LegiStorm

Summary:

This report tracks action by the 106th Congress on FY2001 appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and other related agencies (often referred to as CJS appropriations). P.L. 106-113 appropriated $39.6 billion for these agencies for FY2000. President Clinton's FY2001 budget requested $39.6 billion for these agencies. On June 14, 2000, the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the CJS appropriations bill ( H.R. 4690 ) It recommended funding totaling $37.4 billion--$2.2 billion below the President's request and $2.2 billion below the FY2000 appropriation. The House-passed bill on June 26, approved the same overall funding total recommended by the Committee. On July 18, 2000, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved total funding of $36.7 billion--about $700 million below the House version and $2.9 billion below both the President's request and the actual FY2000 appropriation. On October 27, 2000, Congress approved total funding of $40.0 billion--about $400 million above both President's request and the total enacted for FY2000 ( H.R. 5548 ). The measure was signed into law by the President on December 21, 2000 (P.L. Law 106-553). The major CJS appropriations issues and concerns that received attention in both the Senate and the House include the following. Department of Justice: building more prisons; extending the 1994 Crime Act funding authorization beyond September 30, 2000; increasing funding for drug- related efforts among the Department of Justice (DOJ) agencies; increasing funding for community law enforcement; combating cybercrime; changing the focus and levels of appropriations for DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; providing funding for programs that would reduce gun and youth violence; funding of DOJ's legal action against the tobacco industry; reducing pending caseloads in immigration-related claims, particularly green card and naturalization applications; meeting the statutory mandate that the Border Patrol be increased by 1,000 agents in FY2001, and accounting for the shortfall in hiring in FY1999; determining the level of detention capacity necessary to comply with the statutory mandate that certain criminal aliens be detained until deported; and restructuring INS internally as proposed by the Administration or dismantling or restructuring the agency by legislation. Department of Commerce: the progress made in streamlining and downsizing Department programs; implementation of the decennial census including followup operations; federal financial support of industrial technology development programs; monitoring foreign compliance with trade agreements and U.S. trade laws; and implementing new White House environmental initiatives at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Department of State: improving embassy security through a doubling of funding as well as a request for an advance appropriation to cover the period FY2002 to FY2005. The Judiciary : whether the salaries of judges and justices should receive a cost-of-living increase and whether a statutory ban on judges receiving honoraria should be lifted. Other Related Agencies: adequacy of funding levels for the Legal Services Corporation, Small Business Administration, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.