|
This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on H.R. 2267, the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1998, as reported by the House
Appropriations Committee. Your consideration of the Administration's views
would be appreciated.
The Committee has developed a bill that provides requested funding for many of
the Administration's priorities. 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 Bipartisan Budget Agreement and would enable us to achieve the goal of
hiring 100,000 additional police officers by the year 2000.
As discussed below, the Administration will seek restoration of certain of the
Committee's reductions. We recognize that it will not be possible in all
cases to attain the Administration's full request and will work with the House
toward achieving acceptable funding levels. The Administration is committed to
working with the House to identify reductions in the bill in order to find
offsets for the restoration of funds that the Administration seeks. For
example, funding could be reduced for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant and
the new Juvenile Justice Block Grant. We urge the House to reduce funding for
lower priority programs, or for programs that would be adequately funded at the
requested level, and to redirect funding to programs of higher priority.
The Administration is particularly concerned about the objectionable funding
level provided for the Legal Services Corporation and language that would
prohibit any funds from being used for activities related to the design,
planning, testing, or implementation of sampling in the 2000 Census, and would
further require the passage of an authorization bill prior to the expenditure
of more than $100 million for any 2000 decennial planning operations. In
addition, the Hastert amendment, approved by the Rules Committee, would
effectively ban sampling in the guise of providing for judicial review. If the
bill presented to the President were to contain the funding level provided in
the Committee bill for the Legal Services Corporation or the restrictions on
Census activities in either the Committee bill or the Hastert amendment, the
President's senior advisers would recommend that the President veto the bill.
To date, the Administration has been working with the Appropriations
Committees to include items contained in the Bipartisan Budget Agreement in the
FY 1998 appropriations bills, in the hope that these issues could be worked
out. We are concerned that several of these and
other priority issues are not being resolved in a satisfactory manner. If
these issues are not resolved satisfactorily, the President's senior advisers
would recommend that he veto the bill.
Department of Commerce
- Census Sampling -- Committee provision. The Administration strongly
opposes the Committee's language that would prohibit any funds from being used
for activities related to the design, planning, testing, or implementation of
sampling in the 2000 Census, and would further require the passage of an
authorization bill prior to the expenditure of more than $100 million for any
2000 decennial planning operations. This represents an unprecedented and
unacceptable attempt to micromanage the decennial census. Such restrictions
would seriously undermine decennial census planning operations, especially with
regard to address list development, procurement, and the 1998 Decennial Dress
Rehearsal. The President's senior advisers have indicated that they would
recommend that the President veto the bill if it were to contain this
provision.
Census Sampling -- Hastert Amendment. The Administration also strongly
opposes the Hastert amendment because it effectively bans sampling in the guise
of providing for judicial review. The Hastert amendment would prohibit the
Census Bureau from expending any funds on planning, preparing or testing for
the use of sampling after a civil action is filed until the Supreme Court has
determined that sampling is constitutional and authorized by statute.
First, the Administration is concerned that the amendment's requirement for a
final Supreme Court endorsement of sampling prior to any planning, testing or
use of sampling in the 2000 census would simply act to ban sampling for the
census. For example, the amendment does not satisfy constitutional standards
for standing. The Supreme Court has required that a plaintiff must have
suffered an injury that is "concrete and particularized." It is unlikely that
those defined as "aggrieved parties" will be deemed to have the requisite
injury to satisfy Article III. In the recent legislative veto decision, for
example, the Court found that members of Congress did not have standing to
challenge that statute. Raines v. Byrd, 117 S.Ct. 2312 (1997). This
limitation is jurisdictional, cannot be waived, and can be raised by the Court
on its own.
Moreover, the Supreme Court held in 1992 that it could not rule on legal
challenges to the Census Bureau's actions until after the President sends the
census numbers to Congress. Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U.S. 788
(1992). There is thus a serious question as to whether the Court has the power
to rule on the merits of a census before the results of that census are
finalized. Given these problems, subsection (d)(2)'s requirement of a judicial
endorsement of sampling effectively prohibits sampling.
Finally, the Hastert amendment would likely lead to complicated, lengthy, and
complex litigation highly unlikely to be resolved in a time frame to permit
planning, testing, and use of sampling. Litigation is not consolidated in any
one district, there is no deadline for filing suit, and no limit on the number
of suits that may be filed. The Court will therefore be required to hear
numerous appeals. This problem is magnified because virtually every United
States citizen is an "aggrieved party," given a cause of action and an appeal
of right to the Supreme Court. Denying funding during this potentially lengthy
judicial process would effectively prevent use of sampling in the 2000 census.
For all these reasons, the President's senior advisers would recommend that the
President veto the bill if it were to contain the Hastert amendment.
Census sampling -- Mollohan amendment. Without the limited use of
sampling, the accuracy of the census would decrease significantly, especially
with regard to children and minority groups that have traditionally been
undercounted. The National Academy of Sciences, the General Accounting Office,
the Commerce Department Inspector General, and the vast majority of the
professional statistical community support the use of sampling in the decennial
census. The Administration remains committed to working with Congress on this
important issue, and supports the Mollohan amendment concerning Census 2000.
In addition to striking the bill's restrictions on sampling, the Mollohan
amendment would create a commission to monitor decennial census preparation and
implementation and would periodically report on whether any part of the process
had been manipulated so as to favor any region or group.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We are
disappointed that the Committee bill would provide only $8 million of the $22
million requested for the President's Clean Water Initiative, which helps
protect coastal communities from pollutants. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the primary trustee of our Nation's
coastal resources and, as such, plays an important role in this initiative.
The $22 million initiative builds from NOAA's unique coastal responsibilities
and partnerships with States and other Federal Trustee agencies. In addition,
we are disappointed that the Committee has not included any funding for the
Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment Program (GLOBE).
This program was developed to increase understanding of the Earth and has
already formed partnerships with over 2,500 U.S. schools and 35 other
countries, involving thousands of students across the U.S. and worldwide. The
Committee is recommending over $30 million in funding for NOAA activities not
requested by the Administration. We strongly urge that a portion of these
funds be redirected to continue the Clean Water Initiative, GLOBE, and other
priorities such as fisheries conservation and management.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The
Administration greatly appreciates the overall funding level for NIST and the
Committee's support of the Bipartisan Budget Agreement. However, we strongly
urge the House to drop language restricting new Advanced Technology Program
awards and to adopt language allowing continued Federal funding for
Manufacturing Extension Centers beyond six years, as was passed by the House in
H.R. 1274. The Administration strongly opposes the Hostettler amendment, which
would eliminate funding for the Advanced Technology Program.
- National Information Infrastructure (NII). The Administration urges
the House to reallocate resources between the NII grants program and the Public
Broadcasting Facilities program. The Committee mark substantially reduces
funding for the former and provides a large, unrequested increase for the
latter. The NII program is meritorious, providing seed money for innovative
projects that deploy, use, and evaluate advanced telecommunications and
information technology.
Legal Services Corporation
The Administration finds the Committee bill's funding level for the Legal
Services Corporation (LSC) unacceptable. The bill would fund the LSC at $141
million, $142 million below the FY 1997 enacted level and $199 million below
the President's request of $340 million. The amount that the Committee bill
would provide, 65 percent below the FY 1995 level of $400 million, would
cripple the program and call into question the Federal Government's commitment
to ensuring that all Americans, regardless of income, have access to the
judicial system. The Administration strongly urges the House to fully fund the
President's request. The President's senior advisers would recommend that he
veto the bill if it contained the funding level in the Committee bill.
Reimbursement of Legal Fees
The Administration strongly opposes the Hyde amendment that would require the
United States to pay attorney's fees and litigation costs to "prevailing
parties" in federal criminal cases, unless the Government can demonstrate the
case was "substantially justified." This would have a profound and harmful
impact on the Federal criminal justice system. It would create a monetary
incentive for criminal defense attorneys to generate additional litigation in
cases in which prosecutors have in good faith brought sound charges, tying up
the scarce time and resources that are vital to bringing criminals to justice.
The Fifth Amendment already requires that, in every Federal felony case, a
grand jury of citizens find probable cause to bring charges against a
defendant, thereby protecting against unjustified prosecutions. In addition,
the Department of Justice and the courts have safeguards to guard against such
prosecutions. The amendment, which would provide for reimbursement out of the
budget of Federal prosecutors, would have a chilling effect on prosecutorial
discretion.
The litigation generated by this proposal may require disclosure and
compromise of confidential sources and law enforcement techniques. If the bill
presented to the President were to include this provision, the President's
senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Department of Justice
- Drug Courts and Drug Testing. The Administration is disappointed by
the failure of the Committee to provide any of the $45 million requested
increase for drug courts. The drug courts program is a proven, cost-effective
means of using the coercive power of the courts to move non-violent offenders
into drug treatment programs. Also, the President's budget would provide $30
million to offset the costs associated with drug testing State and local
arrestees. The Administration is concerned that the Committee does not
identify $30 million from the Byrne Grant program for the State and local
portion of the drug testing program, as proposed by the President. The drug
courts and drug testing programs could be restored to the requested levels by
reducing the Committee's funding for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant
program. Finally, last year the Congress enacted legislation that requires
States to implement drug testing and intervention programs as a condition for
receiving Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth-In-Sentencing (VOI/TIS)
grants. The Administration now urges the Committee to provide funding for the
prisoner and parolee drug testing and intervention mandate by allowing States
to offset the cost with VOI/TIS funding.
- Juvenile Justice Block Grant. The Administration appreciates the
Committee's desire to provide additional support for juvenile justice
programs. However, the Administration is concerned that the $300 million block
grant program may authorize a broad and unfocused range of spending and urges
the House to target $100 million for the prosecutorial grant program, which is
designed to facilitate the cooperation and coordination of prosecutors and
police with school officials, probation officers, youth social service
professionals, and community members in an effort to reduce the incidence of
gang activity and violent juvenile crime. The Administration also urges the
House to target $50 million for the violent youth court program, which is
designed to develop initiatives for use by the courts and court-related
entities, such as probation and parole offices and victim/witness centers, to
enhance and expedite the handling of youth violence cases.
Department of State
The Administration appreciates the Committee's support for the State
Department's accounts that fund diplomatic and consular activities, which would
help reverse the erosion of the Department's worldwide operations. We are also
pleased that the Committee provided the transfers as requested to support the
International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) program.
The Administration welcomes the first-year funding of $100 million for arrears
payments, and strongly opposes the Bartlett amendment that would eliminate this
funding. United States leadership in the United Nations and other
international organizations on a host of issues of importance to the American
people would be compromised if we fail to meet our binding obligations. Thus we
are deeply concerned that this bill provide full funding for the FY 1998 annual
assessments provided in Contributions to International Organizations and
Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities accounts. It is vital
for the Administration to be able to pay annual costs, avoid new arrears, and
have some flexibility to address unforeseen needs relating to peace and
security around the world. While we appreciate report language that
underscores the importance of funding the arrears, we want to work with the
House to ensure that the final bill contains multi-year arrears funding
provided for in the Balanced Budget Act, and consistent with the pending
authorization bill. The Administration is committed to working with the House
to resolve these important issues relating to the future of international
organizations.
The Administration urges the House to strike two provisions that raise
Constitutional concerns: section 609, which concerns diplomatic relations with
Vietnam, and section 610, which relates to command and control of United
Nations peacekeeping efforts. In addition to Constitutional concerns, we
believe that the issues raised by these provisions are being addressed in the
pending authorization bill in more workable and appropriate ways.
Ounce of Prevention Council
The Administration strongly opposes the Committee's termination of the Ounce
of Prevention Council. Elimination of this program would hinder the Federal
Government's ability to help neighborhoods implement balanced strategies to
reduce crime through enforcement, prevention, and intervention. The Council
awards discretionary grants for promising community collaborative crime
prevention programs, publishes a catalog of crime prevention grants and
programs, and provides information and technical assistance. It plays a
critical role in helping communities gain access to information on crime
prevention best practices. The Administration strongly urges the House to
provide funding for the Council and has identified an appropriate offset for
that purpose.
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
The Administration opposes the Committee mark of $41.5 million for the Arms
Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), which would undercut the
Administration's efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear and other weapons to
the security of the American people.
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
In addition to the $2.8 million requested in the FY 1998 Budget, a $13 million
budget amendment for Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty requirements was
transmitted on July 17th. The Administration urges the House to provide the
full revised request for these important national security activities.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The Administration strongly urges the House to fully fund the President's
request of $246 million for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission given
the importance of its work in addressing unlawful discrimination.
Office of the United States Trade Representative
The Administration appreciates the Committee's increase in funding for, and
its past support of, the Office of the United States Trade Representative
(USTR). USTR has had to manage a seven-fold increase in the number of World
Trade Organization dispute settlement cases since the signing of the Uruguay
Round Agreement. Despite its substantially increased workload, USTR has
virtually the same number of attorneys working in this area as it did in 1990.
USTR's work will be even more important in FY 1998 and in future years as the
United States seeks to capitalize on new market-opening opportunities and to
improve access to existing markets through enforcement actions. Given these
circumstances, the Administration has transmitted a fully-offset $1.7 million
budget amendment. We urge the House to provide the revised request.
National Endowment for Democracy
The Administration strongly supports the Committee mark of $30 million, at the
President's request level, for the National Endowment for Democracy. Full
funding of the President's request is needed to support democracy-building
programs throughout the world. We would strongly oppose any amendment offered
on the House floor that would eliminate or reduce funding for these important
programs.
Additional Administration concerns with the Committee bill are contained in
the attachment.
Attachment
Attachment
|
