As another federal fiscal year turned over, work on most appropriations bills had not been completed. In what has become almost an annual ritual, Congress had to resort to a one-week stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, that would keep the government running through Oct. 6. At press time it was likely that the Oct. 6 deadline would pass without much progress made and that another continuing resolution would need to be approved.

As a result, the prospect for a massive package combining several bills into an Omnibus Appropriations bill looks likely. As of Sept. 30, only two bills, Military Construction and National Security/Defense, had been cleared and signed by the president.

House-Senate conferees were able to complete negotiations on one more bill, the Energy and Water Development bill. Both chambers have passed the conference report, but the bill is under a presidential veto threat because of a provision related to the Army Corps of Engineers management plan for the Missouri River.

The House has passed all of the appropriations bills, but the Senate has not been able to bring some bills to the floor. The Senate Republican leadership has attempted to negotiate with the House in an effort to bypass floor votes. The Democrats have strongly resisted these efforts.

Even negotiations on bills that have passed both chambers and are now in conference are stalled, not only due to funding differences, but also because of other measures, or riders, that have been attached to the bills.

Although many of these controversial issues do not directly affect counties, their effect on final action affects funding for critical county priorities. Following is a status report on key appropriations bills and what is preventing their progress.

Agriculture
The House and the Senate passed the Agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 4461) in July. The bill, however, did not formally go to conference until Sept. 28 when the House finally appointed conferees.

The bill had been held up because of opposition from the House Republican leadership to two controversial, non-related provisions passed on the House floor. One provision would lift sanctions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, Libya, and Iran. The other amendment would allow the re-importation of American-made prescription drugs, since these medicines can often be obtained at lower cost in other countries.

The conference committee was expected to meet and clear the bill for the president’s signature. It is not clear, however, if this bill will be combined with other appropriations bills.

The funding levels for rural development and conservation programs are close to the president’s budget requests. It is expected that another $2 billion will be added during the negotiations to provide disaster assistance for farmers.

Housing
As of Sept. 28, the Senate had not approved a Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development (VA-HUD) and Independent Agencies bill (H.R. 4635). This appropriations measure, which also covers funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, has no specific plan for moving forward. The Senate Appropriations Committee cleared an unnumbered bill in early September. This bill passed the House, June 21.

Under an earlier plan, a conference report on the VA-HUD bill was to be paired with either Transportation appropriations or the bill that funds energy and water programs for final passage on the Senate floor. However, the plan to pair appropriations bills appears to have been abandoned.

The House bill includes a NACo-supported clean air measure to preclude EPA from designating counties in “non-attainment” status with a new ozone standard until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether the standard is actually enforceable.

The White House might veto the bill over a number of environmental riders, but it is unclear whether this measure would be among them.

The Senate bill provides higher funding levels than the House bill for most of NACo’s priority programs. These amounts include $4.8 billion for the Community Development Block Grant, $1.6 billion for HOME, and $1.02 billion for the McKinney Homeless Housing Program. One of the few programs where the House funding exceeds the Senate bill is $250 million for Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS.

Justice
The State, Justice, Commerce appropriations (H.R. 4690) bill is another one of those measures that the Senate majority is attempting to negotiate without floor action. The Republican leadership is saying that if the bill is brought to the floor it will be bogged down with amendments from the Democrats. The Democrats say that the Republicans want to prevent any recorded votes on issues such as gun control and immigration this close to the elections.

Both measures differ considerably in some areas of interest to counties. The House version would appropriate $1.3 billion more than the Senate for state and local law enforcement block grant programs, including $250 million for the Juvenile Accountability Block grant, $523 million for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant and $552 million for the Byrne Memorial Block Grant. The funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance program ranges from $585 million in the House to a mere $50 million in the Senate.

Even if these differences are resolved, there is disagreement with the White House over funding for the COPS program. The president requested $1.3 billion for the program but the Senate has funded it at $812 million and the House at $595 million.

Labor/HHS
Both chambers have passed Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services (Labor/HHS). The leadership is negotiating with the White House, but negotiations are progressing very slowly. Word from the Hill is that Congress put more money on the table for Labor/HHS, but the amount and how it will be distributed is still being debated.

A rider prohibiting the Department of Labor from implementing the proposed Ergonomic Standard is one of the obstacles in the negotiations. The president has threatened to veto the bill if it contains this prohibition. This resistance is, in large part, due to a commitment that the president made to organized labor. Republicans and many in the business community have expressed their opposition to this regulation, explaining that the costs associated with it will be prohibitive and destructive to continued economic growth.

Another point of contention is education funding. This controversy is related less to the amount of funding than to how the funds would be spent. The president would like increased funding to go to a classroom size reduction initiative, while most Congress members prefer education vouchers.

Funding for two of NACo’s priorities, the Social Services Block Grant (Title XX) and Workforce Investment Act programs, remains a problem. On the Title XX side, Congress has agreed to provide $1.7 billion, which is $75 million less than last year and considerably less than the $2.38 billion agreed to in the 1996 welfare reform law.

Additionally, unless specific action is taken, the ability to transfer 10 percent of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to Title XX will be reduced to 4.25 percent. This transfer authority is crucial to counties in several states, especially New York and Ohio. NACo is pushing for the $2.38 billion and the 10 percent transfer authority.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs remain a major problem for appropriators. While the Senate had recommended that FY2001 funds be maintained at FY2000 levels, the House had recommended an 11 percent cut. Both recommendations compare poorly with the president’s request that would have increased overall workforce development funds by nearly $900 million.

But from NACo’s perspective, even the president’s proposal was not satisfactory because most of his proposed increases would be used to fund new and existing categorical programs that do not come under the WIA umbrella. NACo has asked Congress to appropriate $500 million to WIA youth programs, $250 million to WIA adult programs and the remainder to WIA dislocated worker programs.

Transportation
The House and Senate conferees adopted the conference report on the FY2001 Transportation Appropriations bill on Oct. 3. Final action by the full House and Senate is expected shortly.

There was little controversy surrounding the funding levels in the bill. The federal highway program obligation level was set at $29.7 billion and the Airport Improvement Program at $3.2 billion. Both these programs have, in effect, guaranteed funding levels. Total funding for the mass transit program is $6.3 billion.

What stalled the bill for a number of months was a provision in the Senate version that imposed sanctions on states that did not adopt the drunk driving standard of .08 blood alcohol content. NACo was one of the groups that opposed this provision.

The final version of the bill does include a sanctions section, though not one as onerous as the Senate provision.

States would have two years to adopt the .08 standard, or lose 2 percent of their highway funds in 2004, 4 percent in 2005, 6 percent in 2006 and 8 percent in 2007.

The final bill also includes language that prohibits the Department of Transportation from implementing new rules governing the number of hours truckers can drive a day.