Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 3662 - Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1997

(Senate Floor)
(Sponsors: Hatfield (R), Oregon; Gorton (R), Washington)

This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views on H.R. 3662, the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1997, as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Administration appreciates the Committee's action to restore funding to levels higher than those provided by the House for a number of priority programs, including the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, energy conservation, and firefighting. The Administration also appreciates the Committee's action to delete two highly objectionable provisions of the House-passed bill: section 329, concerning tribal sovereignty and Federal Indian law; and, section 322, affecting Tribal-State relations over trust lands. The Administration urges the Senate to work with the Administration in seeking to avoid the protracted debate over controversial language riders that prevented timely enactment of the bill last year.

The Administration is committed to working with the Senate in order to produce a bill that the Administration can support. Unfortunately, the Senate Committee bill still includes several inappropriate and highly objectionable language provisions that would effectively authorize policy and program changes through the appropriations process. In particular, provisions have been included that would inhibit the Administration's ability to manage its programs effectively, such as: the language regarding the Tongass National Forest; section 1 IS, concerning formula funding for certain Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs; and, section 121, concerning the Cook Inlet Regional Corporation. For these reasons and other reasons discussed below, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior would recommend that the President veto the bill if it were presented to him in its current form.

The Administration has previously communicated its strong objection to the overall discretionary funding level assumed in the House- and Senate-passed Budget Resolutions. The Senate 602(b) allocation provided for this bill would reduce discretionary budget authority by $0.3 billion, or two percent, from the President's request of $12.9 billion.

Objectionable Language Provisions

The Administration strongly objects to a provision regarding the Tongass National Forest, Alaska, that would delay implementation of a new forest management plan and related strategies for the Tongass. This is the latest attempt to have politics, not science, manage the forests. Implementation of a new plan for the Tongass is vital and should not be delayed further. The Department of Justice advises that this rider purports to condition die President's exercising of his authority under the authorization statutes on the approval of a Legislative Branch entity, the General Accounting Office. As such, this rider represents an unconstitutional legislative encroachment on the authority of the Executive Branch to implement an act of Congress.

The Committee bill includes two highly objectionable provisions affecting Native American programs. The first provision, section 118, would mandate that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) develop a formula by which funds would be made available directly to tribes, in lieu of BIA-provided services. Any funds distributed under such a formula would not be subject to BIA oversight authority. Until a formula were implemented, not more than one-half of Operations of Indian Programs funding that would be distributed under this type of block grant would be made available.

The second objectionable provision would legislatively give tribal status to the Cook Inlet Region, Inc., a State-chartered Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Corporation. If enacted, this legislation would significantly confuse the current status of the Alaska Native regional corporations and Native tribes, interfere with pending litigation, and bring further protracted litigation. Furthermore, the provision is fundamentally inconsistent with current law and established policies respecting recognition of Indian tribes, particularly relating to powers of self-governance.

The Administration strongly opposes a provision (section 115) that would overturn the existing agreement between the National Park Service, tribes, and local entities concerning the removal of two dams on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Washington. This provision would undo carefully crafted arrangements and delay needed action to begin the important restoration of the Elwha and its fishery. This would set an undesirable precedent that would dictate a unilateral Federal solution to an issue with many non-Federal stakeholders.

In addition, three riders that passed earlier in this Congress should be repealed. These are the "timber rider" that was passed in the FY 1995 Rescissions Act, and the Mt Graham and "Lummi" riders passed in P.L. 104-134, the FY 1996 Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act. (The Mt. Graham provision in H.R. 3662 should be deleted as well.) While the agencies have implemented the requirements of the "timber rider", it has proved to be an inefficient and divisive provision. It has reopened conflict in the Pacific Northwest led to a proliferation of lawsuits and diverted scarce resources from more productive work. Continuation of the rider as presently required through December 31, 1996, serves no useful purpose, and it should be repealed.

Mr. Graham, Arizona, is the sole remaining habitat for the endangered Mt Graham red squirrel, and it is a site of importance to Native Americans. The provisions exemption of Mt Graham horn the application of the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws has never been justified, and is even less acceptable in the wake of a recent fire that burned a significant portion of critical habitat on Mt. Graham. The "Lummi" provision would withhold up to 50 percent of FY 1996 and FY 1997 Self-Governance funds to any tribe in the State of Washington that takes certain actions concerning access to water or utilities affecting non-tribal land owners of lands within the tribe's reservation.

The Committee bill would stymie efficiency gains in the Forest Service through continuation of a provision to require Appropriations Committee approval prior to carrying out reinvention and other cost-savings proposals. The Administration will interpret such provisos to require notification only, since any other interpretation would contradict the Supreme Court ruling in INS vs. Chadha

The bill includes language that would condition the availability of funds for AmeriCorps national service projects on two requirements: first, that agencies follow appropriate reprogramming guidelines; and second, that the Corporation for National and Community Service receive funding in the VA/HUD/Independent Agencies appropriations bill. The AmeriCorps program is a successful program that not only provides a good return on investment to taxpayers, but benefits land management agencies by supporting labor-intensive conservation activities ranging from baseline surveys to environmental restoration projects.

Department of the Interior (and related Native American programs)

The Committee bill reduces funding for programs serving Native Americans, including BIA, the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Department of Education's Indian Education programs. Funding for BIA is reduced from the President's request by $200 million, or 11 percent of greatest concern within the Committee's overall reduction to BIA is the $135 million reduction for Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA), which funds vital reservation programs such as tribal government, educational and social services, housing repair for the needy, natural resources development, and road maintenance. Tribes are reporting serious shortfalls in these programs, including child protection and elderly assistance requirements, scholarship needs, and basic police protection on reservations.

The Administration strongly opposes the Committee's $121 million reduction to the request for the IHS, which would restrict the provision of important health services, especially in remote reservation areas where IHS clinics represent the only health care available. The Administration commends the Committee for including funding for rebuilding an IHS clinic at Lame Deer, Montana, and for including modest portions of increases requested for contract support costs that help underwrite tribal administration of IHS programs and for sanitation facilities construction funds that support water and sewer projects.

The Administration opposes the reduction of $29 million, or 36 percent, below the request for the Department of Education's Indian Education program. This would reduce educational services to the 90-percent of Indian children who attend public rather than BIA- sponsored schools.

The bill also under-funds the President's request for NPS funding for the Everglades and South Florida Ecosystem Restoration program by $102 million, or 65 percent — effectively precluding the Administration from carrying out necessary environmental restoration and water supply protection measures. The Committee has failed to provide any funding for the Everglades Restoration Fund, notwithstanding the President's request, enabling legislation and concurrence among Federal, State, and local officials that significant land acquisitions are needed immediately to restore this national park.

In addition, the Committee has failed to provide full, up-front funding for restoration of the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Washington, through acquisition and removal of two aging dams in accord with the provisions of the 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act

The Committee-reported bill provides $111 million for specific National Park Service (NPS) construction projects, $28 million more than requested. Of this total, $47 million is for projects not requested by NPS. Funding for these low-priority projects comes at the expense of more critical needs such as the rehabilitation of visitor and park facilities at Riis Park in Gateway National Recreation Area, New York, and an expanded visitor shuttle system at the Grand Canyon National Park.

Department of Energy

The Committee reduces the President's request for Energy Conservation programs by $165 million, or 23 percent, including a cut of 28 percent for clean industrial technologies, energy-efficient building technologies, and fuel-efficient vehicles. These programs involve partnerships with industries and would yield significant energy and economic savings to consumers and industry and can be an effective means of pollution prevention.

The Committee's recommended reductions would severely damage the Administration's Climate Change Action Plan and Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, potentially resulting in the failure to reduce the equivalent of an additional 20 million metric tons of carbon in the year 2000 as well as significant amounts of other atmospheric emissions such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulates. The reductions also would undermine partnerships with industry that reduce the costs of regulatory compliance, and may result in the loss of several hundred million dollars per year in consumer and industry energy savings.

The Committee level includes a reduction of $24 million in the low-income weatherization program, a cut that would mean that over 12,000 fewer families would receive home weatherization assistance this winter. The Committee mark also includes a $12 million, or 37-percent, cut to the Federal Energy Management Program, a program that has as its goal saving the Government money by reducing energy costs. This is a short-sighted reduction that would lead to increased Federal operating costs in the future.

The Administration objects to the Committee's reduction of $16.5 million to the request for the Naval Petroleum Reserve. At a time when the Government is preparing to offer the Elk Hills reserve for sale in the private market, our practice should be to enhance the value of the property by maintaining existing wells at their optimum performance. The Committee's level would result in a direct loss of $63 million in oil production receipts over the FYs 1997, 9S time period.

The Administration is concerned about the Senate provision which directs a sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in FY 1997 in order to fund routine reserve operating and maintenance activities. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve remains our best insurance policy against oil supply disruptions.

Cultural Agencies

The Administration objects to the Committee's low levels of funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum Services (IMS). The Committee's recommendations for NEA and NEH represent about a 40-percent reduction for both agencies below FY 1995 levels, and would severely jeopardize their ability to provide important cultural, educational, and artistic programs for communities across America. The Administration urges foe Senate to approve funding for the NEA, NEH, and IMS at foe requested levels and supports the Senate's commitment to the continuation of NEA and NEH in foe out-years.

In addition to the concerns discussed above, foe Administration has further concerns with the bill that were detailed in a July 16th letter to foe Senate Appropriations Committee.