[House Report 105-597]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
105th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 105-597
_______________________________________________________________________
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4104, THE TREASURY POSTAL
APPROPRIATIONS BILL FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999
_______
June 23, 1998.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______________________________________________________________________
Mr. McInnis, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H. Res. 485]
The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration
House Resolution 485, by a non-record 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 consideration of H.R. 4104,
``The Treasury Postal Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year
1999,'' under an open rule.
The rule waives points of order against consideration of
the bill for failing to comply with clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI
(requiring a 3-day layover of the committee report), or clause
7 of rule XXI (requiring printed hearings and reports to be
available for 3 days prior to consideration of general
appropriations bills). The rule provides for one hour of
general debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking
minority member of the Appropriations Committee.
The rule also provides that the amendments printed in part
1 of this report be considered as adopted in the House and in
the Committee of the Whole. The rule waives points of order
against provisions in the bill, as amended, which do not comply
with clause 2 of rule XXI (prohibiting unauthorized or
legislative appropriations in a general appropriations bill)
and clause 6 of rule XXI (prohibiting reappropriations in a
general appropriations bill), except as specified in the rule.
The rule further waives all points of order against the
amendments printed in part 2 of this report and provides that
such amendments may be offered only 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.
The rule provides for priority in recognition for those
amendments that are pre-printed in the Congressional Record.
The rule provides that the chairman of the Committee of the
Whole may postpone recorded votes on any amendment and that the
chairman may reduce voting time on postponed questions to 5
minutes, provided that the voting time on the first in a series
of questions is not less than 15 minutes.
Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit with
or without instructions.
PART I
Summary of Amendments Considered as Adopted by the Rule to H.R. 4104-
Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations FY99
Strikes emergency funding related to the Year 2000
conversion of Federal information technology systems. ($2.25
billion)
In error the amendment adopted by the Appropriations
Committee eliminated a provision of current law. Therefore, the
amendment with the correction grants the authority of
negotiating international postal agreements to the U.S. Trade
Representative, rather than the U.S. Postal Service.
Amendments considered as adopted by the rule:
On page 37, strike line 10 and all that follows through
page 38, line 14.
Strike subsection (c) of section 407 of title 39, United
States Code, as proposed to be amended by section ____ (a)
(relating to international postal arrangements), and insert the
following:
``(c) The Postal Service may--
``(1) enter into such commercial and operational
contracts relating to international postal services as
it considers necessary, except that the Postal Service
may not enter into any contract with an agency of a
foreign government (whether under authority of this
paragraph or otherwise) if it would grant an undue or
unreasonable preference to the Postal Service with
respect to any class of mail or type of mail service;
and
``(2) with the consent of the President, establish
the rates of postage or other charges on mail matter
conveyed between the United States and other
countries.''.
PART II
Summary of Amendments Made in Order by the Rule on H.R. 4104--Treasury,
Postal Service and General Government Appropriations FY99
DeLay (30 min.): Finds that there is no Constitutional
basis and no Federal common law or statutory law precedent to
justify the establishment of a protective function privilege.
Expresses the sense of the Congress that if the President
believes that the protective function privilege has merit, he
should submit legislation to that effect to the Congress or
otherwise withdraw his appeal of the recent district court
decision denying the existence of such a privilege.
Coburn (30 min.): Clarifies that ``contraceptive drug or
device'' does not apply to drugs or devices which result in an
abortion.
Obey (30 min.): Exempts religiously sponsored, officiated
or controlled plans from the requirement that all FEHBP plans
cover the full range of prescription contraceptives as part of
the benefits package. Allows the Catholic health plans
currently participating in the FEHBP program to continue to
participate without violating the tenets of their religious
beliefs.
Amendments made in order by the rule:
1. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative DeLay of Texas, or a
Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes
Add at the end of title VI, but before the short title, the
following:
Sec. . (a) Congress finds that--
(1) the Office of the Independent Counsel and a
Federal grand jury are investigating allegations of
personal wrongdoing and possible crimes in the White
House;
(2) certain Secret Service agents asserted a
``protective function privilege'' and refused to answer
questions before a Federal grand jury (In Re Grand Jury
Proceedings, Misc. No. 91-148 (NHJ), redacted version
at 1, (D.D.C. May 22, 1998) (hereinafter referred to as
``Grand Jury Proceedings''));
(3) ``[n]one of the questions at issue relate to the
protective techniques or procedures of the Secret
Service'' (Grand Jury Proceedings at 1);
(4) Federal Rule of Evidence 501 provides that
evidentiary privileges ``shall be governed by the
principles of the common law as they may be interpreted
by the Courts of the United States in the light of
reason and experience'';
(5) the Supreme Court has interpreted Rule 501 to
require courts to consider whether the asserted
privilege is historically rooted in Federal law,
whether any States have recognized the privilege, and
public policy interests (Grand Jury Proceedings at 2,
citing Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1, 12-15 (1996));
(6) the Supreme Court has emphasized that it is
``disinclined to exercise [its] authority [under Rule
501] expansively'' (University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC,
493 U.S. 182, 189 (1990)) and has cautioned that
privileges ``are not lightly created nor expansively
construed, for they are in derogation of the search for
truth'' (U.S. v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 710 (1974));
(7) the district court found ``no constitutional
basis for recognizing a protective function
privilege,'' ``no history of the privilege in Federal
common or statutory law,'' ``[n]o State [recognition
of] a protective function privilege or its
equivalent,'' and ``the policy arguments advanced by
the Secret Service are not strong enough to overcome
the grand jury's substantial interest in obtaining
evidence of crimes or to cause this Court to create a
new testimonial privilege'' (Grand Jury Proceedings at
3, 6-9);
(8) no administration has ever sought congressional
enactment of a protective function privilege;
(9) Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson refused to
establish a protective function privilege (Grand Jury
Proceedings at 9) and correctly noted such claims
should be made to Congress, not to the courts (Grand
Jury Proceedings at 4);
(10) the Attorney General, who is the Nation's chief
law enforcement official, should not assert claims of
privilege, such as the protective function privilege,
that have no basis in law and the assertion of which
substantially delays the work of the grand jury;
(11) former Attorneys General Barr, Thornburgh,
Meese, and Bell encouraged Attorney General Reno to
forego appealing the district court's decision because
they believe the decision was ``legally and
historically well-founded,'' and ``any appeal would
likely result in an opinion that would only magnify the
precedential damage to the Executive Branch'' (Letter
from Professor Jonathan Turley to Attorney General
Reno, May 25, 1998); and
(12) the Attorney General has appealed the district
court's decision.
(b) It is the sense of the Congress that the President of
the United States, if he believes such a policy is warranted,
should submit to the Congress proposed legislation which would
establish a protective function privilege and also direct the
Attorney General to immediately withdraw the appeal of the
district court's decision in the matter styled In Re Grand Jury
Proceedings, Misc. No. 91-148 (NHJ), redacted version, (D.D.C.
May 22, 1998).
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2. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Coburn of Oklahoma, or
a Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes
Page 71, strike line 18 and all that follows through page
72, line 2, and insert the following:
``(b) For purposes of this section--
``(1) the term `contraceptive drug or device' means a
drug or device intended for preventing pregnancy, but
does not include any drug, device, or procedure which
has as one of its known effects the interference with
the implantation of a fertilized human ovum or embryo
in the uterus or the termination of pregnancy after
implantation in the uterus; and
``(2) the term `outpatient contraceptive services'
means consultations, examinations, procedures, and
medical services, provided on an outpatient basis and
related to the use of contraceptive methods (including
natural family planning) to prevent pregnancy, not
including the provision of any service relating to a
drug, device, or procedure which has as one of its
known effects the interference with the implantation of
a fertilized human ovum or embryo in the uterus or the
termination of pregnancy after implantation in the
uterus.''
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3. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Obey of Wisconsin, or a
Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes
At the end of section 516 (page 72, after line 2), insert
the following:
(c) An organization that is religiously controlled,
sponsored, or affiliated shall be exempted from the application
of this section if, or to the extent that, the providing of any
coverage or benefits referred to in subsection (a) would
violate the bona fide tenets of the religion involved.