July 18, 2000
(Senate)
S. 2536 - AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, FY 2001
(Sponsor: Stevens (R) AK)
This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on the FY 2001 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, as reported by
the Senate Appropriations Committee. Your consideration of the
Administration's views would be appreciated.
The President's FY 2001 Budget is based on a balanced approach that
maintains fiscal discipline, eliminates the national debt, extends the
solvency of Social Security and Medicare, provides for an appropriately
sized tax cut, establishes a new voluntary Medicare prescription drug
benefit in the context of broader reforms, expands health care coverage to
more families, and funds critical investments for our future. An essential
element of this approach is ensuring adequate funding for discretionary
programs. To this end, the President has proposed discretionary spending
limits at levels that we believe are necessary to serve the American
people.
Unfortunately, the FY 2001 congressional budget resolution provides
inadequate resources for discretionary investments. We need realistic
levels of funding for critical government functions that the American
people expect their government to perform well, including education,
national security, law enforcement, environmental protection, preservation
of our global leadership, air safety, food safety, economic assistance for
the less fortunate, research and technology, and the administration of
Social Security and Medicare. Based on the inadequate budget resolution,
this bill fails to address critical needs of the American people.
The bill includes inadequate funding for food safety, conservation and
environmental programs, farm loans, bioterrorism, agricultural research
through competitive grants and other important programs. In addition,
there are a number of objectionable language provisions in the Committee
bill.
It is our understanding that a substitute will be offered to the
supplemental title of the bill that will include a number of highly
objectionable environmental and other riders, including a provision to
facilitate construction of the Oregon Inlet jetties prior to completion of
a pending environmental impact statement, restrictions that would attempt
to weaken pending hardrock mining regulations, and other objectionable
provisions. The Administration opposes the bill in its current form. If
such riders are included in the bill, the President's senior advisers would
recommend that he veto the bill.
Food Safety
While the Administration appreciates the Committee's support for the
President's Food Safety Initiative, we strongly urge the Senate to fully
fund the Administration's request for the initiative and base funding. In
particular, we appreciate the full increase included in the bill for the
Department of Agriculture (USDA), but object to language prohibiting the
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) from conducting egg shell
surveillance, an important part of the Egg Safety Action Plan. In
addition, we strongly urge the Senate to make up the $6 million shortfall
in FDA's portion of the initiative and enable the FDA to achieve annual
inspection of 100 percent of high-risk food establishments. Salmonella
illness from contaminated eggs and egg products continues to be a
significant health problem, especially for the elderly, our Nation's youth,
and those with compromised immune systems. The Administration strongly
urges the Congress to move forward aggressively to address this problem by
supporting the President's Food Safety Initiative and Egg Safety Action
Plan.
To maintain the food safety gains we have achieved to date, however, also
requires full funding of the base budget for food safety, and the
Administration is concerned about the Committee bill in this regard. In
particular, the bill is $10 million below the request for FSIS of $688
million. The bill's funding level is inadequate to cover the minimum
salary and benefit increases required to maintain the requested level of
inspection staffing and the expansion of the risk-based Hazard
Analysis-Critical Control Points (HACCP) inspection model. The bill would,
therefore, not provide sufficient resources to fund all FSIS activities
important to the safety of the Nation's meat and poultry supply.
Further, a recent court decision involving the Service's test of new
slaughter procedures, called the HACCP Inspection Models Project (HIMP),
may further add to the significant funding difficulties for FSIS in FY
2001. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on June 30 that FSIS' application of
the HIMP system violates the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry
Inspection Act. This new inspection system, if successfully implemented,
would provide increased food safety checks as well as additional
flexibility in staffing slaughter plants and increased industry production
within base resources. If a revised court ruling or legislation is not
forthcoming that would permit the new system to go forward, FSIS will
require additional resources above the Senate Committee funding level.
These additional resources would be necessary to staff slaughter
assignments adequately under the current, traditional system that would
have been staffed by redeployed inspectors from HIMP plants, and to cover
the projected six-percent growth in poultry production in FY 2001.
The Administration is still analyzing the full impact of the Appeals Court
decision and will provide additional information to the Congress as soon as
it is available. In order to fully fund FSIS food safety activities, and
to release resources needed for priority programs as discussed elsewhere in
this letter, we urge the Congress to enact the Administration's proposed
meat and poultry inspection user fees, which would cost consumers less than
one cent per pound of inspected meat.
FDA Prescription Drug Enforcement Provisions
The House has passed two amendments that change the FDA's authority related
to prescription drugs brought into the United States from other countries.
The inadequacy of access to affordable prescription drugs in this country
has left many Americans with no other option other than to go abroad to
obtain affordable medications. This situation is unacceptable and we
should take steps to address it by passing an optional Medicare
prescription drug benefit for older Americans and eligible people with
disabilities. However, the House-passed amendments go too far by severely
limiting FDA oversight of prescription drugs imported by wholesalers and
other large companies. This could result in seniors purchasing drugs that
are counterfeit, mislabeled, or otherwise adulterated. We urge the Senate
not to adopt provisions that strip FDA of important tools to help ensure
patient safety, but will continue to work with Congress on ways to both
make prescriptions affordable and ensure public health and safety.
Conservation and Environmental Programs
The Administration strongly opposes a number of the Committee bill's
reductions to important conservation and environmental programs
administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The
bill provides $33 million less than the President's request for the NRCS
Conservation Operations program, reducing the technical assistance
available to landowners for activities such as animal waste management,
highly erodible land conservation, and soil carbon sequestration. This
reduction would slow efforts to improve farmers' and ranchers' stewardship
capabilities at a time when they face increasing pressure at the Federal,
State, and local level to reduce polluted run-off from their land.
The Committee bill provides less than half of the $28 million requested
increase for the Climate Change initiative and does not fund the Climate
Change Technology Initiative. U.S. agriculture has a large stake in
climate change, both in terms of helping to mitigate against global warming
and in understanding the potential impacts of climate change on the sector.
The requested funds are vital to understanding these issues. We urge the
Senate to provide the requested increase for this important initiative.
The Administration strongly objects to the Committee's reduction in
authorized mandatory funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives
Program (EQIP) to $174 million. This represents a cut of $26 million from
current law, which would result in 2,900 fewer farmers and ranchers
receiving financial and technical assistance, and is $151 million below the
President's request for EQIP. This program is vitally important to help
farmers and ranchers improve their agricultural operations while
benefitting all Americans through cleaner water and air. It is also a
vital component of the Clean Water Action Plan and, when coupled with the
Committee's funding only $20 million of the $48 million requested in
discretionary funds for the Plan, would severely impede progress on
cleaning up our Nation's waters. We urge the Senate to eliminate the EQIP
reduction and fully fund the request for the Clean Water Action Plan.
The Administration is concerned that the Committee has not adopted the
President's proposal to provide subsidized loans to State and local
governments to rehabilitate dams built with NRCS assistance. These loans,
which are included in the House bill, will safeguard the Federal investment
as well as protect local citizens and property from flooding. The
Administration urges the Senate to adopt the loan proposal in lieu of
earmarking Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) funds for dam
rehabilitation, enabling EWP funds to be used for natural disaster
recovery, as intended.
Bioterrorism
We urge the Senate to fund the requested $11.5 million for the FDA and $41
million for USDA activities to counter bioterrorism. Among other needs,
FDA requires these funds to ensure that the Department of Defense can
obtain an adequate, safe, and effective supply of the current anthrax
vaccine. FDA must also work with private and government researchers on
efforts to develop and approve next-generation vaccines and pharmaceuticals
for smallpox, anthrax, tularaemia, Q-fever, and other infectious diseases
to help ensure our Nation's readiness for threats involving weapons of mass
destruction. USDA funds would increase research on plants and animals, and
construct higher-level biological containment facilities, to improve the
ability of the U.S. to prepare for and respond to acts of biological
terrorism.
Farm Loans
The Administration objects to the bill's funding farm loans at $1.5 billion
below the President's request. The cut would result in 2,500 fewer farmers
receiving farm ownership loans and 8,000 fewer receiving farm operating
loans. Given the continuing financial difficulties in the Nation's
agricultural sector, many more farmers are being rejected by their regular
lenders for these type of loans, and producers are turning to USDA as the
"lender of last resort" to stay in farming. This is not the time to reduce
assistance to American farm families, and we urge the Senate to restore
farm loan authority to the Administration's request level.
Outreach for Socially-Disadvantaged Farmers
The Committee bill provides $3 million for the Outreach for
Socially-Disadvantaged Farmers program, $7 million less than the request
and more than $5 million below the FY 2000 level. This reduction would
severely disrupt the important services being provided to minority farmers.
This program has aided over 9,000 borrowers, improving USDA default rates
in areas where the program operates. It has also helped over 100,000
families and has proven to be effective in mitigating the decline in the
number of minority farmers by increasing their participation in
agricultural programs, assisting them in marketing and production, and
improving the profitability of their farming operations. Reducing program
resources at this critical juncture, when USDA has begun improving its
civil rights record, would stymie progress USDA is making to further
minority farmers' equal opportunity. We urge the Committee to restore
funding to the requested level.
Rural Development Programs
The Administration appreciates the funding increases provided for the
Mississippi Delta Region and for Native Americans through the Rural
Community Advancement Program (RCAP). However, we are concerned by the $14
million reduction for RCAP in the bill, which could deprive 240,000 rural
residents of access to safe, affordable drinking water if applied to water
and wastewater loans and grants. In addition, the bill cuts rural housing
loans by over $800 million, or 15 percent, from the request, which would
prevent over 9,000 very-low to moderate-income rural residents from
receiving the opportunity to live in decent, safe, affordable housing.
Funding for the Intermediary Relending Program would also be reduced by $26
million, or 41 percent, from the requested level, resulting in an estimated
20,000 fewer jobs created or preserved.
We urge the Senate to restore funding for these programs to the level
requested by the President, as well as to fund the $5 million request to
finance emergency weather radio transmitters in rural areas. These
increases could be offset by reducing electric and telephone loans that
have been provided in the bill at $1.1 billion above the requested level.
In addition, we recommend the Senate adopt the two-percent guarantee fee
proposed for single-family rural housing guaranteed loans.
International Programs and Trade Sanctions
The President believes that commercial exports of food and other human
necessities should not be used as a tool of foreign policy except under the
most compelling circumstances. On April 28, 1999, the Administration
announced that the United States would exempt commercial sales of
agricultural commodities and products for humanitarian purposes, as well as
medicine and medicinal equipment, from future unilateral Executive Branch
economic sanctions regimes -- unless the President determines that our
national interest requires otherwise. The President has extended this
policy to existing sanctions on a case-by-case basis. The Administration
would support codification of our current policy in legislation and views
favorably certain legislative proposals in this spirit, such as S. 566, The
Agriculture Trade Freedom Act, authored by Senator Lugar. However, the
Administration strongly objects to the specific provisions of Title IV of
the bill as currently drafted because they would seriously limit the
President's ability to implement foreign policy and would have grave
implications for our nonproliferation, counter-terrorism, and
counter-narcotics initiatives.
Tobacco
In light of the Supreme Court's conclusion that the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) does not have the authority under current law to
continue its efforts to reduce underage use of tobacco products, the
President has called on the Congress to enact legislation to provide FDA
with the authority to protect our nation's children. As the Supreme Court
noted, tobacco is "perhaps the single most significant threat to public
health in the United States." The Administration strongly encourages the
Senate to include the $39 million in the President's request to support the
proposed legislation, making it clear to the American people that Congress
plans to protect our nation's children.
Plant Pests and Diseases
The Administration places a high priority on fighting plant pests and
diseases, especially when they are invasive species that may be eradicated
before becoming an established threat. To combat sudden outbreaks of
invasive species, the Administration has used emergency transfers through
the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) at a level that is much higher than
the two previous Administrations combined, and we continue to support the
use of CCC funds in cases of unforeseen emergencies. However, where
eradication efforts extend over several seasons, costs are predictable and
should be incorporated into the discretionary appropriations process.
Therefore, to address ongoing plant pest and disease outbreaks, the
Administration has proposed substantial appropriations in the FY 2001
Budget. The Committee bill has not provided these appropriations,
therefore requiring a greater increase in emergency spending from CCC for
activities that can no longer be considered unforeseen.
The issue of proper compensation to producers for losses due to invasive
plant pests and diseases has grown more complex recently as the variety and
complexity of outbreaks have increased. Legislative and administrative
actions to provide compensation for invasive species losses would be better
guided by a policy that distinguishes between compensation as part of
infestations rather than through event-specific supplemental provisions.
The Administration believes there should be a more systematic approach to
making these decisions and has recently sent to Congress a set of
recommendations that it hopes can be used as a framework for discussion
with Congress on this issue.
Internet Drug Sales and Adverse Event Reporting
The Administration is concerned that the Committee has not funded FDA's $16
million request for Adverse Event Reporting Systems to reduce deaths from
medical errors. A recent National Academy of Sciences report concluded
that up to 98,000 Americans die needlessly each year, and that improving
adverse event reporting and evaluation is essential to reducing these
avoidable deaths. The Administration urges the Senate to include this
funding, as well as the $10 million requested for FDA's initiative to
protect Americans -- especially the elderly -- from illicit and fraudulent
Internet drug sales. Without FDA's presence in this new and burgeoning
market, there can be no guarantees that pharmaceuticals purchased on-line
are safe and effective.
Ft. Reno, Oklahoma, Research Facility
The bill includes an objectionable rider that would prohibit the Secretary
of Agriculture under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act
of 1949, as amended, from transferring certain Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) lands in Oklahoma without congressional authorization. This
provision would unnecessarily restrict the transfer of these lands for
higher-priority purposes (including to the Interior Department to be held
in trust for an Indian tribe), should the Secretary of Agriculture
determine the lands are in excess of ARS needs. The report of the
Department's Strategic Planning Task Force on USDA research facilities is
still pending, and this provision would unduly limit USDA's flexibility in
implementing the Task Force's recommendations.
Agricultural Research and Education Programs
The Committee bill would severely reduce high-priority agricultural
research that is needed to improve farm productivity and benefit all
Americans. Funding for competitive grants through the National Research
Initiative would be cut by $29 million, or 19 percent, from the request.
Furthermore, only a small portion of the $98 million in requested increases
for priority research through the Agricultural Research Service would be
funded, while the bill includes over $100 million for hundreds of
unrequested, lower-priority research projects. The Administration
appreciates the needed increases provided for grants to Native American,
Hispanic Education, and capacity building programs, but we urge funding of
other requested increases for high-priority agricultural research and
higher education programs.
Biobased Products and Bioenergy
The Administration objects to the bill's under-funding of programs that
advance the use of biobased products made from agricultural commodities.
The bill includes only $2.3 million of the $36 million increase requested
for these purposes. Increased investment in the development of biobased
products and bioenergy will help to strengthen farm income, create new jobs
in rural communities, broaden opportunities for rural businesses, enhance
U.S. energy security by providing alternatives to foreign oil sources, and
reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Expansion of
bioproducts, including biofuels, is an essential part of improving the farm
safety net and diversifying the rural economy, and we urge increased
funding for these purposes.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children
The Administration is concerned that the small increase provided by the
Committee would not allow the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to provide supplemental food packages,
nutrition education, and health care referrals to all women, infants, and
children who are eligible to participate in the program.
Community Food Security
The Administration objects to the Committee bill's provision that limits
the Department's ability to carry out Community Food Security activities
administered by faith-based organizations and other nonprofit groups. We
also note that the Committee bill does not provide the $5.25 million
requested to help such groups build their infrastructure to provide
assistance to local governments and organizations to address food
insecurity faced by low-income families.
Common Computing Environment
The Committee bill provides only $25 million of the requested $75 million
for USDA's common computing environment initiative. Congress and the
Administration agree that in the area of information technology, USDA needs
to break down its stove-piped systems and implement a common system that
takes advantage of efficiencies and new internet capabilities. The
Administration has asked for funding to meet this common objective, which
has consistently been funded at levels far below the amount requested.
Without the requested funding, the common computing environment will
continue to suffer delays, increasing the total costs since legacy systems
must be maintained until the new system is operational. In addition, USDA
will be unable to implement the requirements of the Freedom to E-File
legislation that Congress has passed, reducing and delaying customer
benefits. Without a common information technology staff to support the
shared system, the investment made to date to improve customer service will
be lost.
In addition, Section 734 of the bill would block USDA from implementing a
common information technology support staff to service the entire
county-based field organization. This provision would require the over
6,000 county offices of the FSA, NRCS, and RD mission areas to maintain
separate and redundant administrative support units for information
technology, accounting, and personnel services. This provision maintains
the "stove-piped" culture of the separate agencies and would result in
increased costs and inefficiencies.
Food Quality Protection Act
The Administration appreciates the Committee's support and increased
funding for Pesticide Use Surveys and the Pesticide Data Program. Several
other program increases, as requested in the President's budget, are
essential for carrying out the Department's responsibilities under the 1996
Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). Adequate funding is needed for the
Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP) within the Agricultural Research
Service. OPMP is the focal point for the Department's FQPA implementation
activities, and adequate staffing is essential to ensure a coordinated
response and grower involvement in the decision process. Second, a key
activity in FQPA implementation is the focused research to assist growers
in the development and implementation of alternative safer pest management
practices and strategies. Three Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service (CSREES) grant programs -- the Pest management
Alternatives program, the Crops at Risk Program, and the Risk Avoidance and
Mitigation Program -- are designed to help develop such alternatives to
ease the burden on growers faced with the potential loss of older chemicals
during FQPA-driven transitions. The Administration strongly urges the
Senate to fully fund these programs at the requested levels.
Agricultural Biotechnology
Agricultural biotechnology holds major promise for improving the
productivity and environmental sustainability of food and fiber production.
As part of the Administration's biotechnology initiative, USDA, working
with farmers and industry, will facilitate the standardization of methods
to differentiate between biotech and conventional commodities and develop a
quality assurance program to provide quality and value information the
market needs to market grains and related products effectively and fairly.
The Administration urges the Senate to fully fund the proposal as requested
in the budget for methods development activities in the Grain Inspection,
Packers, and Stockyards Administration, including funding to establish and
operate a biotech reference laboratory.
Language/Other Issues
- USDA Headquarters Modernization. The Administration strongly
supports the bill's continued funding for the renovation now in
progress of USDA's downtown D.C. headquarters building. A ten-year
renovation plan was approved by Congress in 1995 for the
sixty-year-old building to address health and safety problems. The
building will house 6,800 employees, and USDA is solely responsible
for its repair and maintenance. Since the renovation project was
approved by Congress in 1995, only 15 percent of the total planned
cost has been appropriated, and no funding was provided in FY 2000.
The Administration strongly urges the Senate to retain this funding
level, as continued delays will leave the renovation progress only
partially complete, resulting in higher long-term costs for the needed
renovation and continued exposure of USDA employees to health and
safety risks.
- Partnership for Change -- Colonias Initiative. The
Administration is disappointed that the bill does not provide funding
for an intergovernmental partnership led by the Food and Nutrition
Service that would increase use of already authorized assistance
programs, such as nutrition and housing assistance, by impoverished
citizens of border areas known as Colonias.
- Concentration in the Livestock Sector. The Administration has
made a strong commitment to address the problems of concentration and
anti-competitive behavior in the livestock sector and objects to the
insufficient funding in the bill for these purposes. The Committee
bill does not provide any of the $3.7 million increase requested to
address this problem through the Grain Inspection, Packers, and
Stockyards Administration. The bill's funding level would not allow
USDA to develop the modeling and analytic capability necessary to
identify anti-competitive actions by livestock companies, ensure that
time-sensitive, priority cases are investigated promptly, and
establish the swine contract library required by last year's mandatory
price reporting legislation. These activities are crucial to ensuring
more effectively that family farmers have a level playing field in
which to market their livestock.
- National Sheep Industry Improvement Center (NSIIC). The
Administration urges the Senate to fund the requested $5 million for
the NSIIC. The NSIIC provided $5 million in FY 2000 to USDA's
Agricultural Marketing Service for market promotion activities as part
of USDA's efforts to help U.S. lamb growers adjust to competition from
foreign imports. NSIIC agreed to provide this help following the
President's Section 201 safeguard relief decision, and the
replenishment of the Center's capital would benefit the broader sheep
industry.
- Food and Nutrition Service Research. The Administration is
concerned that the Committee has not provided funds to the Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) for research and evaluation and objects to any
provision of the bill that would prohibit the use of FNS funds for
these activities. These funds are essential so that FNS can
effectively and promptly address program integrity and performance
issues facing nutrition assistance programs as well as continue
critical updates of basic program information.
- Infringement on Executive Authority. The Administration objects
to a number of provisions in the bill that would require congressional
approval before Executive Branch execution. The Administration will
interpret these provisions to require only notification of Congress,
since any other interpretation would contradict the Supreme Court
ruling in INS v. Chadha.
- Section 719. The Act provides that no funds appropriated or
otherwise made available to the Department of Agriculture may be used
"to transmit or otherwise make available to any non-Department of
Agriculture employee questions or responses to questions that are a
result of information requested for the appropriations hearing
process." This provision could impede communications within the
Executive Branch to a degree that would undercut the President's
ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities as the
Nation's Chief Executive Officer to enforce the laws. Accordingly,
this section is constitutionally objectionable.
- Recommendations Clause. Section 730 of the bill provides that
no funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of
Agriculture may be used to pay the salaries of personnel who prepare
or submit appropriations language as part of the President's budget
submission that "assumes revenues or reflects a reduction...due to
user fees proposals...". Under the Recommendations Clause, Congress
can neither require, nor prohibit, the President from making
particular legislative or policy recommendations to Congress.
Therefore, this section is constitutionally objectionable because it
would undermine the President's ability to fulfill his constitutional
duties under the Recommendations Clause.
FY 2000 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS CONTAINED IN THIS BILL
Objectionable Legislative Riders
The Administration opposes the environmental and other authorization
provisions contained in the bill, which are inappropriate for inclusion in
an appropriations act. Such riders rarely receive the level of
congressional and public review required of authorization language, and
they often override existing environmental protections or impose
unjustified micro-management restrictions on agency activities.
More detailed views will be provided when the text of the substitute is
made available. Therefore, the views expressed here are necessarily
preliminary.
- Oregon Inlet (NC) Jetties. The Administration strongly opposes
the provision to remove lands from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore
and the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, prior to completion of a
pending environmental impact statement (EIS) on proposals to maintain
navigation through Oregon Inlet, N.C. This rider would undermine the
EIS process by selecting one option -- the construction of a dual
jetty and sand transfer system -- before a decision on alternatives
can be made. There remain significant questions about the long-term
environmental impacts and the economic justifications of the dual
jetty option, and those questions need to be answered before
considering any legislation to remove land from a national park and a
national wildlife refuge.
- Restrictions on Hardrock Mining Regulations. The Administration
strongly objects to the bill's attempt to weaken pending final
regulations on the management of hardrock mining on public lands.
These overdue regulations are needed to address the major changes in
technology and mining industry practices since the regulations were
last updated in 1980. The proposed rider would also attempt to
re-open an agreement reached in negotiations on the FY 2000 Interior
and Related Agencies Appropriations bill to allow the final rule to go
forward, as long as it was "not inconsistent" with the recommendations
of a recent National Research Council (NRC) report. The rider would
now attempt to limit the rule to only a specific subset of the NRC
report's recommendations. By doing so, the rider could hinder the
effective regulation of industry practices (such as large-scale
cyanide leaching for gold on public lands) that have become
increasingly prevalent over the past 20 years.
- Community Builders, Sec. 2602. The Administration urges
deletion of the highly objectionable, micro-management language in
Section 2602, which would prohibit the Department of Housing and Urban
Development from hiring replacement staff for 350 community builder
positions. Because HUD is well along in this hiring process and
expects to complete it by the end of May, this language would
effectively block civil servants from being promoted to these
positions and extinguish the hopes of the thousands of external
applicants who have applied to fill these positions. HUD has
downsized its staff substantially in recent years, but it cannot
operate effectively with 350 fewer positions -- nearly a 3 percent
staff reduction -- or without the increased customer service that the
community builders provide. The community builder issue was addressed
during last year's appropriation process; those agreements should not
be undone by cutting these critical employees.
- Homeless Assistance Grants. The Administration opposes making
amounts under Homeless Assistance Grants available first to renew all
expiring rental assistance contracts under the Supportive Housing and
Shelter Plus Care programs. The provision as drafted is unworkable,
would adversely impact the competition for homeless funds, would
interfere with local decision-making, and would result in unwarranted
delays and costs to assist homeless persons.
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Administration
opposes Section 3106 because it would adversely affect the FCC's
ability to prepare for auctions of commercial broadcast spectrum.
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