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This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on H.R. 4276, the Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1999, as reported by the House
Appropriations Committee. Your consideration of the Administration's views
would be appreciated.
The Administration appreciates the Committee's support for many of the
President's priorities within the 302(b) allocation. For example, we
appreciate the Committee's funding of law enforcement programs in general
and the COPS program in particular. Funding COPS at the requested level of
$1.4 billion is consistent with the Balanced Budget Agreement and would
enable us to achieve the goal of hiring 100,000 additional police officers
by the year 2000.
However, the allocation is simply insufficient to make the necessary
investments in other critical programs funded by this bill. The only way
to achieve the appropriate investment level is to offset discretionary
spending by using savings in other areas. The President's FY 1999 Budget
proposes levels of discretionary spending for FY 1999 that conform to the
Bipartisan Budget Agreement by making savings in mandatory and other
programs available to help finance this spending. In the Transportation
Equity Act, Congress -- on a broad, bipartisan basis -- took similar action
in approving funding for surface transportation programs paid for with
mandatory offsets. We want to work with the Congress on mutually agreeable
mandatory and other offsets that would be used to increase high-priority
discretionary programs, including those funded by this bill. In addition,
we hope that the House will reduce funding for lower priority and
unrequested discretionary programs, and redirect funding to programs of
higher priority.
The Administration has very serious concerns, discussed below, with the
Committee's inadequate funding of a number of priority programs, as well as
with objectionable language provisions. If the bill presented to the
President does not address the issues discussed below, the President's
senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill.
Legal Services Corporation
The Committee bill funds the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) at $141
million, $142 million below the FY 1998 enacted level and $199 million
below the President's request of $340 million. This funding level is
unacceptable. It represents a 65-percent cut from the FY 1995 level of
$400 million, would severely cripple the program, and calls into question
the Federal Government's commitment to ensuring that all Americans,
regardless of income, have access to the Judicial system. The Supreme
Court recently ruled that interest on lawyer trust accounts (IOLTAs) are
the private property of clients and cannot be used to generate resources
for civil legal services. This eliminates a funding source that provided
LSC programs with more than $57 million last year and underscores the
importance of action to fully fund the President's request. The
Administration strongly supports efforts to increase funding for the LSC.
Small Business Administration
The Administration strongly objects to the Committee's funding levels for
the administration of the Small Business Administration's (SBA's) programs.
The Committee's funding level for the Salaries and Expenses account regular
operating expenses represents a 27- percent reduction from the President's
request, and includes a requirement that all of the reduction be taken from
headquarters functions. Such funding levels would require reducing staff
by more than 1,200 staff years through severe reductions-in-force. Not
even the elimination of all headquarters employees would satisfy the
Committee Report requirement to take reductions solely from non-District
Offices.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The Administration strongly urges the House to fully fund the President's
request of $279 million for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC), $18.5 million above the Committee mark. The additional resources
are essential and would allow EEOC to reduce the backlog of pending
complaints and implement much-needed reforms in the way all complaints are
managed, including an enhanced alternative dispute resolution program. We
look forward to working with Congress to provide funding for EEOC and other
programs included in the President's civil rights enforcement initiative.
Department of Commerce
- Decennial Census. The language in the Committee bill is
unacceptable. It is critical that the Congress provide full-year
funding for the Decennial Census without any restrictions on the use of
statistical sampling. Delays or disruptions would unacceptably
complicate the management of this massive operation. We strongly urge
the House to pass an amendment that removes these onerous language
restrictions and provides funding that will allow the Census Bureau to
implement its current plan. This plan was developed by statistical
experts and based on recommendations from the National Academy of
Sciences, which found that regardless of cost, the methods of the past
could not achieve satisfactory accuracy. The statistical methods
incorporated in the Bureau's plan would produce the most accurate census
possible and virtually eliminate the large undercounts of minorities,
children, and other groups that occurred in the 1990 census.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The
Administration objects to inadequate funding for Administration
priorities within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), including: the Clean Water Initiative to protect coastal
communities; the GLOBE program, which promotes scientific discovery and
student achievement; and, activities to implement the Endangered Species
Act and Magnuson-Stevens Act. Reductions to the Climate and Global
Change Program would slow research to understand the implications of
extreme weather events such as El Nino. In addition, by not fully
funding the request for the National Weather Service, the Committee
threatens vital services.
The Administration strongly opposes an amendment that would extend
State jurisdiction of fisheries from three miles to "three marine
leagues" for Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The extension of
States' jurisdiction over marine resources beyond the currently drawn
boundaries would undermine the current management regime and could have
severe and detrimental effects on living marine resources in the Gulf.
Finally, the Administration is concerned with funding restrictions in
bill language that could limit NOAA's ability to fulfill its
mission.
The Administration is also particularly concerned about inadequate
funding to fulfill contract obligations for follow-on polar and
geostationary weather satellite programs. Renegotiation or termination
of these contracts would jeopardize satellite continuity for both
civilian and military operations and increase costs. The recent failure
of the GOES-9 satellite underscores the need to maintain production
schedules.
- National Institute for Standards and Technology. The
Administration is concerned that the Committee's exclusion of the requested
advance appropriation for the Advanced Measurement Laboratory would
increase costs and delay completion by at least a year. We are also very
disappointed by the reductions in the Advanced Technology Program, which
fosters cutting-edge research. The Committee allowance would support only
$43 million in new awards, 54 percent below the President's request of $94
million for new awards. Any amendment to either eliminate ATP funding or
eliminate funding for new awards would be unacceptable.
- Statistics Initiatives. The Administration is concerned about
inadequate funding for high- priority statistical initiatives, especially
the improvement of National Account measures, the Poverty Measure
initiative, and the Continuous Measurement program, which will provide
annual demographic information on the population and eliminate the need for
the "long form" in the 2010 Census.
- Minority Business Development Agency. Management reforms at the
Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) have improved delivery of
programs and technical assistance, and MBDA has emerged as a stronger, more
focused agency. The Administration objects to the reduction to MBDA's base
and requests restoration of $2.8 million.
- National Information Infrastructure Program and Restrictions on
Export Controls. In the Committee bill, the National Information
Infrastructure program is reduced by $4 million (20 percent) below the FY
1998 enacted level. Such a reduction would substantially decrease seed
money for innovative information technology projects. In addition, the
Administration strongly objects to onerous reporting requirements that
would require the Department to notify Congress before issuing satellite
export licenses to China.
Year 2000 Computer Conversion
In the FY 1999 Budget, the President has requested more than $1 billion for
Y2K computer conversion. In addition, the budget anticipated that
additional requirements would emerge over the course of the year and
included an allowance for emergencies and other unanticipated needs. It is
essential to make Y2K funding available quickly and flexibly. The House
effort to defer action on the emergency fund in the Treasury and General
Government appropriations bill is very troubling, particularly in light of
several Subcommittees, including the Commerce, Justice, State Subcommittee,
deciding not to fund the base Y2K requests.
Department of Justice
The Administration appreciates the Committee's continued support for law
enforcement and other Department of Justice activities. However, as
discussed below, we are concerned about Committee action in a number of
areas.
- Title V -- At-Risk Children's Grant Program. The Administration
urges the House to provide $95 million requested for the At-Risk children's
proposal. The At-Risk proposal supports local community prevention
programs such as mentoring, truancy prevention, and gang intervention to
prevent young people from becoming involved in the criminal justice system.
- Drug Testing and Intervention. We are disappointed by the
Committee's failure to provide any of the $85 million requested for the
drug testing and intervention program. Systematic drug testing is a
proven, cost-effective means of using the coercive power of the criminal
justice system to move non-violent offenders into drug treatment programs.
- Imposition of State Ethics Rules. The Administration strongly
opposes the provisions in the bill that would impose State ethics rules on
Federal attorneys and establish an independent board that could fire
Federal agents, prosecutors, and civil law enforcement attorneys. These
provisions would undermine Federal law enforcement by subjecting Department
of Justice attorneys to multiple and inconsistent State rules of conduct,
transferring to the States the authority to regulate the conduct of Federal
attorneys in the performance of their Federal law enforcement duties. For
example, this legislation would hamper investigations of drug operations
across State lines as well as other multi-jurisdiction investigations such
as the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.
- Protection Against Terrorism, Including Use of Chemical and
Biological Weapons. We appreciate the Committee's support of the
Administration's effort to combat terrorism, particularly the use of
chemical and biological weapons. However, we ask that the Committee fully
fund the request for the Attorney General's Counterterrorism Fund,
including funding for local bomb squad equipment.
- Protection Against Cybercrime and Attacks on Our Nation's Critical
Infrastructures. The Committee mark excludes Counterterrorism Fund
support to combat cybercrime, including funding for potential transfer to
other agencies and for the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center.
The Department of Commerce has identified funding requirements for the
interagency Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, which coordinates the
development and integration of a national critical infrastructure plan.
Failure to provide funding would endanger the Government's efforts to fight
cybercrime.
- Indian Country. We appreciate the Committee mark for Indian
Country. However, we urge the House to fully fund the Administration's
request for Indian Country criminal justice assistance, including FBI and
U.S. Attorneys resources.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Administration is
disappointed that the Committee's level for the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) is $52 million below the President's request. We are
particularly concerned about the proposed $30 million funding level for the
FBI's Information Sharing Initiative (ISI), which is $20 million below the
request. This reduction would prevent the FBI from improving its
electronic case file information and thereby increasing the effectiveness
and efficiency of the FBI's investigations. Furthermore, the reporting
requirement on ISI would impede the FBI's ongoing efforts to provide
critical information technology infrastructure support using existing
resources.
- Immigration and Naturalization Service. We appreciate the
Committee's support for the Administration's border control initiative.
However, the Committee's $2.567 billion mark, $156 million below the
President's request, is insufficient to support a comprehensive, bipartisan
border management and enforcement strategy. The President's request
supports increased border management funding for Border Patrol agents,
critical infrastructure and technology, detention support, and interior
enforcement, and includes $36 million more than the Committee's level for
Border Patrol, detention, and office construction. We urge the House to
fully fund the President's request.
- Bureau of Prisons/Abortion. The Administration urges the House
to strike section 103 of the Committee bill, which would prohibit the
Bureau of Prisons from funding abortions except in cases of rape or where
the life of the mother is endangered. The Department of Justice believes
that there is a great likelihood that this provision would be held
unconstitutional.
- Juvenile Justice Block Grant. The Administration is concerned
that the $250 million Juvenile Justice Block Grant in the Committee bill
may authorize a broad and unfocused range of spending, and urges the House
to provide funding for more targeted activities, including direct funds for
local prosecutors to target juvenile and quality of life crimes.
- Narrowband Communications. The Administration is disappointed
that the Committee has not provided the $86 million requested to establish
a fund for the consolidation and coordination of the Department's
conversion to narrowband communications systems. We urge the House to
establish such a fund and to restore the $24 million in base resources that
are excluded from the Committee mark.
Potential Amendment Related to Presidential Executive Orders
The Administration would strongly oppose an amendment that may be offered
prohibiting the use of funds in the Act for implementing Executive Order
13087, dated May 28, 1998. The purpose of Executive Order 13087 is to
confirm and make uniform the existing bar preventing the Federal government
from discriminating against members of the Federal civilian workforce based
on sexual orientation. The term "sexual orientation" has its common,
limited, and accepted meaning as in H.R. 1858, the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act. Executive Order 13087 does not authorize
affirmative action policies, such as recruitment, reporting, or
goal-setting based on sexual orientation. Nor does it create any rights to
file a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
with a court or with the EEOC. The order leaves intact the current
procedures for dealing with such complaints. The Administration objects to
any effort to scale back policies that ensure that Federal workers are
treated fairly. In particular, we object to any amendment that would allow
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The amendment would also prohibit the Federal Government from implementing
Executive Order 13083 on Federalism. The Administration opposes this or
other amendments, which would block our efforts to ensure that existing
policies are consistent with recent Supreme Court decisions and unfunded
mandates statutes and would inhibit our ongoing efforts to take into
account important State and local concerns in Federal actions. After
hearing concerns from representatives of State and local elected officials
and their representative organizations and other interested parties, the
Administration announced it would suspend implementation of the Executive
Order in order to consult thoroughly with those groups about the content of
the Order, and to make changes where appropriate.
International Affairs Programs
The Administration appreciates the Committee's support for the Department
of State's Diplomatic and Consular Programs and Salaries and Expenses
accounts. However, we are concerned about the Committee's reduction of $26
million for the Department's operating requirements. Further, the
Committee's reduction of $38 million to the request for information
technology improvements in the Capital Investment Fund would jeopardize the
Department's effort to achieve Y2K compliance. In addition, limits placed
on the amount of fees to execute the President's Border Security Program
that can be used in FY 1999 could slow urgently needed border security
improvements.
The Administration is very concerned about the Committee's $245 million
reduction to the request for Security and Maintenance of U.S. Missions.
The Committee's mark does not fund construction of needed Embassy projects
in Beijing and Berlin and would require offsets against regular security
and maintenance activities to fund initial design work for these important
projects. We request that the Committee provide a funding level consistent
with the President's budget for urgently needed embassy facilities and
ongoing security and maintenance programs, including Y2K-related
activities.
The Administration appreciates the steps the Committee has taken to fund
the request for arrearage payments this year and would strongly oppose
amendments to reduce those levels. The Administration wants to work with
the Congress to ensure that these funds are available in a timely fashion
to retain our influence in these organizations and to identify reform
measures that further U.S. interests. However, we strongly oppose the
bill's authorization requirement that is intended to subject this important
foreign policy measure to the unrelated issue of family planning policy.
There is legitimate disagreement over this issue, but none of the U.N. and
related international organizations arrears payments is related to this
issue. Therefore, it is wholly inappropriate to hold the payment of U.S.
arrears hostage to the family planning issue.
Further, although the Committee has provided significant funding for the
Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) and Contributions for
International Peacekeeping Activities for FY 1999, the Administration is
concerned that reductions in these accounts would increase arrears and
impair the ability of the United States to address foreign policy interests
through the mechanism of U.N. peacekeeping.
The Administration opposes the Committee's proposal to provide up to $15
million for Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty needs by transfer from
the CIO account without any increase in funding. We strongly believe that
these important activities should be funded at the $29 million level, as
requested in the Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining and Related
Programs account.
The Administration is concerned about the $21 million overall reduction to
the request for the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). Given that the USIA
request is virtually at the FY 1998 level, the Committee's reduction would
hurt core public diplomacy activities, Year 2000 compliance, critical
broadcasting activities including broadcasting to Africa, and important
grant programs. We urge the House to provide funding for USIA's operating
and special accounts at the requested level.
The Administration is concerned about the Committee's reductions for the
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Asia Foundation, the American
Institute in Taiwan, and the International Commissions. Such reductions
would place a disproportionate burden on the operating budgets of these
small agencies.
In addition, the Administration would strongly oppose an amendment that may
be offered that would prevent intervention by the Justice Department and
other agencies in certain U.S. court proceedings to seize property of
foreign governments designated as state sponsors of terrorism. Such a
measure likely would result in seizures of property in direct violation of
U.S. statutory and treaty law and in giving priority to certain U.S.
claimants over long-standing, legitimate claims by other U.S. citizens. It
could also lead to costs incurred by the United States in the event of
judgements for foreign governments, retaliation against U.S. diplomatic
properties abroad, and seizure of property where the United States is
claiming an interest in actual ownership of the property. Moreover, this
provision would undermine the Administration's ability to protect the
interests of the United States in U.S. courts.
Finally, the Administration would oppose an amendment that may be offered
that would restrict efforts to challenge State, local, or tribal laws on
the grounds that the law is inconsistent with an international commercial
agreement, including any trade or investment agreement. The Administration
is committed to cooperating closely with State, local, and tribal
governments and taking into account their views in implementing agreements
with respect to any matter that directly affects their interests. Further,
neither World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panels, nor the
WTO itself, has any power to compel the United States to change its laws or
regulations, and such trade panel reports cannot form the basis for
bringing suit in U.S. courts.
Federal Communications Commission
The Administration is very concerned about the lack of funding for any of
the requested increases for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The Committee's funding level could require an agency-wide furlough or
reduction-in-force, impairing the FCC's ability to implement the mandates
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and to carry out critical mission
operations.
The Administration understands that an amendment may be offered that would
prevent the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing collections
for the e-rate program to connect schools and libraries to the Internet.
This amendment is unacceptable. Such an amendment could effectively end
the e-rate program. The e-rate is a critical component of Universal
Service and promises to ensure that all American classrooms, including
those in rural and low income areas, have full access to a powerful new set
of learning tools.
Teamsters Election
The Administration objects to the continuation of last year's rider that
prohibits the use of funds for supervising the Teamster's election, despite
a court order requiring the Federal Government to pay for a supervised
election.
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