Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies
On June 23, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 28-0, the FY2006 Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies spending bill (H.R. 2744). A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved the bill without objection on June 21.
The measure would allocate $17.35 billion in FY2006, a $520 million increase over FY2005, $610 million more than the administration’s request, and $520 million more than the amount approved by the House on June 8 (see The Source, 6/10/05).
The bill would provide $5.3 billion in FY2006 for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), $22 million above the FY2005 level and $253 million less than the administration’s request. Of that total, no less than $15 million would be provided to continue the breastfeeding support initiatives. The Senate Appropriations Committee report accompanying H.R. 2744 notes that the recommendation “is a decrease from the budget request due to downward revisions of both the participation rate and the estimated increases for food costs. Specifically, the President’s budget request projected participation rates of 8.5 million participants per month, which were updated to 8.2 million participants per month, and costs for the food package, originally projected to be $39.23 per person per month, were revised to $38.92 per month. The funding level provided, while below the budget request, will fully fund the WIC Program” in FY2006.
Child nutrition programs would receive $12.4 billion in FY2006, a $630 million increase over FY2005, but $4 million less than the administration’s request. Of the total amount, $7.2 billion would be provided for the School Lunch Program, $2 billion for the School Breakfast Program, and $2.2 billion for the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The measure would allocate $1.84 billion for the Food and Drug Administration, $64.9 million more than FY2005 and $330 million above the budget request. Of this amount, $17.2 million would be provided by the Mammography Quality Standards Act user fees.
The report states that no less than $4 million should be provided for the FDA Office of Women’s Health, adding, “The Committee believes that it is imperative for FDA to pay sufficient attention to gender-based research, ensuring that products approved by the FDA are safe and effective for women as well as men…The Committee encourages FDA to ensure that the Office of Women’s Health is sufficiently funded to carry out its activities, and to enhance its funding if necessary.”
As requested by President Bush, the Food Stamp Program would be funded at $40.7 billion in FY2006, a $5.6 billion increase over FY2005.
Under the bill, $1.1 billion would be provided for the Food for Peace Program, $66 million less than FY2005 and $222 million above the administration’s request. In addition, the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program would receive $100 million, a $13.2 million increase over FY2005 and equal to the administration’s budget request.
Commerce, Justice, and Science
On June 23, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 28-0, the FY2006 Commerce, Justice, and Science spending bill (H.R. 2862). A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved the measure by voice vote on June 21.
H.R. 2862 would allocate $48.6 billion in FY2006, an $884.1 million increase over FY2005 and $1.7 billion more than the administration’s request. The House-approved version of the bill would provide $57.45 billion in FY2006, but also would include funding for the Department of State (see The Source, 6/17/05).
Department of Justice
Under the bill, the Department of Justice would receive $21.2 billion in FY2006, $900 million more than FY2005 and $590 million above the budget request.
FBI: The Senate Appropriations Committee report accompanying H.R. 2862 states that “in coordination with the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the FBI has implemented the ‘Innocent Lost’ initiative, which is intended to address the growing problem of domestic child prostitution. The FBI provides the investigative aspect of the initiative, while DOJ-CEOS commits the prosecutorial resources and the NCMEC provides training for the participating field offices.” The measure would provide an additional $1.61 million over FY2005 “to more aggressively identify, investigate, and prosecute crimes of this nature.”
Bureau of Prisons (BOP): According to the report, “The Committee commends the BOP on its work to address and prevent sexual misconduct. With funds provided in earlier appropriations Acts, the National Institute of Corrections has made useful progress in providing training and technical support to correctional systems throughout the country to eliminate staff sexual misconduct with inmates, training in investigating cases, and training the ‘trainers’ in order that employees at every level will be more aware of, and better prepared to deal with, these cases. The Committee directs the BOP to continue these efforts and to report to the Committee by March 31, 2006, on progress made in this area.”
The committee “directs the BOP to examine the public information that it maintains regarding inmates that currently reside within the Federal correctional system and make it available, when appropriate, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The Committee directs the BOP, with the National Institute of Corrections, to educate State prison institutions of its efforts to assist NCMEC through its membership in the Association of State Correctional Administrators and provide an opportunity for NCMEC to meet with the Association for potential outreach to the State prisons for inmate sharing purposes.”
Office on Violence Against Women: H.R. 2862 would provide $363 million in FY2006 for the Office on Violence Against Women, $19.1 million less than FY2005 and equal to the budget request. The report states that the office “provides Federal leadership in developing the Nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women, administer justice for and strengthen services to all victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.”
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs would receive the following:
|
The report notes that FY2006 funding “will allow jurisdictions to implement mandatory pro-arrest and prosecution policies to prevent, identify, and respond to violent crimes against women, support coordination of State victim services, assist Native victims in Indian Country, and provide secure settings and specialized procedures for visitation and exchange of children in families experiencing domestic violence. The recommendation supports increasing access to comprehensive legal services for victims, providing short-term housing assistance and support services for domestic violence victims and education and training to end violence against and abuse of women with disabilities.
“In addition, programs should be strengthened to encourage reporting of domestic violence by providing assurances that law enforcement and attorney support systems will be available. This funding is to be distributed to States to significantly enhance this availability of services, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials to women and children who are subjected to domestic violence.”
Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
According to the report, “The Committee continues to be concerned with the merger of the Byrne Grant program and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program at a significantly reduced funding level. The budget request again proposes the merger of all programs administered by OJP under the Justice Assistance Grants heading. The Committee recommendation does not adopt this consolidation and retains the account structure used in previous fiscal years.”
Justice Assistance
In FY2006, the National Institute of Justice would receive $54 million, $300,000 less than FY2005 and $29.7 million below the administration’s request.
The measure would provide $23 million for VAWA programs administered by the OJP, an increase of $2.7 million over FY2005. According to the report, the programs “previously were appropriated to the Office on Violence Against Women, but were administered by OJP. The recommendation therefore transfers the appropriations to the agency that administers the program. The Committee directs OJP to continue to coordinate with the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women to administer the transferred programs.”
VAWA programs would receive the following:
|
H.R. 2862 would provide $48 million for the Missing Children Program in FY2006, $1.73 million more than FY2005 and $9.2 million above the budget request. The total would include $24 million for the NCMEC, $15.5 million for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and $4 million for the AMBER Alert program.
The report states, “The issue of child exploitation has been raised to the forefront of the national conscience due to the strings of child pornography and missing children cases that have been highlighted in the media over the last few months…The Committee commends the Department of Justice for the creation of a nationwide database that informs parents of where child predators reside. However, the Committee remains concerned about the failure of convicted child molesters to register with States and local law enforcement agencies when they move into a jurisdiction, as required by the laws of many States. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 100,000 convicted sex offenders have failed to register. The wide disparity among the State programs in both registration and notification procedures permits sex offenders to forum shop to get around reporting. The Attorney General is directed to report to the Committee, within 90 days of enactment of this Act on suggested legislative changes necessary to address the gaps and loopholes that may exist in the current State registration and reporting systems.”
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
In FY2006, the Byrne grant program would receive $177 million. Congress allocated $634 million for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants program in FY2005. Under the administration’s budget request, this program would not have been funded.
H.R. 2862 would provide $85 million for the Boys and Girls Clubs, a $1.1 million increase over FY2005 and $15 million more than the administration’s request.
Under the bill, $1.5 million would be provided to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-79). The amount is $36.5 million below FY2005 and $10.2 million less than the amount requested by the administration.
The measure would provide $2 million in FY2006 for a program to provide assistance to victims of trafficking, $7.9 million less than FY2005. President Bush did not request funding for the program.
In FY2006, $4 million would be provided to implement the Justice for All Act (P.L. 108-405), which allows inmates access to post-conviction DNA testing and grants specific rights to all victims of violent crimes.
The bill would provide $89.5 million in FY2006 for a DNA and forensics initiative, $156.1 million below FY2005 and $87.6 million less than the administration’s request.
Juvenile Justice Programs: Under the bill, $350 million would be provided for juvenile justice programs, a $29 million increase over FY2005 and $117.8 million more than the budget request. The total would include $15 million for the Victims of Child Abuse Act, $200,000 more than FY2005 and $3.23 million above the administration’s request. Of that amount, $3 million would be provided for regional Child Advocacy Centers.
Independent Agencies
The Legal Services Corporation would receive $324.5 million in FY2006, a $6.28 million decrease below FY2005 and $6.28 more than the amount requested by President Bush.
H.R. 2862 would provide $621.6 million in FY2006 for the Small Business Administration, a $49.8 million increase over FY2005 and $28.6 million above the administration’s request. Of that amount, level funding of $12 million would be provided for women’s business centers and $750,000 would be provided for the National Women’s Business Council. In addition, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommends full funding for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership. According to the report, “The recommendation includes language providing for continuation of the Women’s Business Centers sustainability centers and language providing that such centers shall receive 48 percent of the total funding provided for Women’s Business Centers.”
The bill would include $9 million for the Commission on Civil Rights, $25,000 above FY2005, but $96,000 less than the budget request.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would receive $331.23 million in FY2006, a $4.43 million increase over FY2005 and equal to the budget request.
Under the bill, $297.4 million would be provided for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in FY2006, $16.3 million more than FY2005, but $6.7 million less than the amount requested by the administration.
According to the report, “The Committee continues to be concerned about the declining standards of broadcast television and the impact this decline is having on America’s children. Overall sexual content, foul language, and violence have tripled over the past decade. The Committee directs the FCC to continue to report to Congress on the issues associated with resurrecting a broadcast industry code of conduct for content of programming that, if adhered to by the broadcast industry, would protect against the further erosion of broadcasting standards.”
In FY2006, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would be level-funded at $211 million as requested by President Bush. The report notes that the FTC “is charged with monitoring compliance with the Children’s Online Protection Act (P.L. 105-277). The recommendation provides the Commission the funding resources it needs to meet the challenges of increased fraud on the Internet. The Committee commends the FTC for recognizing the unique and difficult challenges posed by the Internet, an international phenomenon that lacks borders, to the safety of our children.
“The Committee is concerned about the growing rate of childhood and adolescent obesity and the food industry’s marketing practices for these populations. The Committee directs the FTC to submit a report to the Committee by July 1, 2006, on marketing activities and expenditures of the food industry targeted toward children and adolescents. The report should include an analysis of commercial advertising time on television, radio, and in print media; in-store marketing; direct payments for preferential shelf placement; events; promotions on packaging; all Internet activities; and product placements in television shows, movies, and video games.”
H.R. 2862 would allocate $5.5 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), $58.1 million more than FY2005, but $100 million less than the budget request. The total would include $64 million for Math and Science Partnerships, $15 million less than FY2005 and $4 million more than the administration’s request.
The report states that the NSF “plays a significant role in attracting more of the best and brightest students in the Nation into the science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields. The Committee urges NSF to work towards increasing the number of women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups to the greatest extent possible.”
As requested by President Bush, the measure would provide level funding of $5.6 million for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). According to the report, the committee is “concerned about the adequacy of this Nation’s scientific and technical workforce, and the efforts needed to boost the participation of women and minorities in the science and engineering workforce. The Committee urges OSTP to work with the relevant agencies to address these issues effectively.”
