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[Page: H5434] GPO's PDF---
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 243 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 2466.
[Time: 19:36]
IN THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill (H.R. 2466) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, and for other purposes, with Mr. LATOURETTE in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. When the Committee of the Whole rose earlier today, the amendment offered by the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. COBURN) had been disposed of. The bill has been read through line 6 of page 21.
AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. GEORGE MILLER OF CALIFORNIA
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment and I ask unanimous consent that it be considered at this time.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California:
Insert before the short title the following new section:
SEC. __. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to directly construct timber access roads in the National Forest System.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be joined by the gentleman from California (Mr. HORN) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. INSLEE) in offering this amendment. This is intended to be a friendly amendment, one that is consistent with the committee's recommendation in its report on page 91.
After many years of debate and close votes on this floor, this amendment would put the House clearly on record to end the controversial practice of using taxpayer subsidies to construct roads for commercial timber sales on national forest land. It is a straightforward amendment.
Mr. Chairman, the taxpayers have helped construct over 483,000 miles of authorized roads in our national forests. That is a road system that is eight times, eight times longer than the interstate highway system, enough to circle the globe 15 times. While the administration has been happy to request and Congress has been happy to provide funding for new road construction in the past years, we have not been very adept at providing funds for maintaining existing roads.
As a result, the Forest Service estimates that there is a backlog of $8.4 million in capital improvements needed on forest roads for heavily used passenger vehicles. Less than 20 percent of the roads are being maintained to the safety and design standards.
Under Secretary Jim Lyons and Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck have testified repeatedly before Congress that it is fiscally and environmentally irresponsible to keep building new roads when they do not have the budget to address the annual maintenance needs or begin to address the backlog of maintenance on the existing road system. While I appreciate the committee has provided a $19 million increase in road maintenance, that is still much less than the $500 million annually needed that the agency estimates is necessary to catch up with the backlog of needs.
Recognizing that they have a major problem on their hands, the Forest Service is in the midst of an 18-month moratorium on new road construction in roadless areas in most national forests. The purpose of this time-out is to develop a long-term road policy and identify nonessential roads and those roads that should be reconstructed and maintained for safe and environmentally sound practices.
In my view, the remaining roadless areas in our national forests are vital reserves and must be maintained for clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, low-impact recreation, and wilderness values. I have joined with the gentleman from New York (Mr. HINCHEY), the gentleman from Washington (Mr. INSLEE), and the gentleman from California (Mr. HORN), along with 162 of our colleagues, in urging the administration to come up with long-term protections of these critical roadless areas .
In closing, I wish to recognize the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. REGULA), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. DICKS), for their work in the committee report to resolve what has been a contentious issue in past years. I also want to acknowledge the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. PORTER) and our former colleague, Mr. Joe Kennedy, who were pioneers in this effort to reduce taxpayer subsidies to timber roads.
Mr. Chairman, I urge the adoption of this amendment.
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word and to engage the author of the amendment, the gentleman from California (Mr. GEORGE MILLER), in a colloquy.
I would like to ask the gentleman from California if he could help me clarify his amendment. Is it the gentleman's intention that his amendment apply only to appropriations for direct construction of timber access roads and not to any of the necessary planning, engineering, management, and support activities conducted by the agency?
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I would say to the gentleman that he is correct.
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, if the amendment is written to specifically target only appropriations for direct construction of timber access roads, I am pleased to support it. What I believe the gentleman is trying to accomplish is codification of the language already contained in the interior appropriations report on this matter.
For clarification, this amendment addresses the issue of appropriations for direct construction of timber access roads and does not affect the other necessary planning, engineering, management, and support activities of the Federal land management agencies. It will also not reduce or prohibit any funding which enables the agency to comply with necessary environmental regulations such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I would say the gentleman is correct.
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit for the RECORD information regarding the Urban Park and Recreation Fund.
The following is according to the fiscal year 2000 budget justification submitted by the National Park Service in support of the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program:
Urban Park and Recreation Fund
Funding provided in the past has also contributed to the development of programs and projects such as the innovation project established in Tacoma, Washington. The goals of this innovative project were to provide at-risk youth alternatives to gangs and drugs through participation in outdoor recreation activities, and to develop life skills such as self-esteem, leadership, decision-making, and cooperation. The program was designed to operate as an extensive partnership involving professionals from the disciplines of parks and recreation, education, city government, social services and criminal justice. It
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The Tacoma program blossomed, leveraged other sources of funding and continues today as a model partnership program involving schools, government, criminal justice, social service and park and recreation agencies. It has since expanded to the adjacent community of Enumclaw, Washington. New partnerships have been formed with agencies such as Faith Group Homes and the Pierce County Juvenile Courts Probated Youth Program. This Tacoma program has received national recognition and was featured at a February 1995 invitational colloquium at Fort Worth, Texas, titled ``Recreation for At-Risk Youth: Programs that Work,'' sponsored by the National Park and Recreation Association.
Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.
(Mr. BOEHLERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is a logical fulfillment of the agreement reached among Republicans last year to end the purchaser road credit. This amendment simply reiterates that no Federal funds have been appropriated to improve or construct timber access roads. Language with the identical substantive effect is already in the report accompanying the bill.
Just to clarify, this amendment applies only to the use of appropriated funds for actual construction of roads. Funds may still be used for the engineering design associated with road construction and reconstruction projects as well as for environmental reviews and public involvement. And private funds may still be used for road construction and reconstruction in any area where roads may be built, just as the report states.
This amendment is narrow, but it is a great step forward, concluding the work begun last year. Road costs must be borne by the companies that will benefit from their use. That is a win for the taxpayers and a win for the environment. I am pleased this amendment has drawn broad bipartisan support.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BOEHLERT. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding, and I just wanted to say I was remiss in not mentioning his name when I was thanking those who had made this agreement possible so that the chairman and the ranking member could come to this agreement.
As the gentleman knows, he has the battle scars of many contentious battles on this floor over forest policy and road policy, and I want to thank him for his efforts last year, along with the members of the committee that dealt with the first step in this process, and for his support for this amendment, and again to the chairman and to the ranking member for their efforts in the markups of this legislation before it came to the floor.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BOEHLERT. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, we have no problem with this amendment. It simply codifies what we had directed be done last year in the bill, and so it is appropriate to accept this amendment and we support it.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. GEORGE MILLER).
The amendment was agreed to.
AMENDMENT NO. 12 OFFERED BY MR. NEY
Mr. NEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendment No. 12, and I ask unanimous consent that it be considered at this time.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 12 offered by Mr. NEY:
Page 39, line 25, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(reduced by $5,000,000)''.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Chairman, let me just start by congratulating the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. REGULA), and the other members of the committee for a fine bill they have crafted. The purpose of this amendment will be to reduce the total amount for the departmental management in the Department of the Interior by $5 million.
As Members of the House, we just recently and have consistently cut our own Members' representational accounts. We have cut our franking accounts so we can show the American people we are willing to make sacrifices to balance the Nation's budget. I think it is only fair we begin cutting out some of the bureaucracy in some of the agencies, and I intend to do amendments along the appropriations process that will help to accomplish this.
[Time: 19:45]
With the help of the Congressional Research Service, I was able to find that the Department of Interior roughly has in the account $126 million in expense, of which travel is a part of it, for fiscal year 1998.
I think that there is significant and enough money in this account and it can sustain some type of cut that will again be part of the process to help to continue to balance our budget. I arrived at the $5 million figure by taking roughly 4 percent of the fiscal year 1998 report. Unfortunately, we do not have the 1999 numbers because they have not yet to be filed.
So, as my colleagues can see, the reduction of the $5 million comes out of the departmental management section of the bill, which is funded actually at $62.9 million. The Department of the Interior uses funds from this account and others for their travel. Reduction by the $5 million would fund the departmental management section at $57.9 million.
We as Members, Mr. Chairman, have sacrificed our MRAs, franking accounts, and rightfully so. We have even cut the Congressional Research Service. I feel that the bureaucracy can sustain this reduction.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I would advise the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. NEY) that we have cut this account $2 million already below the 1999 level and recognize that, in an effort to save money, this I think might be a little bit heavy. We need to assess it, and we could do that in the conference procedure.
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I agree with the chairman. I mean, we have I think been very tight in terms of these increases. We have tried to hold them down. And we are talking about the management of the Department of the Interior, which is an agency that we demand a lot of. The Secretary of the Department of the Interior, his office, are under tremendous pressure on a whole series of fronts.
I mentioned to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. COBURN) earlier, just the work that is being done today with all the very important habitat conservation plans that require input from the Secretary, they have got all the tribal account problems that we have been trying to get straightened out; and I just think that we are within our allocation. We have cut a lot of accounts here. This is one that I hope that we could spare. And I agree with the chairman that this is something we ought to continue to look at as we go into the conference.
So I urge a ``no'' vote unless the gentleman wants to withdraw his amendment.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I do want to congratulate both gentlemen. I think they have done a fine job of this bill and on the accounts. And I just wanted to just note, we have cut in Congress our accounts and we have squeezed a little bit more.
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But I want to mention, my colleagues have done a fine job on the existing accounts.
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, let me just tell the gentleman that some of these things that we are talking about are uncontrollable. And these are pay raises that are, under the law, required. They have got Worker Compensation payments, unemployment compensation payments, rental payments to the GSA, some of which go up automatically.
So I do not believe that there is anything untoward here or anything that is excess. It is just that the cost of administration of these agencies goes up some each year. I think that this is a reasonable request and, therefore, again I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. NEY).
The amendment was rejected.
AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. FALEOMAVAEGA
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA:
At the end of title I, page 56, after line 2, insert the following new section:
SEC. __. (a) LOAN TO BE GRANTED.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter the ``Secretary''), in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall make available to the government of American Samoa (hereinafter ``ASG''), the benefits of a loan in the amount of $18,600,000 bearing interest at a rate equal to the United States Treasury cost of borrowing for obligations of similar duration. Repayment of the loan shall be secured and accomplished pursuant to this section with funds, as they become due and payable to ASG from the Escrow Account established under the terms and conditions of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (and the subsequent Enforcing Consent Decree) (hereinafter collectively referred to as ``the Agreement'') entered into by the parties November 23, 1998, and judgment granted by the High Court of American Samoa on January 5, 1999 (Civil Action 119-98, American Samoa Government v. Philip Morris Tobacco Co., et. al.).
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