This week, the House and Senate approved a continuing resolution until November 7, 2003. The House approved the following conference reports: interior and the emergency supplemental bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate approved the foreign operations spending bill.
Continuing Resolution
On October 30, the House approved, 406-13, a continuing resolution (H. J. Res. 75) to fund government programs at their FY2003 levels until November 7. A continuing resolution passed by the House and Senate on September 25 (see The Source, 9/26/03) will expire on October 31. The House passed a second continuing resolution last week (see The Source 10/24/03), but the Senate did not consider the measure.
To date, only 3 of the 13 appropriations bills have been enacted into law: Defense, Homeland Security, and Legislative Branch. The House has approved the conference report on the interior spending bill. The Senate has approved the foreign operations spending bill, sending it to conference. Conference committees hope to complete work on the remaining Senate-approved spending bills before November 7: Energy and Water Development; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and Military Construction.
Senate Action
Foreign Operations
On October 30, the Senate approved, by voice vote, the FY2004 foreign operations spending bill (H.R. 2800). The Senate began its debate on H.R. 2800 last week (see The Source 10/24/03). The text of S. 1426, as passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 17 (see The Source, 7/18/03), was substituted for the bill.
H.R. 2800 would allocate $18.389 billion in FY2004, $2.189 billion more than FY2003, $289 million more than approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, and $1.289 billion more than the House approved on July 24 (see The Source, 7/25/03). The amount is $507 million less than the President’s request. The Senate Appropriations Committee report accompanying the bill includes language detailing a number of programs affecting women and their families.
During consideration of the bill, the Senate approved, 89-1, an amendment by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) that would provide an additional $289 million for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, bringing the total funding level for HIV/AIDS prevention activities to $2.4 billion in FY2004. Unused funds from the FY2003 defense budget would be transferred as an offset for the increase.
By unanimous consent, the Senate approved the following amendments en bloc:
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The Senate rejected, 40-57, an amendment by Foreign Relations Committee Chair Richard Lugar (R-IN) that would have inserted the text of the State Department authorization bill (S. 925) into H.R. 2800. The Senate began its consideration of S. 925 in July, but never completed action on the bill (see The Source, 7/11/03).
Sen. Lugar argued that passage of S. 925 was necessary for the Senate “to project its voice on foreign policy and to have an impact on the direction this country takes in the world. I believe this step is especially necessary because we are now trying to accomplish our legislative work in extraordinary and dangerous times. These times demand the Senate do its duty to pass a foreign affairs authorization bill.”
The amendment was defeated because a number of Democrats, including Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), wanted to further debate S. 925 and offer their own amendments to the bill. The amendment he had hoped to offer would have increased the federal minimum wage. “Regarding the minimum wage, it is a women’s issue because a majority of those receiving the minimum wage are women. It is a children’s issue because one-third of women who receive the minimum wage have children. It is a civil rights issue because a disproportionate number of the men and women who receive the minimum wage are men and women of color. And it is a fairness issue. In this country of ours, people who work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks, ought to have a living wage. But we are denied this opportunity. What is it about our Republican friends that they refuse to permit the Senate to go on record on these issues?” he asked.
Sen. Durbin offered an amendment to provide an additional $589.7 million for the Global AIDS Initiative, bringing the total funding level for HIV/AIDS to $3 billion in FY2004. Because the budget resolution capped the FY2003 discretionary budget at $839.1 billion, a point of order was raised against the amendment. A motion to waive the budget point of order was agreed to by a vote of 42-50, but 60 votes are required to waive a budget point of order, and the amendment was defeated.
The Senate defeated, 45-47, an amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would have reserved at least one-third of the funds for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV rather than one-third of all prevention funds for “abstinence until marriage” programs. Sen. Feinstein explained that the amendment “recognizes that HIV prevention includes many types of activities, and those that target the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS, such as ‘abstinence until marriage’ programs, are really only a subset.” The amendment also would have defined an “abstinence until marriage” program as any program that includes, but is not necessarily limited to, providing information that emphasizes the public health benefits of refraining from sexual activity outside of marriage.
The Senate also defeated, 41-51, an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NV) that would have provided an additional $200 million for the Global AIDS initiative. The increase would have been offset by a $200 million decrease in the Millennium Challenge assistance program.
House Action
Iraq and Afghanistan
On October 31, the House approved, 298-121, the conference report for the FY2004 emergency supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan (H.R. 3289).
H.R. 3289 would allocate an additional $87.5 billion in FY2004 for certain programs under the Department of Defense, Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. The total is approximately $503 million more than the President’s request.
Under the bill, $64.7 billion would be provided for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, $18.6 billion would be provided for relief and reconstruction in Iraq, and $1.2 billion would be provided for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
The measure would authorize continued payment of per diem travel expenses for family members of U.S. military personnel who are ill or injured. The bill would provide $32 million for family counseling, domestic violence, and readjustment counseling for military personnel and their families. It also would provide $10 million for similar programs specifically for members of the National Guard.
H.R. 3289 would encourage the inclusion of women’s organizations in the governance of Iraq and Afghanistan; increase women’s access to land, water, agricultural inputs, credit, and property; provide long-term educational assistance for girls and women; and provide training to military and police on the protection, rights, and needs of women.
Of the amount allocated for relief and reconstruction in Iraq, H.R. 3289 would provide $793 million for health care programs, including $493 million to refurbish and modernize medical clinics, primary health care services, and hospitals, and $300 million to repair and procure medical equipment for Iraq’s medical facilities. The measure does not include the President’s request of $150 million for a new children’s hospital in Basra.
H.R. 3289 also would provide $105 million for migration and refugee assistance and $15 million to investigate human rights violations and other atrocities committed by the former regime in Iraq.
In addition, the bill would earmark $90 million for education and $10 million for women’s leadership programs.
The conference committee removed a Senate provision that would have allocated $10.3 billion as a grant to Iraq, including $5.1 billion to rebuild Iraq’s security services and $5.2 billion for immediate reconstruction costs. The President would have been required to notify Congress if any single obligation in Iraq amounted to $250 million or more. The remaining $10 billion would have been provided to Iraq as a loan. The loan would have been converted to a grant if creditors forgave 90 percent of all bilateral debt incurred by the former Iraqi regime. Finally, the provision would have expressed the sense of the Senate that each country that is owed bilateral debt by Iraq should forgive such debt and provide reconstruction aid beginning at the Madrid Donor Conference on October 23, 2003.
Of the amount allocated for relief and reconstruction in Afghanistan, H.R. 3289 would provide $95 million for schools and education and $49 million to construct 90 rural health clinics.
H.R. 3289 also would earmark $60 million for programs providing assistance to Afghan women and girls and $5 million for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The Senate will consider the conference report on H.R. 3289 next week.
