On September 29, 1999, President Clinton signed P.L. 106-58 (H.R. 2490),making appropriations for the Department of the Treasury, the Postal Service, theExecutive Office of the President and other independent agencies for FY2000. Subsequently, P.L. 106-113 , approved November 29, required a 0.38% cut in allfunding for FY2000. House and Senate conferees reached agreement September 9, 1999. The House agreed to the conference report September 15. The Senate agreed to the reportSeptember 16. The bill was sent to the President for signature September 21. In theevent the bill was not signed before the close of the fiscal year, the accounts wouldhave been covered in the continuing funding resolution (H.J.Res. 68) passed byCongress September 28. The House, on July 15, passed H.R. 2490, by one vote. On July 19, 1999, the Senate passed H.R. 2490, amended to incorporate the language of S. 1282, as passedthe Senate (July 1). The Senate conferees were named that day, with the Houseconferees named July 21. Action on FY2000 supplemental funding was pending as Congress left for the Memorial Day break. The President, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) isrequired to submit to Congress, annually, the Budget of the United StatesGovernment. On February 1, 1999, the budget for FY2000 was submitted. (1) Congress has established a procedure under which it passes a concurrent resolution which establishes the congressional budget for the government and setsforth budgetary levels for several years in the future. (2) The House and SenateAppropriations Committees then allocate the discretionary funding levels (302(b)allocations) to each of the subcommittees. Since passage of the FY2000 budgetresolution, the committees have changed the allocations several times. (3) TheCongressional Budget Office has offered spending and revenue options in the contextof budgetary discipline. (4) Appropriations for the Department of the Treasury, in addition to funding the operations of the department, fund the work of a group of law enforcementorganizations, which include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, theCustoms Service, the Secret Service, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Treasury appropriations alsocover the Internal Revenue Service, the Financial Management Service, and theBureau of Public Debt. For the most part, the U.S. Postal Service has become self-supporting. Federal contributions are limited to payments to the Postal Service Fund to compensate forrevenues forgone (e.g., free postal service for the blind). Appropriations for the Executive Office of the President provide salaries and expenses for the White House Offices, operation of the residences of the Presidentand Vice President, and most other agencies within the Executive Office of thePresident (EOP). Organizations such as the Council of Economic Advisers, theNational Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Officeof National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) are funded through these provisions. Specific funding for drug control initiatives is provided for distribution by ONDCP. Among the independent agencies financed through P.L. 106-58 are the Federal Election Commission, the General Services Administration, the National Archivesand Records Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Office ofSpecial Counsel, and the U.S. Tax Court. P.L. 106-58 provides funding for federal child care facilities. That provision generated considerable concern among some Members and was a point of contentionas the conference agreement was discussed. The Senate, in passing S. 1282, addeda title to the bill for the purpose of ensuring "the safety and availability of child carecenters in Federal facilities." According to the sponsors of the amendment, This amendment will require all child care services located in federal facilities to meet, at the very least, the same level ofhealth and safety standards required of other child care centers in the samegeographical area. (5) The House bill, as passed, did not contain all of the child care provisions included in the Senate amendment. However, it did contain the same language addressing theissue of improving the affordability of child care for federal employees. Anamendment similar to this year's Senate amendment was offered to the FY1999Treasury bill, adopted in the Senate, and fell in conference. The issue is discussedfurther later in this report. Among other provisions adopted by the Senate, July 1, the following would Convey federal land to the Columbia Hospital forWomen; Amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary ofHealth and Human Services to provide bonus grants to high performance Statesbased on certain criteria and collect data to evaluate the outcome of welfarereform; Prohibit the use of funds to pay for an abortion or to pay for theadministrative expenses in connection with certain health plans that provide coveragefor abortions; Provide additional funding to reduce methamphetamine usagein High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas; Increase U.S. Customs Service funding to enable the hiring of500 new inspectors to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. and to facilitatelegitimate cross-border trade and commerce; and Require the Secretary of the Treasury to develop an Internet sitewhere a taxpayer may generate a receipt for an income tax payment which itemizesthe portion of the payment which is allocable to various government spendingcategories. The Senate rejected the amendment which would have required the inclusion of alcohol abuse by minors in the ongoing national anti-drug media campaign foryouth. The House narrowly passed H.R. 2490 (210-209) on July 15, 1999. The House committee, in an effort to bring total spending down to FY1999's freeze level, hadreduced the subcommittee discretionary funding levels by $249 million. That actioncontributed to many Members withdrawing support of the bill. The programs affected by that reduction are Treasury-wide systems and capital improvements,Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processing, assistance, and management, IRS tax lawenforcement, IRS information systems, and General Services Administration repairsand alterations. Several amendments were offered during consideration of H.R. 2490. Those subject to voice vote were An amendment to prohibit the import of any children'ssleepwear without the labels required by the flammability standards issued by theConsumer Product Safety Commission was agreed to; An amendment to change the language of the provisionrequiring contraceptive coverage in the FEHBP was agreed to,amended; An amendment to provide $3 million for grants to investigatemoney laundering and related financial crimes; and An amendment to establish that no funds may be used toenforce any prohibition on women breastfeeding their children in federal buildingsor on federal property. Those subject to roll call votes were An amendment to strike language limiting funds availabilitythrough the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP)--failed; An amendment to strike language increasing the President'ssalary-- failed; An amendment to amend the amendment offered to change thelanguage of the provision requiring contraceptive coverage in the FEHBP -- agreedto; and An amendment to limit use of the Exchange StabilizationFund-- failed. Several House Members offered amendments and then subsequently withdrew them after receiving assurances from the managers of the bill that the issues wouldeither be addressed in conference or would be pursued with the appropriate executivebranch administrators. Among those were amendments to provide for the release offrozen assets of a foreign state to satisfy all pending court judgements; to require anU.S. Customs Service report on the conduct of strip searches, including data on theethnicity, gender, nationality, and race of the individuals subject to the searches; torequire that any U.S. Customs officer conducting a strip search be of the same genderas the subject of the search; to study the safety of red-dye kerosene fuel available toelderly and low income individuals; and to allow enrollees in the Federal EmployeeHealth Benefits Program the option of choosing dental, optometry, infertility, orprescription drug benefits in lieu of mandated contraceptive coverage. An amendment to prevent Members of Congress from receiving a pay adjustment in January 2000 was not in order, under the rule (H.Res. 246) for H.R.2490, and was not offered on the floor. The act provides increase in the President'ssalary, to $400,000, effective January 20, 2001. Compensation issues are discussedelsewhere in this report. Pursuant to the provisions of P.L. 106-113 (6) ,the Consolidated AppropriationsAct for FY2000, agencies must cut their FY2000 funding by 0.38%. As part of theFY2001 budget submission, expected in early February, the Office of Managementand Budget (OMB) will report on the specific reductions in the accounts. OMB issued a fact sheet (2000-01-10 OMB Fact Sheet, January 10, 2000) in which the Administration stated that the law stipulated that 0.38 percent in savingsneeded to come from each and every Department. However, within each department,it provided latitude to protect high-priority programs as long as the dollar figureamounting to 0.38 percent was achieved provided certain other conditions were met. OMB provided guidance regarding general principles the Agencies should use toidentify cuts: The 0.38 cut must not be imposed across the board, but targeted to reflect areas of higher and lower priority; Reductions need to come from least criticalfunding; Reductions should be considered from funding that Congressenacted above the President's request, Wherever possible, no reductions in force frompersonnel. According to OMB, the law also imposed the condition that no reduction in any single program could exceed 15% of its total.