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Congressional Testimony
March 01, 2000
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 3147 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 01, 2000 WILLIAM M. DALEY SECRETARY HOUSE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE AND JUDICIARY COMMERCE-JUSTICE, STATE
APPROPRUATIONS
BODY:
WILLIAM M. DALEY HOUSE
APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE AND THE JUDICIARY MARCH
1, 2000 Good morning. I am pleased to be here to present the Commerce
Department's budget for the new fiscal year. Mr. Chairman, first I want to thank
you, the members of this Subcommittee, and all your hardworking staffs for the
support and counsel over the last three years. This will be our last year
together, so I look forward to working with members of the Subcommittee to make
this one of the best ever. As you all know, we are in the longest economic
expansion in our nation's history. As a result, we are in an era of
unprecedented budget surpluses. obviously, our goal is to try to continue this
for many years to come. We are requesting a budget that covers our everyday
chores, like taking the Census, advancing U.S. trade, and protecting marine
resources. But we also are requesting $875 million in new, strategic investments
that will help us do our job better, and, at the same time, prepare for the
future. These investments are not only consistent with President Clinton's
priorities, but, in my opinion, they reflect the priorities of you in Congress.
All told, our budget calls for $5 billion next year, which is down 37 percent
from this year's $8.5 billion budget. Of course, the decline is because the bulk
of the work for Census 2000 is being done right now, in the current fiscal year.
As you know, last week we had an address problem with letters being sent to
households notifying them that the census questionnaire would soon follow. We
have taken immediate action to determine how this happened. The Government
Printing Office, which is handling the contract, is investigating what went
wrong. But the important thing is that the letters are going out on time, and
will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to the correct addresses. And I can
assure you that the census questionnaires that go into the mail later this month
are correctly addressed. The bottom line is that we remain on track for
completing the Census on time. For FY 2001, there is more work to be done. We
are requesting $393 million for processing and distributing the data, and for
closing down the hundreds of local census offices. To complete the work, we are
requesting $393 million in FY 2001, for processing and distributing the data,
and for closing down the hundreds of local census offices. To be honest, I have
prided myself on keeping a lid on our budget and aside from the Census, our core
budget has remained fairly constant at about $4 billion for the last few years.
But the time has come to invest in the future: for promoting exports and
enforcing our trade laws, for delivering high quality services, and for helping
communities adjust to economic forces. In my opinion, this is a very prudent
budget that, despite the increase, will pay big dividends in the long run. Let
me briefly highlight some of our proposals. First are investments for
accelerating the E-Commerce Revolution. Obviously, E-Commerce is the growth
engine of the future. We've never seen anything like it before. In my three
years as Secretary, I have watched it grow from hardly a decimal point in world
economic statistics, to what will be a trillion dollar business in a few years.
But this revolution is not without its challenges. All of us got the wake up
call a few weeks ago that showed how vulnerable the Internet is to cyber
attacks. President Clinton's meeting with industry, clearly underscored the need
for tighter Internet security. While our information economy is strong and
resilient, we must work together with the private sector to develop solutions to
these problems. Obviously, it is good business practice to do so to make sure
that public confidence in our economy remains. In our budget, we are proposing
$76 million to work on the problem, including $50 million for an institute to
begin Internet security R&D. It will be housed at NIST and will involve the
private sector. To fully exploit the Internet's potential, everyone needs to be
plugged into the revolution. Without a doubt, the digital divide between those
who have access to technology, and those who don't, is widening rapidly. We
issued a study that clearly shows that many Americans are being left behind,
especially in rural communities and in very distressed urban areas. So we are
seeking $175 million to help narrow the digital divide, and to promote
E-Commerce. People need skills and access to technology if they are to survive
in the new information economy of the 21st century. We are requesting $50
million for NTIA to increase computer use and Internet access in the home.
Grants would go to local organizations on a competitive basis. But they would
not go directly to private entities or individuals. We also propose tripling
NTIA's Technology Opportunities Program, and giving $23 million to EDA to
install broadband technology in rural communities and distressed areas, where
high- speed Internet access is as vital as good roads and bridges. We also are
requesting $28 million in new funding for Minority Serving Institutions to help
them educate more scientists and engineers. NOAA and NIST will administer the
funding. For EDA overall, we are seeking a $50 million increase. we are
proposing that some of the increase be used to promote more economic development
in our Native American communities, and in the multi-state, Mississippi Delta
area. As we all know, accurate measurement of the economy is an absolutely vital
government function. So we are seeking $29 million for tracking F-Commerce
growth, and for enhancing our statistical infrastructure. For NOAA, we are
requesting nearly $2.8 billion. This includes $376 million in new money for
protecting the environment. Much of this supports the President's Lands Legacy
initiative, which is one of the greatest efforts to save our natural resources
since Teddy Roosevelt was President. We are requesting $60 million so America
can continue to honor its commitment to the 1999 Pacific Salmon Agreement. And
we are seeking increases for a variety of our marine life programs. Predicting
the weather and maintaining the largest non- military fleet of satellites in the
world are key priorities. We are requesting increases in those areas, including
$100 million to finish modernizing the National Weather Service and for
satellite maintenance. We also need $28 million as part of a multi-year effort
to improve forecasts of El Niho, and other climate events. In the area of trade,
we are requesting $72 million. Despite our past successes in expanding trade, we
still have a nagging deficit. Obviously, one of the main reasons for that is our
strong economy, and strong demand for imports. But in my opinion, we can do more
to help shrink the deficit. Bringing China into the WTO obviously would help. A
quarter of humanity lives in China, but many of their markets are now closed to
exporters. By granting China permanent normal trade relations,
we would gain better access to many markets, from agriculture to
telecommunications. And as a member of WTO, China for the first time will have
to play by global trade rules. To make sure that it does, we also are requesting
$21 million to get more aggressive about enforcing our trade laws, and our
agreements with other nations. Last year, we did a great job on steel dumping.
But given the sheer volume of our exports and imports, we need more resources to
remain effective. To be frank, how can we expect the American people to support
those of us who agree that trade and more liberal trade is good for us if they
see we aren't doing a good job of enforcing and policing our agreements? We can
trust our trading partners, but we must verify that our trade deals are being
lived up to. So, for the first time, we plan to put trade compliance people in
China, Japan, and Korea. This alone will help with about half the trade
agreement problems businesses face. We are also requesting nearly $9 million to
meet our inspection obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Effective
compliance will help keep America competitive by guarding against unauthorized
release of confidential business information. There's $16 million, also, for
promoting environmental exports, and exports by small manufacturers. And we are
proposing $35 million to help communities adjust when a plant closes due to
trade, or other economic shocks. The last area I want to mention is management.
Without a doubt, the number one challenge for government in the years ahead is
to deliver services more efficiently. One way of doing that is making government
e-ready. For several years now, we have asked for money to re-wire our building
with optical fiber, so we could become a truly Digital Department. With fiber,
our network would operate ten times faster than it does today. Ten years ago
people could wait overnight for an urgent letter. But to get the job done today,
people need the information delivered instantly to their computers. As the first
Commerce Secretary of the Internet Century -- and the longest serving! -- I
strongly urge the subcommittee to provide the $6 million we need to rewire the
building. It is absolutely essential. We also are requesting funds for a number
of critical building projects, notably for NOAA and the Census Bureau. We have
implemented good management practices. In the last two years, we have improved
security for our' workers, property and information. And for the first time, we
have received clean financial statements from all the bureaus. And, we need to
continue to implement PTO's management reforms passed last year. And finally,
let me add that as part of a supplemental request, we now have a plan on the
table to close down NTIS, which has become outdated by the Internet. In my
opinion, our plan is a good plan. But we want to work with Congress to find a
quick resolution to this issue. Mr. Chairman, that completes my brief outline of
our 2001 budget request. I am prepared to answer your questions.
LOAD-DATE: March 7, 2000 
