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108th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 108-18
REQUESTS FOR FY 2003 BUDGET AMENDMENTS
__________
COMMUNICATION
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
transmitting
HIS REQUESTS FOR FY 2003 BUDGET AMENDMENTS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF
AGRICULTURE, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, THE INTERIOR, LABOR, AND THE
TREASURY; THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS; AS WELL AS THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION AND THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
January 8, 2003.--Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and
ordered to be printed
The White House,
Washington, January 7, 2003.
Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Speaker: I ask the Congress to consider the
enclosed requests for Fiscal Year 2003 budget amendments for
the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, the
Interior, Labor, and the Treasury; the Corps of Engineers; as
well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the
Federal Trade Commission.
The details of these requests are set forth in the enclosed
letter from the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget. I concur with his comments and observations.
Sincerely,
George W. Bush.
[Estimate No. 1, 108th Cong., 1st Sess.]
Executive Office of the President,
Office of Management and Budget,
Washington, DC, January 3, 2003.
The President,
The White House.
Submitted for your consideration are requests for FY 2003
budget amendments for the Departments of Agriculture, Health
and human Services, the Interior, Labor, and the Treasury; the
Corps of Engineers; as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
As described below and in more detail in the enclosures,
the requests include the following:
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
<bullet> $332.8 million is proposed for a new Farm Bill
Technical Assistance account. This proposal is necessary to
ensure that adequate resources are available for USDA to
effectively deliver the fully authorized level of grant funding
for conservation programs provided in Public Law 107-171, the
Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
The $332.8 million requested would be fully offset by
reductions within USDA, as proposed in accompanying amendments.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
<bullet> $361.3 million is proposed for the Health
Facilities Construction and Management Fund. This proposal
would allow the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases to accelerate the construction of specialized
biosafety laboratories at universities and research
institutions across the country needed for priority
bioterrorism and infectious disease research. Further, this
proposal reflects the revised facilities request for the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) that would allow NIH to
fully fund construction of the second phase of the John Edward
Porter National Neuroscience Research Center in FY 2003.
The $361.3 million requested would be fully offset within
HHS by reductions to various accounts, as proposed in
accompanying amendments.
Department of the Interior (DOI)/Corps of Engineers
<bullet> $34.0 million is proposed for expenses in DOI
related to the settlement of a lawsuit with the Sumner Peck
plaintiffs in Sumner Peck Ranch, Inc. v. Bureau of Reclamation.
The proposal would provide the first of three $34.0 million
annual payments to the plaintiffs.
This proposal would be fully offset by reducing several
Bureau of Reclamation activities within DOI by $24.0 million.
The remaining $10.00 million would be provided from funds
previously requested in the Corps of Engineers for the Delaware
River Main Channel project, which has been delayed pending
regulatory approval from the affected States.
Department of Labor
<bullet> $81.7 million is proposed for the Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) to finance the implementation of
the enhanced Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, as
amended by the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210). The proposal
is comprised of $60.5 million for National Emergency Grants
(NEGs) for State administration of health insurance tax credits
for eligible participants; $16.8 million for increased costs of
State administration of trade readjustment allowances; and $4.5
million for increased costs of federal administration of TAA
certifications and program oversight. An additional $858.3
million in mandatory funding also is included for TAA training
and income support benefits as a result of the expansion in
benefits to which trade-displaced workers are entitled under
the 2002 Trade Act.
The discretionary proposal would be fully offset by
reducing unneeded funds for two activities within ETA by $81.7
million. These funds had been requested for administrative
costs of proposals for a temporary extended unemployment
compensation program and NEGs to address the economic slowdown.
Congress did provide administrative funding for extended
unemployment benefits but did not act on the Administration's
NEG proposal.
Department of the Treasury
<bullet> $70.0 million is proposed for the IRS to fund the
first year implementation of the advance payment feature of the
health insurance tax credit program. The tax credit program was
included in the Trade Act of 2002 to assist dislocated workers
with their health insurance premiums.
This increase would be fully offset within IRS by a
proposed $70.0 million reduction to the Business Systems
Modernization account.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
<bullet> $11.6 million is proposed for the EEOC to support
its enforcement of federal anti-discrimination law, including
the efficient resolution of its workload of private-sector
workplace discrimination charges.
This increase would be fully offset by a proposed reduction
to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC) contingency fund in the Department
of Agriculture.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
<bullet> $16 million is proposed for the FTC to create a
centralized, national registry for consumers who choose not to
receive telemarketing solicitations. This amount would be fully
offset within the FTC by fees. Consumers will be able to enroll
in the Do Not Call registry via the Internet or by calling a
toll-free number. Telemarketers would be required to remove the
registered numbers from their lists.
I have carefully reviewed these proposals and am satisfied
that they are necessary at this time. Therefore, I join the
heads of the affected Departments and agencies in recommending
that you transmit the amendments to the Congress.
Sincerely,
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.,
Director.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Natural Resources Conservation Service
FARM BILL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
FY 2003 Budget Appendix Pages: 124-126
FY 2003 Pending Request: --
Proposed Amendment: $332,832,000
Revised Request: $332,832,000
(Insert the above heading and the appropriations language
that follows after the material under the heading
``Conservation Operations'':)
For necessary expenses of the Natural Resources
Conservation Service in providing technical assistance and
administrative support for programs authorized under subtitle D
of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985, $332,832,000, to
remain available until expended.
This proposal would provide $332.8 million for technical
assistance needed to implement the conservation programs
authorized in Public Law 107-171, the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act of 2002. This increase in budgetary resources is
fully offset by proposed reductions to: U.S. Department of
Agriculture's (USDA's) Conservation Operations account (-$118.9
million); a number of mandatory conservation programs (-$147.5
million); three rural development programs (-$45.0); the Forest
Land Enhancement Program (-$8.0 million); and the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) program (-$13.4 million). These proposed reductions are
provided in accompanying amendments.
This proposal is necessary to ensure that adequate
resources are available for USDA to effectively deliver the
fully authorized level of grant funding for conservation
programs provided in the 2002 farm bill.
In previous years, technical assistance has been funded
primarily through two sources: (1) a portion of the mandatory
conservation funding available for farm bill programs, and (2)
a portion of the discretionary funding provided to the
Conservation Operations account. The Department of Justice has
recently determined that USDA is limited in the amount of
mandatory Commodity Credit Corporation funding it is authorized
to use for government employees to provide technical
assistance. This limitation will make it very difficult for
USDA to fully implement the farm bill conservation programs
without diverting a significant portion of funding in the
Conservation Operations account that is not currently devoted
to farm bill implementation.
In order to mitigate the situation, this proposal
establishes a new discretionary Farm Bill Technical Assistance
account that would include sufficient resources to deliver the
farm bill conservation programs.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Natural Resources Conservation Service
CONSERVATION OPERATIONS
FY 2003 Appendix Pages: 124-125
FY 2003 Pending Request: $897,190,000
Proposed Amendment: -$118,914,000
Revised Request: $778,276,000
This proposal would reduce funding available for technical
assistance in the Conservation Operations account. In an
accompanying proposal, the funding would now be requested as
part of the new Farm Bill Technical Assistance account.
Currently, the Natural Resources Conservation Service
spends approximately $150.0 million providing technical
assistance to support farm bill programs. This funding would
now be provided in the proposed new Farm Bill Technical
Assistance account and merged with the other funding the agency
uses to provide technical assistance for the farm bill
programs, totaling $332.8 million. Resources remaining in the
Conservation Operations account would be available for
established uses, including general conservation planning, soil
and snow surveys, and plant material centers.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN
(WIC)
FY 2003 Budget Appendix Page: 178
FY 2003 Pending Request: $4,751,000,000
Proposed Amendment: -$25,000,000
Revised Request: $4,726,000,000
This proposal would reduce the contingency fund for the WIC
program by $25.0 million (from $150.0 to $125.0 million). This
reduction is possible due to lower than anticipated food costs
in WIC in FY 2003. A $125.0 million contingency fund in FY 2003
would be sufficient to ensure that WIC can serve all eligible
persons seeking services.
Funds from this reduction would be used to offset
accompanying proposals for the Department of Agriculture
($13,386,000 for a new Farm Bill Technical Assistance account),
and for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
($11,614,000 for Salaries and Expenses).
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
TITLE VII--GENERAL PROVISIONS
FY 2003 Budget Appendix Pages: 195-201
FY 2003 Pending Request: --
Proposed Amendment: -$147,532,000
Revised Request: -$147,532,000
(In the appropriations language under the above heading,
insert the following new appropriations language after Section
722:)
Sec. 723: None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made
available by this Act shall be used to pay the salaries and
expenses of personnel to carry out the following programs:
(a) an environmental quality incentives program
authorized by 16 U.S.C. 3839aa et seq. in excess of
$595,000,000;
(b) a ground and surface water conservation program
authorized by 16 U.S.C. 3839aa-9 in excess of
$38,250,000;
(c) a water conservation program in the Klamath Basin
authorized by 16 U.S.C. 3839aa-9 in excess of
$8,118,000;
(d) a farmland protection program authorized by 16
U.S.C. 3838h-i in excess of $85,000,000;
(e) a grassland reserve program authorized by 16
U.S.C. 3838n-q in excess of $72,250,000;
(f) a wildlife habitat incentives program authorized
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