[House Report 104-671]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 2d Session                                                     104-671
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PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3756, TREASURY, POSTAL SERVICE, AND 
      GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997

                                _______
                                

   July 11, 1996.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

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 Mr. Diaz-Balart, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 475]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 475, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to 
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be 
adopted.

               brief summary of provisions of resolution

    The resolution provides for the consideration of H.R. 3756, 
the ``Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government 
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 1997'' under an open rule. 
The rule provides one hour of general debate divided equally 
between the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Appropriations.
    The rule waives sections 302(f) (prohibiting consideration 
of legislation providing new entitlement authority in excess of 
a committee's allocation) and 308(a) (requiring a CBO cost 
estimate in the committee report on legislation containing new 
entitlement spending) and 401(b) (prohibiting consideration of 
legislation providing new entitlement authority which becomes 
effective during the fiscal year which ends in the calendar 
year in which the bill is reported) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974 against consideration of the bill.
    The rule waives clause 2 of rule XXI (prohibiting 
unauthorized appropriations and legislation on general 
appropriations) and clause 6 of rule XXI (prohibiting 
reappropriations) against provisions of the bill, except as 
otherwise noted in the rule.
    The rule provides for the adoption in the House and in the 
Committee of the Whole of the amendment printed in part 1 of 
this report relating to certain expedited procedures under the 
Rules Committee's jurisdiction.
    The rule provides for consideration before any other 
amendment of those amendments printed in part 2 of the Rules 
Committee report, which shall be considered in the order 
printed, shall be offered by a Member designated in the report, 
shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time 
specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the 
proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, 
and shall not be subject to a demand for a division of the 
question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All 
points of order against the amendments printed in part 2 of the 
report are waived.
    The rule provides for priority in recognition for those 
amendments that are pre-printed in the Congressional Record.
    The rule allows the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole 
to postpone votes during consideration of the bill, and to 
reduce voting time to five minutes on a postponed question if 
the vote follows a fifteen minute vote. The rule provides that 
a motion to rise and report the bill to the House with such 
amendments as may have been adopted shall have precedence over 
a motion to amend, if offered by the Majority Leader or a 
designee after the reading of the final lines of the bill.
    Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with 
or without instructions.
    The Budget Act waivers contained in this rule are technical 
in nature and are necessitated by five provisions in the bill 
relating to entitlement programs. They are as follows:
    Section 525 authorizes voluntary separation incentive 
payments for employees of the IRS, BATF, and Customs Service. 
Increases agency contributions to the Civil Service Retirement 
and Disability Fund for individuals receiving such payments.
    Section 527 authorizes the Mint to establish a personnel 
demonstration project; includes language establishing a rate of 
pay for the Director of the U.S. Mint.
    Section 629 makes permanent a technical change allowing law 
enforcement service performed between January 1, 1984 and 
December 31, 1986 to count toward retirement under the Federal 
Employees Retirement System (FERS).
    Section 633 technical change allowing benefits for the 
child survivors of a retired Federal employee, whose benefits 
have been terminated as a result of marriage, to resume upon 
divorce.
    Section 634 technical change allowing Federal employees 
subject to a reduction in force to use annual leave as credit 
for time in service for the purpose of meeting minimum age and 
service requirements for a retirement annuity.

                                 PART 1

    The amendment considered as adopted by the rule is as 
follows:
    Page 105, strike line 1 and all that follows thereafter 
through page 107, line 25, and insert the following:
    (c) Expedited Procedures in the Senate for a Resolution of 
Disapproval.--A presidential certification pursuant to 
subsection (b) shall not take effect, if the Congress, within 
30 calendar days after receiving such certification, enacts a 
joint resolution of disapproval, as described in paragraph (5) 
of this subsection.
          (1) Reference to committees.--All joint resolutions 
        introduced in the Senate to disapprove the 
        certification shall be referred to the Committee on 
        Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
          (2) Discharge of committees.--(A) If the committee of 
        the Senate to which a joint resolution has been 
        referred has not reported it at the end of 15 days 
        after its introduction, it is in order to move either 
        to discharge the committee from further consideration 
        of the joint resolution or to discharge the committee 
        from further consideration of any other joint 
        resolution introduced with respect to the same matter, 
        except no motion to discharge shall be in order after 
        the committee has reported a joint resolution with 
        respect to the same matter.
          (B) In the Senate a motion to discharge may be made 
        only by an individual favoring the joint resolution, 
        and is privileged; and debate thereon shall be limited 
        to not more than 1 hour, the time to be divided equally 
        between, and controlled by, the majority leader and the 
        minority leader or their designees.
          (3) Floor consideration.--(A) A motion in the Senate 
        to proceed to the consideration of a joint resolution 
        shall be privileged.
          (B) Debate in the Senate on a joint resolution, and 
        all debatable motions and appeals in connection 
        therewith, shall be limited to not more than 4 hours, 
        to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the 
        majority leader and the minority leader or their 
        designees.
          (C) Debate in the Senate on any debatable motion or 
        appeal in connection with a joint resolution shall be 
        limited to not more than 20 minutes, to be equally 
        divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the 
        manager of the joint resolution, except that in the 
        event the manager of the joint resolution is in favor 
        of any such motion or appeal, the time in opposition 
        thereto, shall be controlled by the minority leader or 
        his designee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, 
        from time under their control on the passage of a joint 
        resolution, allot additional time to any Senator during 
        the consideration of any debatable motion or appeal.
          (D) A motion in the Senate to further limit debate on 
        a joint resolution, debatable motion, or appeal is not 
        debatable. No amendment to, or motion to recommit, a 
        resolution is in order.
          (4) If prior to the passage by the Senate of a joint 
        resolution, the Senate receives a joint resolution with 
        respect to the same matter from the House of 
        Representatives, then--
                  (A) the procedure in the Senate shall be the 
                same as if no resolution had been received from 
                the House; but
                  (B) the vote on final passage shall be on the 
                resolution of the House.
          (5) For purposes of this subsection, the term ``joint 
        resolution'' means only a joint resolution of the 2 
        Houses of Congress, the matter after the resolving 
        clause of which is as follows: ``That the Congress 
        disapproves the action of the President under section 
        628(c) of the Treasury, Postal Service, and General 
        Government Appropriations Act, 1997, notice of which 
        was submitted to the Congress on ________.'', with the 
        blank space being filled with the appropriate date.
                              ----------                              


                                 PART 2

 1. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Lightfoot of Iowa or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 10 Minutes

    On page 39, line 8 through line 10, strike the phrase ``and 
of which $1,268,000 shall be obligated for drug prevention 
public service announcements, and''
    On page 39, line 18, insert after the colon: ``Provided 
further, That $2,500,000 of the funds available for the 
salaries and expenses of the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy may not be obligated until the Director reaches 
agreement with the House and Senate Committees on 
Appropriations on a final fiscal year 1997 organizational 
plan:''
                              ----------                              


 2. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Metcalf of Washington 
 or Representative Luther of Minnesota or a Designee, Debatable for 30 
                                Minutes

    Page 118, after line 16, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 637. For purposes of each provision of law amended by 
section 704(a)(2) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (5 U.S.C. 
5318 note), no adjustment under section 5303 of title 5, United 
States Code, shall be considered to have taken effect in fiscal 
year 1997 in the rates of basic pay for the statutory pay 
systems.
                              ----------                              


3. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Gutknecht of Minnesota 
or Representative Luther of Minnesota or a Designee, Debatable for  20 
                                Minutes

    Page 118, after line 16, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 637. (a) For purposes of this section, the term 
``political appointee'' means any individual who--
          (1) is employed in a position listed in sections 5312 
        through 5316 of title 5, United States Code (relating 
        to the Executive Schedule);
          (2) is a limited term appointee, limited emergency 
        appointee, or noncareer appointee in the Senior 
        Executive Service, as defined under section 3132(a) 
        (5), (6), and (7) of title 5, United States Code, 
        respectively; or
          (3) is employed in a position in the executive branch 
        of the Government under schedule C of subpart C of part 
        213 of title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
    (b) The President, acting through the Office of Management 
and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, shall take 
such actions as necessary (including reduction-in-force actions 
under procedures consistent with those established under 
section 3595 of title 5, United States Code) to ensure that the 
number of political appointees shall not, during any fiscal 
year beginning after September 30, 1997, exceed a total of 
2,300 (determined on a full-time equivalent basis).