[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

[[Page S15089]]

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

[[Page S15090]]

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.

                          ____________________