
of Energy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation,
and several other important agencies. The final bill exceeds the
President's request by $381 million and the FY 03 total by $1.13
billion.
The engine that drives the Energy and Water bill is funding for the
Corps of Engineers. Each year Chairman
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Domenici and I receive literally thousands of requests for water
projects in all fifty States. We work hard to accommodate as many of
them as possible each year.
I am pleased to report that total funding for the Corps of Engineers
is nearly $4.6 billion--a total that is $375 million above an utterly
insufficient request from the Administration. I wish we were able to do
more, but, I feel we were able to keep many very important projects
moving forward this year and have been able to begin some new ones.
Total funding for the Bureau of Reclamation is set at $986 million, a
total that is $64 million above the President's request and $15 million
above the current year. As a Western Senator I had hoped this would be
the year that we got the Bureau up to $1 billion, but we came up just
short. However, I am very pleased that we are pushing the Bureau's
budget in the right direction.
The conferees were able to provide total funding of $22 billion for
the Department of Energy. The Senate was able to convince the House to
restore most of the nearly $300 million in cuts to DOE programs, but we
are still nearly $120 million below the President's request. We are,
however, $1.2 billion above the current year. The overall increase has
allowed the conferees to provide solid funding for the Office of
Science, renewable energy projects, and the very important
environmental management clean-up projects nationwide.
As most of you know, Senator Domenici is a fierce defender of two
nuclear weapons labs in his home State, two institutions that do world
class research and have helped to keep our Nation safe and secure for
over 50 years. The House cut nearly $200 million from the President's
budget request for Los Alamos and Sandia, a move that would have had
very negative ramifications for our Nation's science-based stockpile
stewardship program. I am pleased to report that we were able to
restore most of these ill-advised cuts. The people of New Mexico are
very lucky to have a Senator as skilled and determined as Pete Domenici
working for them.
Frankly, given the battle we were in with the House this year over
our bill, I am glad he was also fighting for me and the other 98
Members of the Senate.
I am very grateful to Chairman Domenici and his new clerk, Tammy
Perrin, for being so dogged in their defense of the Senate position on
so many issues. I have worked with his previous clerks, Alex Flint and
Clay Sell, and have found them both to be outstanding. In Tammy, he has
found another terrific clerk.
As always, thanks to Drew Willison, Roger Cockrell, and Nancy
Olkewicz of my subcommittee staff. I appreciate everything they do for
me and all of the Members of the Senate.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the conference
report be adopted and that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the
table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The conference report was agreed to.
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