Subject: The week ahead Author: Bruce Hamilton Date: 9/3/99 4:05 PM The Week Ahead -- Sept. 3, 1999 Congress is scheduled to reconvene after Labor Day. September will be a lively month for action as the Oct 1 end of fiscal year deadline looms. HOUSE * scheduled to begin debate on the EPA FY 2000 spending bill on Wednesday September 8, with votes after 5pm. Environmental program cuts and anti-environmental riders a problem. * possibley begin debate on Rep. Shays R-CT & Meehan's D-MA campaign finance reform bill (which the SC supports). This could slip until the week of Sept. 13. SENATE * The Interior FY 2000 spending bill is expected to be one of the first orders of business on Wednesday. We expect this bill to be the first item taken up when the Senate reconvenes on Sept. 8. The bill is scheduled to be taken up at 1:00 pm. Numerous anti-environmental riders. We expect the Robb/Cleland amendment to strike the Sec. 329 rider to be among the first votes. This rider affects management on all USFS and BLM lands. We also expect that the Bryan amendment to cut logging funds and shift some of the money into forest and clean water restoration * The Senate is expected to vote for cloture on the Transportation FY 2000 spending bill on Thursday September 9. If there is cloture, the bill could come up that day with a possible vote on the Feinstein-Gorton CAFE resolution. It is more likely, however, that the vote on Feinstein-Gorton occurs the week of Sept. 13. OUTSIDE * The Global Warming team is likely to conduct a press conference on Wednesday September 8 to release our poll numbers on the popularity of CAFE among GOPers and others in NH and other states. BACKGROUND INFO ON SENATE INTERIOR BILL Attached here is an edited excert from EESI explaining the bill in a bit more detail: The bill has prompted a White House veto threat for its controversial environment-related provisions and low funding of administration-requested programs. In particular, the administration's "Lands Legacy" program - which aims to bring $1 billion more in funding for land acquisition, state conservation programs, endangered species protection and other preservation goals - only received $263 million in the Senate measure, according to a statement from the Office of Management and Budget issued July 26. "It would be short-sighted to gut the important Lands Legacy initiative, given the growing bipartisan recognition of the need for the federal government, the states and the private sector to protect open spaces and preserve America's great places," OMB said. In addition, the administration listed "some objectionable riders," including one reversing the Interior solicitor's opinion to reinforce mill site limits to five acres per mining claim, which opponents say would change existing mining law without going through the proper legislative process. Other contentious provisions would extend the life of grazing permits while the Bureau of Land Management reviews them, which opponents say would exempt the permits from environmental laws; deny funding of national forest management plan revisions until permanent planning regulations are completed, which critics say would prevent new science from being integrated into plans; and impose a 120-day comment period for a report on the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, which the administration says would stall ICBEMP's conclusions by six months. Four other controversial provisions, which were dropped from the bill but may be reintroduced in revised form later, would 1) ban funds from going to grizzly bear introduction in Idaho and Montana for FY '00 and beyond; 2) prohibit the issuance of prospecting permits for exploratory drilling in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri and prevent land from being withdrawn from mineral activity, until a study is completed on the impacts of ending lead mining in that forest, Missouri and the surrounding states; 3) block the administration from implementing new energy efficiency initiatives for federal facilities - language conservatives want in order to block moves they say would implement the Kyoto climate treaty but that critics charge could hamper existing energy efficiency programs; and 4) extend from June 1, 1999, to June 30, 2001, the moratorium on implementation of the administration's new rule for valuation of crude oil royalties - the latest move in an extended battle over oil royalty payments. These provisions were removed after the Senate reinstated Rule 16, which restricts amendments on appropriations measures to those that do not instigate new authorizations. The four provisions did not comply to Rule 16 but their authors have indicated they plan to rewrite the items so they do conform, and then may offer them again on the floor. Additional amendments that are anticipated to be offered include one that would allocate $30 million to the state side of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides money for federal land acquisition along with matching grants to states for land purchases and conservation planning; another that would fund the empty Urban Park and Recreation Recovery program with $4 million; and a third that would cut funding from the Forest Service's timber sale program and the roads reconstruction/construction account by $33.6 million and redirect the money toward debt reduction, road maintenance, and fish and wildlife restoration. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]