Congressional Record: January 8, 2003 (House)
Page H121-H122
MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2003
Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 15, I
call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 2) making continuing
appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2003, and for
other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The text of H.J. Res. 2 is as follows:
H.J. Res. 2
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That Public
Law 107-229 is further amended by striking the date specified
in section 107(e) and inserting in lieu thereof "January 31,
2003".
Sec. 2. Public Law 107-229, as amended, is further amended
in section 120, by striking "and December 1, 2002," and
inserting "December 1, 2002, January 1, 2003, and February
1, 2003,".
Sec. 3. Section 613 of the Treasury and General Government
Appropriations Act, 2002, is amended (1) by striking "2001"
and "2002" each place it appears and subsection (a)(1), as
so amended, by inserting "(as in effect on September 30,
2002)" after "Act, 2002" and after "such section 613":
Provided, That such section, as so amended, shall be
effective through September 30, 2003, notwithstanding section
107 of this joint resolution.
Sec. 4. Public Law 107-229, as amended, is further amended
by striking section 137 and inserting the following new
section:
"Sec. 137. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
joint resolution, in addition to amounts made available in
section 101, and subject to sections 107(c) and 108, such
sums as may be necessary shall be available to the Securities
and Exchange Commission for the Secretary of the Treasury to
advance start-up expenses to the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board pursuant to section 109(j) of the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-204).
"(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this joint
resolution, upon the collection of fees authorized in section
109(d) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-204),
the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board shall reimburse
the Securities and Exchange Commission for any Commission
appropriations advanced to the Board for start-up expenses
pursuant to section 109(j) of such Act or subsection (a) of
this section, so as to result in no net effect of such
advances on appropriations available to the Commission in
fiscal year 2003.".
Sec. 5. Section 8005 of the Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2003 (Pub. L. 107-248) is amended by
inserting before the period at the end the following: ":
Provided further, That in addition to the transfer authority
provided in this section, and subject to the terms and
conditions of this section except the limitation in the
fourth proviso, only to meet unforeseen requirements
associated with the global war on terrorism, the Secretary of
Defense may transfer an additional $2,500,000,000 of working
capital funds of the Department of Defense or funds made
available in titles I through VII of this Act to the
Department of Defense for military functions (except military
construction), including programs and activities of the
National Foreign Intelligence Program (with the concurrence
of the Director of Central Intelligence) and the United
States Special Operations Command, between such
appropriations or funds or any subdivision thereof, to be
merged with and to be available for the same purposes, and
for the same time period, as the appropriation or fund to
which transferred".
Sec. 6. (a) Approval of Prospectus.--For purposes of
section 3307(a) of title 40, United States Code, the
prospectus of General Services Administration
entitled "Prospectus--Lease, Department of Homeland
Security, Washington, DC Metropolitan Area", prospectus
number PDC-08W03, as submitted on December 24, 2002, is
deemed approved by the Committee on Environment and Public
Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives on the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Prohibition on Delegation.--The authority of the
General Services Administration to lease space under this
section may not be delegated to another department or agency.
(c) Modifications.--Any modification to the prospectus
referred to in subsection (a) that is subject to approval
under section 3307 of title 40, United States Code, shall be
approved in accordance with the requirements of such section.
Sec. 7. Section 126 of Public Law 107-229, as added by
Public Law 107-240, is amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 126. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
joint resolution, except section 107, the District of
Columbia may expend local funds for programs and activities
under the heading `District of Columbia Funds--Operating
Expenses' at the rate set forth for such programs and
activities in the revised financial plan and budget for the
District Government for fiscal year 2003 submitted to
Congress by the District of Columbia pursuant to section 138
of H.R. 5521 of the 107th Congress, as reported by the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.".
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 15, the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from Wisconsin
(Mr. Obey) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young).
Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
might consume.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution, H.J. Res. 2, is identical to H.J. Res.
1 except for one thing, and that is the provision that allows the
Defense Department the authority to transfer within their own accounts,
they cannot go outside of their accounts, but to transfer up to $2.5
billion within their accounts to fight the war on terrorism, to pay for
Enduring Freedom and to do the necessary things to make the security of
our Nation happen.
Other than that, it would also become the vehicle, we hope the
vehicle, for the final appropriations bill for last year. We plan to
conclude all of last year's appropriations bills using this as a
vehicle that we will send to the Senate. We hope that they will do the
right thing and send it back to us and we will either vote on it or go
to conference.
Anyway, that is how we are going to conclude our 107th Congress
appropriations business.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me simply say that in Wisconsin only cows chew cuds twice, and so
we have the same concerns about the consideration of this resolution,
but we have already made those concerns quite clear. I see no point in
dragging it out.
Let me simply say that with respect to the one difference between
this resolution and the previous resolution, on this side of the aisle
we agree with the provision that the gentleman is providing. I think it
is a constructive provision.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the distinguished
gentleman, and I am going to
[[Page H122]]
rush through my comments, and to the chairman of the committee.
I, too, just want to associate myself with the remarks of the earlier
debate, but I do want to express the fact that the running of
government impacts on the lives of individuals, particularly those who
are facing stress, economic stress, and we dealt with this in the
unemployment legislation that we passed, but here is my concern as it
relates to my particular congressional district.
My concern is public hospitals and the lack of increased funding for
Medicaid. I believe it is important to put on the Record that we are
seeing increased numbers of individuals going to our public hospitals
because they have no insurance, they have no alternatives. They are
utilizing Medicaid. Some of that obviously has an enormous shortfall,
and so the burden is falling upon my local county government.
The longer we stay in this condition, without the actual passing of
appropriations bills, the longer we put the burden on the States, the
longer we put the burden on local government.
So I just argue that we can pass this CR to the 31st, we passed the
other one to the 31st, but all the issues we are concerned about,
funding for HIV-AIDS, increased funding for Medicaid, funding Leave No
Child Behind, all of that falls, if you will, around our feet and
people are suffering. I am just hoping that we will have an opportunity
to work in a bipartisan manner on the crisis that is going on in our
districts, and we will come to a point where we recognize that we have
got to address the needs of working people, but we have also got to
address the needs of uninsured and impoverished who need this
government to work on their behalf.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) very
kindly for his time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just ask for a yes vote on this
resolution, and I yield back my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
The joint resolution is considered read for amendment, and pursuant
to House Resolution 15, the previous question is ordered.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the joint
resolution.
The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed and read a third
time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider
was laid on the table.
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