Commerce-Justice-State spending bill wins quick approval

The House Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday made quick work of its fiscal 2002 spending bill, approving the $37.9 billion measure with a simple voice vote.

The bill, which funds a host of environmental, law enforcement and international programs, is roughly $1 billion above the fiscal 2001 measure and about $600 million above what the president requested.

That extra money helped alleviate many of the difficulties that have befuddled the bill in the past --indeed, as Subcommittee Ranking Member Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., noted, almost every agency in the bill is increased above the president's budget request.

Serrano particularly thanked Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf, R-Va., for boosting the Small Business Administration some $180 million above the president's request and for providing level funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which has routinely been cut by the House before money was restored in talks with the Senate and the administration.

The only lawmaker to offer an amendment at the subcommittee markup was full committee Ranking Member David Obey, D-Wis., who proposed a $3 million study to look into prisoner abuses within the state and federal penitentiary systems. Under the amendment, the money would have been transferred from the Bureau of Prisons into the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which would complete the study.

While several members of the committee agreed that the issue needed to be studied and addressed, the panel could not agree on which agency was best able to handle the investigation. Obey withdrew the amendment with the intent that subcommittee staff would look into the issue and come up with suggestions as to which arm of the federal government would be best equipped for the task.

Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., the former chairman of the subcommittee until Wolf took over this year, said he would pursue an amendment at the full committee markup to create a deputy secretary for management at the State Department, which he said needs help managing its money and programs.

Rogers also said he would like to pursue at some future date substantial reform for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which he said should be split into two agencies--one to help immigrants stay in the country and another to keep illegal immigrants out.

Major accounts funded under the bill include:

• $21.5 billion for the Justice Department, $672 million more than fiscal 2001 and $623 million above the president's request;

• $1.476 billion for the Drug Enforcement Agency, a $116 million increase over fiscal 2001;

• $3.492 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a $247 million increase over fiscal 2001;

• $5.6 billion for the INS, a $252 million increase over fiscal 2001 and $130 million above the president's request;

• $4.3 billion for local and state law enforcement agencies, a $661 million increase over the request but $324 million below fiscal 2001. Included within that money is about $1 billion for President Clinton's Community Oriented Policing Services program, $391 million for the Violence Against Women Act programs and $298 million for juvenile justice programs;

• $4.39 billion for the judiciary, which is $422 million more than fiscal 2001 and $192 million below the president's request;

• $5.19 billion for the Commerce Department, $48 million below last year and $21 million above the president's request;

• $729 million for the National Weather Service;

• $3.08 billion for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration;

• $489 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology;

• $7.7 billion for the State Department, which is $837 million more than fiscal 2001 and $94 million below the president's request;

• $1.3 billion for embassy security improvements across the world;

• $3.65 billion for diplomatic and consular programs;

• $850 million for contributions to the United Nations and other international organizations;

• $844 million for international peacekeeping efforts;

• $239 million for the Federal Communications Commission;

• $310 million for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;

• $156 million for the Federal Trade Commission;

• $728 million for the Small Business Administration;

• $438 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission; and

• $330 million for the Legal Services Corp.