On September 29, 1999, the President signed a $2.457 billion FY2000 legislative branchappropriations bill into Public Law 106-57 (113 Stat. 408). This represented a reduction of 4.8%,or $124.1 million, from the FY1999 budget of $2.581 billion. Conferees approved H.R. 1905 onAugust 4, 1999, and both houses agreed to the report the following day. The House bill, H.R. 1905, which passed on June 10 (214-197), contained $1.862 billion, excluding funds for Senate internal activities and Senate activities of the architect of the Capitol.This appropriation was a $54.8 million decrease from the appropriation reported earlier by theHouse Appropriations Committee. The reduction was contained in an amendment agreed to by theHouse. The total legislative appropriation passed by the House was a reduction of $190 million,or 9.3%, from the FY1999 funding level of $2.052 billion, also excluding Senate items. The Senate-passed bill, S. 1206, contained $1.679 billion, excluding funds for House internal activities and House activities of the architect of the Capitol. This was a reduction of $114 million,or 6.4%, from the FY1999 appropriation of $1.793 billion, also excluding funds for House items. Subsequently, the FY2000 legislative budget was rescinded by 0.38% in H.R. 3194, the FY2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into Public Law 106-113 on November 29, 1999. PublicLaw 106-113 contains a 0.38% across the board cut in all FY2000 appropriations acts, includingthe legislative branch, with flexibility in cutting some accounts. More information on the cuts willbe included in the next update of this report. An FY1999 supplemental appropriation of $5.6 million was made available to the architect of the Capitol in P.L. 106-31 , which was signed on May 21, 1999. The act contained $3.8 million forthe "necessary expenses of a House page dormitory" and $1.8 million for life safety renovations tothe O'Neill House office building. Effective in FY1978, the legislative branch appropriations bill has been divided into two titles. Title I, Congressional Operations, contains budget authorities for activities directly serving Congress. Included in this title are the budgets of the House, the Senate, Joint Items (joint House and Senateactivities), the Congressional Budget Office, the Architect of the Capitol (except Library of Congressbuildings and grounds), the Congressional Research Service within the Library of Congress, andcongressional printing and binding activities of the Government Printing Office. Title II, Related Agencies, contains budgets for activities not directly supporting Congress. Included in this title are the budgets of the Botanic Garden, Library of Congress (except theCongressional Research Service), the Library buildings and grounds within the Architect of theCapitol, the Government Printing Office (except congressional printing and binding costs), and theGeneral Accounting Office. Periodically since FY1978, the legislative bill has contained additional titles for such purposes ascapital improvements and special one-time functions. In FY1999, Title I budget authority was 72.8% of the total appropriation of $2.581 billion for FY1999, including supplementals . (1) Title II budget authority was 27.2% of the total appropriation. In addition, there is legislative budget authority that is not included in the annual legislative branchappropriations act or supplemental appropriations acts. It includes permanent budget authority forboth federal funds and trust funds, and other budget authority. (2) Permanent federal funds are available as the result of previously enacted legislation and do not require annual action. (3) Permanent trust funds are monies held in accounts that are credited with collections from specific sources earmarked by law for a defined purpose. Trust funds do not appear in the annuallegislative bill since they are not budget authority. They are included in the U.S. Budget either asbudget receipts or offsetting collections. (4) The Budget also shows some non-legislative entities within the legislative branch budget. These entities are funded in other appropriations bills. These non-legislative entities are placedwithin the legislative budget section by the Office of Management and Budget for bookkeepingpurposes. (5) Table 1: Status of Legislative Branch Appropriations, FY2000,H.R. 1905, S. 1206 a The full Committee markup was held 6/10/99. Submission of FY2000 Budget Estimates. On February 1, 1999, President Clinton released theFY2000 budget request of $2.618 billion for legislative activities funded in thelegislative branch appropriations bill. (6) The revisedbudget estimate for the legislativebranch was $2.621 billion. (7) Legislative agencies mayrevise their budget requests atany time, and the $2.621 billion was a revision by the legislative branch of thePresident's request. The revised request represented an increase of $ 45.7 million, or 1.8%, over the FY1999 appropriation of $2.576 billion, including the emergency supplementalappropriation of $223.7 million contained in P.L. 105-277 . When the emergencysupplemental appropriation of $223.7 million is excluded from the FY1999 budgetauthority , the FY2000 budget request of $2.621 billion was a 7.8% increase over theregular FY1999 budget of $2.352 billion. Actions On the House Regular Annual FY2000 Legislative Funding Bill (H.R. 1905). On February 2, theHouse Subcommittee on Legislative began its hearings on the legislative budget,continuing on February 3 and 10. On May 12, 1999, the Subcommittee met andagreed (voice vote) to a FY2000 legislative branch budget of $1.917 billion,excluding funds for Senate internal activities and Senate activities of the architect ofthe Capitol. The total FY2000 budget represented a decrease of $135.2 million, or6.6%, from the FY1999 level of $2.052, also excluding Senate activities. The budgetfor Title I, in direct support of congressional operations, was a 12.8% decrease from$1.4 billion in FY1999 to $1.2 billion in FY2000. The Subcommittee bill contained $769 million for the House (+3.9% difference from FY1999); $98.8 million for joint items (-51.8%); $2 million for the Office ofCompliance (-4.8%); $26.2 million for the Congressional Budget Office (+1.9%);$154.3 million for the Architect of the Capitol (-38.8%); $386.2 million for theLibrary of Congress (+6.2%); $107.7 million for the Government Printing Office(+3.9%); and $372.7 million for the Government Accounting Office (+3.7%). On May 20, the Committee on Appropriations considered and ordered reported the FY2000 legislative budget (voice vote), with the Subcommittee's figures, afteradopting an amendment requiring the participation of House offices in the wasterecycling program. The amendment specified that funds collected through the saleof recycled materials were to be made available to the House child care center, asdetermined by the House Appropriations Committee. The recycling provision wassubsequently dropped from the bill during floor consideration because a point oforder against the amendment was sustained. Another amendment offered and withdrawn during the mark up contained $1.8 million for Capitol Police information technology. The Committee's press releaseissued on May 21 noted that the bill reduced the number of FTE staff positions by 98,making a cumulative FTE reduction of 4,412, or 16%, since 1994. H.R. 1905 wasreported on May 21 ( H.Rept. 106-156 ). On June 10, 1999, the House passed H.R. 1905 (214-197), containing $1.862 billion, excluding funds for Senate internal activities and Senate activities of thearchitect of the Capitol. The House agreed to a floor amendment that reduced the appropriation in H.R. 1905, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee, by$54.8 million. With the amendment, the House-passed appropriation was areduction of $190 million, or 9.3%, from the FY1999 funding level of $2.052 billion,also excluding Senate items. The floor amendment made the following reductions: $29.1 million from the House of Representatives accountsalaries and expenses, including $142,000 from House leadership offices; $28.3million from Members' representational allowances; $213,000 from the Committeeon Appropriations; and $483,000 from the heading salaries, officers, and employees; $1.5 million from the architect of the Capitol, Capitol buildings and grounds, Capitol buildings, salaries and expenses; $3.4 million from the architect of the Capitol, Capitol buildings and grounds, House office buildings; $4.4 million from the architect of the Capitol, Capitol buildings and grounds, Capitol power plant; $315,000 from the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, salaries and expenses; $4.1 million from the Government Printing Office, congressional printing and binding; $685,000 from the Library of Congress, salaries and expenses; $5.4 million from the Library of Congress, furniture and furnishings; $4.4 million from the architect of the Capitol, library buildings and grounds, structural and mechanical care; and, $1.5 million from the General Accounting Office, salaries and expenses.