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Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New On January 20, Senate Republicans and Democrats announced their key issues for the upcoming session of Congress. Lawmakers from each party contributed five bills to the legislative "Top Ten." Number one for the Republicans was President Clinton's Social Security proposal. The other Republican priority bills focused on education, tax cuts, incentives for military personnel, and drug trafficking. For the Democrats, the key bills covered patients' bill of rights, education, increasing the minimum wage, crime, and Medicare. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans highlighted the environment, energy, or natural resources as one of their highest priorities, although the Democrats put brownfields legislation by Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) in the final slot of their second five bills. The legislation (S. 20) aims to restore abandoned contaminated industrial sites. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Senate Environment Committee Chair John Chafee (R-RI) announced last week the issues that will top the committee's agenda in the upcoming year: climate change, preservation of wildlife habitat, and responsible development. Senator Chafee will reintroduce his bill aimed at encouraging early, voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions early in the 106th Congress. The bill was co-sponsored by Senator Connie Mack (R-FL) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). Senator Chafee pointed to the widespread support for most of last fall's state and local ballot initiatives to preserve open space as one of the most important themes of the 1998 elections. He said he was confident the committee would take up the task of finding and bringing up measures that would respond to the public's concern about protecting our natural heritage. According to Senator Chafee, the Senate Environment Committee has planned an aggressive oversight agenda for the upcoming months, beginning with a look at the Environmental Protection Agency's budget. The committee will also consider a bill dealing with the handling of waste from cleanup sites under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and legislation to reauthorize the Water Resources Development Act, a traditionally biannual bill to authorize water projects under the Army Corps of Engineers. WRDA failed to pass the House in the 105th Congress. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New House Appropriations Hearings Schedule: The House Appropriations Committee has announced its hearing schedule for the next three months. All hearings will be held in Rayburn House Office Building, room B-308, at 10 a.m. unless noted otherwise: February 10: Forest service oversight February 11: Energy conservation oversight February 24: Secretary of Energy February 25: Secretary of the Interior March 3: Recreation fee oversight March 4: Bureau of Land Management March 9: Fish and Wildlife Service March 10: Secretary of Agriculture, Forest Service, 11 a.m. March 17: Department of Energy - fossil energy March 18: National Park Service March 25: Department of Energy - conservation April 13: Public witnesses - natural resource programs, continuing at 1:30 p.m. April 14: Public witnesses - energy and other programs, continuing at 1:30 p.m. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Senator Plans Oversight of 1999 Columbia/Snake River Decision: Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power, will play an active role in this year's decision on Columbia River Basin power and fish restoration issues. Senator Smith expects the subcommittee to hold a number of hearings in 1999 related to President Clinton's effort to develop recommendations on how the federal government should manage or change its Columbia/Snake River hydropower system in order to restore endangered salmon runs. According to Senator Smith, the subcommittee will look into alternatives to breaching the dams, including predation, technology retrofitting, and other technological fixes to get the salmon past the four federal dams, both up and down stream. The issue of energy deregulation will also play into the subcommittee's actions on Columbia/Snake Basin salmon restoration deliberations. Senator Smith will work with Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) on a Northwest title to energy deregulation legislation that will include provisions to protect the Bonneville Power Administration and address the issue of river governance. Senator Frank Murkowski, Chair of the full Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will also introduce a bill on energy deregulation early in the year. Although the National Marine Fisheries Service is the lead agency for the 1999 Columbia/Snake River Basin decision, the Senate Water and Power Subcommittee does have jurisdiction over BPA, irrigation, reclamation projects, and energy development impacts on water resources. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Administration and Congress to Pay More Attention to Controlling Sprawl Both Congress and the Administration have stated their intention to spend more time on initiatives to control urban development. In his State of the Union Address, President Clinton highlighted Vice President Al Gore's new "Livability Agenda," an initiative developed to foster smart growth and contain urban sprawl (see http:// www.amrivers.org/policy1-11.html). The next day, January 20, many on Capitol Hill were discussing bills focusing on preserving open space and managed development. In its organizational meeting on January 20, many members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voiced their interest in raising the issue of urban sprawl, including Committee Chair John Chafee (R-RI) and Ranking Democrat Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called for the issue to be incorporated under the jurisdiction of a subcommittee by remolding the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee into the Transportation, Smart Growth, and Infrastructure Subcommittee. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), the new chair of the subcommittee, said he agreed urban sprawl and land preservation needed greater attention. In the near future, most of the bills dealing with livability and open space issues will be directed to other committees. The Agriculture Committee will discuss a bill to reauthorize the Farmland Protection Program. The bill, zeroed out of the Farm Bill for FY'99, would allow land trust and other non-profit conservation groups to apply directly to the federal government for matches for their land preservation work. The Finance Committee is expected to take up a reintroduced bill that would award a 50 percent cut in capitol gains tax for the proceeds from the sale of a conservation easement. Intended to provide an incentive to landowners to sell easements, the bill was introduced last year by Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT). Representative Bob Portman (R-OH) introduced the bill to the House Ways and Means Committee last session as well. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Bills to Fund Conservation Programs and Coastal States: On January 19, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced her Reinvestment and Environmental Restoration Act of 1999 (S. 25), co-sponsored by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), and eight other senators - four Democrats and four Republicans. The bill would direct half of the money from outer continental shelf revenues (estimated to be about $4 billion per year) to the national treasury, 27 percent to states for OCS impact assistance, 16 percent to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and 7 percent to state fish and wildlife conservation programs. The funds would be allocated to the 34 states involved based on production, coastline miles, and population, with each state getting a minimum of 0.5 percent. According to the LWCF language in the bill, the state-side portion of the fund would be funded annually and would allow federal land acquisition in pre-designated conservation areas only. Money could not be used to condemn properties. The Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing on the bill on January 27. Representative Don Young (R-AK), Chair of the House Resources Committee, plans to introduce a similar bill of his own in mid-February, with a hearing in early March. Representative Young's bill (H.R. 4717), which he introduced in the 105th Congress, would provide the national treasury with 40 percent of OCS revenues. The rest would be divided between states for impact assistance (27 percent), LWCF (23 percent), and wildlife conservation programs (10 percent). Representative George Miller (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, also intends to introduce a lands bill in February. His bill resembles President Clinton's "Lands Legacy" proposal to direct $1 billion more in funds to parks, wilderness, and coastal areas, and fund LWCF annually. According to one of Representative Miller's aides, his bill will put a greater emphasis on parks and marine restoration than the White House initiative. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New President Clinton's Speech Includes Many Environment, Natural Resource Proposals: In his annual State of the Union Address on January 19, President Clinton highlighted a long list of environmental and natural resource proposals with the goal of preserving quality of life of communities, protecting open space, and combating climate change. President Clinton took time in his speech to call attention to the Administration's work to restore and protect the Florida Everglades, Yellowstone National Park, Utah's red rock canyons, redwood forests in California, and the nation's coasts. He then discussed his ideas for dealing with what he views as "our most fateful new challenge" - global warming. To combat this threat, the Administration has proposed a Clean Air Partnership Fund to support state, local and private efforts at reducing greenhouse gases and other air pollutants; a Climate Change Technology Initiative that includes tax incentives and research and development spending on energy efficiency and renewable energy; increased funding for basic climate change research; and more collaborative work between the White House, Congress, and industry on legislation to reward early voluntary efforts to reduce emissions of global warming gases. Senator John Chafee (R-RI) has already proposed such a bill. President Clinton also outlined his Livability Initiative, aimed at preserving green space, protecting water quality, and cleaning up brownfields, and Lands Legacy proposals, focused on increasing federal funding to save America's national treasures through land acquisition, additional wilderness designations, and coastline protection. (for more information on these initiatives, see www.amrivers.org/policy/1-11.html and www.amrivers.org/policy/1-19.html) American Rivers, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550 CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE!! http://www.amrivers.org Back to top
106th CONGRESS
Senate Republicans and Democrats Reveal Their Legislative "Top Ten":
Senator John Chafee (R-RI) Names His Top Issues:
BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
FISH AND WILDLIFE
OPEN SPACE PRESERVATION
PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
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