After two days of lengthy debate, the House on March 30 passed, 263-146, a bill (H.R. 3908) that would appropriate an additional $13 billion in emergency funding for FY2000. The FY2000 emergency supplemental appropriations bill would provide additional funding for disaster relief, the Pentagon, a low-income heating program, peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, and anti-drug efforts in Colombia. As approved by committee, the bill’s price tag would have equaled $9.1 billion; however, an open rule allowed for the consideration of a number of amendments that increased the bill’s final funding amount.
Although the House passed the measure, its fate is uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) stated that he does not want to consider an emergency supplemental spending bill on the Senate floor; however, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ted Stevens (R-AK) has scheduled a mark-up for April 4.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Bill Young (R-FL) encouraged Members to support the emergency bill saying, “We need to get this bill off our schedules today because we have 13 other appropriations bills that we are trying to bring to this House in regular order and ahead of last year’s schedule.” Committee ranking Democrat David Obey (D-WI) opposed the bill saying, “If this bill passes as it is now before us, we will wind up spending $587 billion over this existing fiscal year, which is $13 billion more than the President asked.”
Among the amendments considered by the House was one that would have cut $1.6 billion from the bill. Offered by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), the amendment was defeated by a vote of 108-315. Another amendment, offered by Rep. Patrick Toomey (R-PA), would earmark $4 billion of the non-Social Security surplus for debt reduction. The amendment was unanimously adopted, 420-0. Another amendment, offered by Rep. Steve Largent (R-OK), would shift $750,000 from the Department of Justice to the Commission on Online Child Protection. The amendment was adopted by voice vote. Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) offered and then withdrew an amendment that would have provided an additional $500 million for youth activities under the Workforce Investment Act.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was prevented from offering an amendment that would have appropriated $600 million for substance abuse programs. In a show of protest, Rep. Pelosi offered an amendment that would have cut the Colombia aid package by $51 million, which was defeated by voice vote. “If we want to reduce substance abuse in the United States, we must do that by reducing demand in the United States.
Cutting off supply in Colombia is more costly and less certain,” stated Rep. Pelosi, adding: “Five and one half million Americans are in need of substance abuse treatment. Two million of them are receiving it, and 3.5 million people are in need.”
Opposing the amendment, Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) said, “We cannot win the war by treatment alone….This legislation we have before us today that the gentlewoman wants to cut money from is designed to allow us to stop this activity [drug trafficking from Colombia] from going on.”
During committee action, Rep. Pelosi unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have appropriated $1.3 billion for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, including programs that focus on youth.
H.R. 3908, as approved by the House Appropriations Committee, would transfer $20 million from the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) to the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant (MCHBG) at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Under the FY2000 omnibus appropriations bill (P.L. 106-113), the AFLA received $20 million in forward funding for abstinence-only education programs. Under H.R. 3908, the $20 million would be available in FY2001 for the MCHBG for abstinence education programs.
Committee report language would allow 2.5 percent of the money to be used for a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of abstinence education programs. The committee report states that the study should include a representative sample of adolescents who receive services through Title X, the nation’s family planning program, in addition to adolescents who participate in abstinence-only education programs.
Additionally, the bill would appropriate an additional $35 million for payments to states for foster care and adoption assistance. Under the Foster Care Independence Act (P.L. 106-169), the program was authorized at $140 million. The additional funding would fully fund the program for FY2000.
