108th Congress > House > Vote 405
Clerk session vote number: 407
Description: Hinchey of New York Amendment
Bill summary: Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 -
Title I: Department of Justice
- Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2004 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Justice (DOJ) for FY 2004 for: (1) general administration, including for a Joint Automated Booking System, an automated fingerprint identification system, conversion to narrowband communications, counterterrorism activities, administration of pardon and clemency
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petitions and immigration-related activities, and expenses of the Federal Detention Trustee and the Office of Inspector General; (2) the U.S. Parole Commission; (3) legal activities, including for antitrust activities, the Offices of U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. Trustee Program, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, the U.S. Marshals Service (including amounts for courthouse security equipment), fees and expenses of witnesses, the Community Relations Service, and certain uses of the Assets Forfeiture Fund; (4) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (5) the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force; (6) the Drug Enforcement Administration; (7) interagency drug enforcement; (8) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; (9) the Federal prison system; and (10) Office of Justice programs, including for domestic preparedness and State and local law enforcement assistance (including for a prescription drug monitoring program, and prison rape prevention and prosecution programs), the Weed and Seed Program Fund, community oriented policing services, violence against women prevention and prosecution programs, juvenile justice programs, and public safety officers' benefits.
Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.
(Sec. 102) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this title to: (1) pay for abortions, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in the case of rape; or (2) require any person to perform or facilitate an abortion.
(Sec. 105) Makes funds available to establish and publicize an extraordinary rewards program.
(Sec. 107) Continues during FY 2004 the requirement of the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2002 requirement that the Attorney General provide for the granting of posthumous citizenship to certain non-citizens who died as the result of injuries incurred in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Title II: Department of Commerce and Related Agencies
- Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Commerce for FY 2004 for: (1) the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; (2) the International Trade Commission; (3) the International Trade Administration; (4) the Bureau of Industry and Security for export administration and national security activities; (5) the Economic Development Administration; (6) the Minority Business Development Agency; (7) economic and statistical analysis programs; (8) the Bureau of the Census; (9) the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; (10) public telecommunications facilities planning and construction grants; (11) information infrastructure grants; (12) the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; (13) the Under Secretary for Technology/Office of Technology Policy; (14) the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including amounts for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and for construction of new research facilities; (15) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including an amount for procurement, acquisition, and construction of capital assets; (16) restoration of Pacific salmon populations; (17) the fisheries finance program account; and (18) departmental management, including for the Office of Inspector General.
Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.
(Sec. 201) Allows the use, during the current fiscal year, of advanced payments not otherwise authorized only upon the certification of officials designated by the Secretary of Commerce that such payments are in the public interest.
(Sec. 203) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act or any other Act for NOAA to support hurricane reconnaissance aircraft and activities that are under the control of the U.S. Air Force or Air Force Reserve.
Title III: The Judiciary -
Judiciary Appropriations Act, 2004 - Makes FY 2004 appropriations for: (1) the Supreme Court, including an amount for care of the building and grounds; (2) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; (3) the U.S. Court of International Trade; (4) the courts of appeals, district courts, and other judicial services, including for defender services, fees of jurors and commissioners and court security; (5) the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; (6) the Federal Judicial Center; (7) judicial retirement funds; and (8) the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.
(Sec. 304) Requires the Supreme Court establish a pilot program under which the Court may repay (by direct payment on behalf of the employee) any student loan previously taken out by an employee serving as a full-time judicial law clerk for the Court.
Title IV: Department of State and Related Agency
- Department of State and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2004 - Makes appropriations for the Department of State for FY 2004 for: (1) administration of foreign affairs, diplomatic and consular programs; (2) the Capital Investment Fund; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) educational and cultural exchange programs; (5) representation allowances; (6) protection of foreign missions and officials; (7) U.S. embassy security, construction, and maintenance; (8) emergencies in the diplomatic and consular service; (9) the repatriation loans program account; (10) the American Institute in Taiwan; (11) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (12) international organizations, peacekeeping, and commissions; (13) the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico; (14) the International Joint Commission, the International Boundary Commission, United States and Canada, and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission; (15) international fisheries commissions; (16) the Asia Foundation; (17) the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, Incorporated; (18) the Israeli Arab Scholarship Program; and (19) the National Endowment for Democracy.
Makes appropriations for the Broadcasting Board of Governors for FY 2004 for international broadcasting operations (including broadcasting to Cuba) and capital improvements.
Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.
(Sec. 403) Bars the use of funds made available in this Act by the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide assistance to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation.
Title V: Related Agencie
s - Appropriates FY 2004 funds for the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Appropriates FY 2004 funds for salaries and specified expenses, with restrictions in certain cases, for: (1) the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad for salaries and expenses; (2) the Commission on Civil Rights; (3) the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom; (4) the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; (5) the Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China; (6) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); (7) the Federal Communications Commission; (8) the Federal Trade Commission; (9) the Legal Services Corporation; (10) the Marine Mammal Commission; (11) the National Veterans Business Development Corporation; (12) the Securities and Exchange Commission; (13) the Small Business Administration (SBA), including the Office of Inspector General; and (14) the State Justice Institute.
Title VI: General Provisions
- (Sec. 601) Prohibits the use of appropriations for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress.
(Sec. 603) Limits expenditures for any consulting service through procurement contract to contracts where expenditures are a matter of public record and available for public inspection, with exceptions.
(Sec. 605) Prohibits the availability of funds, without advance notice to the congressional appropriations committees, for obligation or expenditure through a reprogramming of funds that: (1) creates new programs; (2) eliminates a program, project, or activity; (3) increases funds or personnel by any means for any project or activity for which funds have been denied or restricted; (4) relocates an office or employees, reorganizes offices, programs, or activities; or (5) contracts out or privatizes any functions or activities currently performed by Federal employees.
Prohibits, without such advance notification, the availability of funds for obligation or expenditure for activities, programs, and projects through a reprogramming of funds in excess of $500,000 or ten percent, whichever is less, that: (1) augments existing programs, projects, or activities; (2) reduces by ten percent funding for any existing program, project, or activity or numbers of personnel as approved by Congress; or (3) results from any general savings from a reduction in personnel which would result in a change in existing programs, activities, or projects as approved by Congress.
(Sec. 606) Bans the use of funds in this Act for the construction, repair (other than emergency repair), overhaul, conversion, or modernization of vessels for the NOAA in shipyards outside the United States.
(Sec. 607) Makes ineligible to receive any contract or subcontract made with funds in this Act, pursuant to current debarment, suspension, and ineligibility procedures, any person determined to have intentionally affixed a fraudulent "Made in America" label to any product sold or shipped to the United States.
(Sec. 608) Prohibits the use of funds in this Act to implement, administer, or enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion when it is made known to the Federal entity or official to which such funds are made available that such guidelines do not differ in any respect from certain proposed guidelines.
(Sec. 609) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for any United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission that will involve U.S. armed forces under the command or operational control of a foreign national if the President's military advisors have not recommended such involvement in the national security interests and the President has not made such recommendation to Congress.
(Sec. 610) Prohibits the expenditure of funds, unless certain conditions of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 are met, for: (1) opening or operating any U.S. diplomatic or consular post in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that was not operating on July 11, 1995; (2) expanding any U.S. diplomatic or consular post in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that was operating on July 11, 1995; or (3) increasing the total number of personnel assigned to U.S. diplomatic or consular posts in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam above the levels existing on July 11, 1995.
(Sec. 612) Limits to only 90 percent of the amount to be awarded under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant the amount of any such grant to an entity that does not provide health insurance benefits to a public safety officer who retires or is separated from service due to injury suffered directly and proximately in the line of duty while responding to an emergency situation or a hot pursuit that are the same or better than the benefits such officer received while on duty.
(Sec. 613) Prohibits the use of funds in this Act to promote the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco products or to seek the reduction or removal by any foreign country of restrictions on the marketing of tobacco or tobacco products, except for restrictions which are not applied equally to all tobacco or tobacco products of the same type.
(Sec. 614) Prohibits the expenditure of funds for the issuance of visas to any individuals named or implicated in certain killings or murders in Haiti by the related prohibition of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999.
(Sec. 615) Prohibits the use of funds in this Act for: (1) the implementation of any tax or fee in connection with the implementation of the national instant criminal background check system for firearms; and (2) any system to implement such background check system that does not require and result in the destruction of any identifying information submitted by or on behalf of any person who has been determined not to be prohibited from owning a firearm.
(Sec. 616) Provides that amounts deposited or available in the Crime Victims Fund in any fiscal year in excess of $625 million shall not be available for obligation until the following fiscal year, except for certain emergency appropriations.
(Sec. 617) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to DOJ to discriminate against, or to denigrate the religious or moral beliefs of, students who participate in programs for which financial assistance is provided from those funds or their parents or legal guardians.
(Sec. 618) Makes funds under this Act unavailable for the purpose of granting immigrant or nonimmigrant visas to citizens, subjects, nationals, or residents of countries that the Attorney General has determined deny or unreasonably delay accepting the return of citizens, subjects, nationals, or residents under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Requires the Attorney General to notify the Secretary of State whenever a foreign country denies or unreasonably delays accepting an alien who is a citizen, subject, national, or resident of that country after the Attorney General asks whether the Government will accept the alien under INA.
(Sec. 619) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to DOJ to transport a maximum or high security prisoner to a place other than a prison or other facility certified by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as appropriately secure.
(Sec. 620) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act by Federal prisons to purchase audiovisual or electronic equipment used primarily for recreational purposes.
(Sec. 622) Requires the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and the SBA to each establish a policy under which employees may participate in telecommuting to the maximum extent possible without diminishing employee performance. Makes funds available to implement telecommuting programs. Directs each Department or agency to designate a Telework Coordinator.
(Sec. 624) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to grant, transfer or assign a license for a commercial TV broadcast station if it would result in the party or its stockholder, partners, members, officers, or directors having a cognizable interest in stations which have an aggregate national audience reach exceeding 35 percent.
(Sec. 625) Requires the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to include disclaimers regarding the limitations of data in tracing studies.
Title VII: Rescissions
- Rescinds specified prior year appropriation amounts from the Office of Justice Programs (State and local law enforcement assistance and community oriented policing services).
Title VIII: Additional General Provisions -
(Sec. 801) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act: (1) to issue patents on claims directed to or encompassing a human organism; (2) by the Department of Justice or the Department of State to file a motion in any court opposing a civil action against any Japanese person or corporation for compensation or reparations in which the plaintiff alleges that, as an American prisoner of war during World War II, he or she was used as slave or forced labor; (3) to enforce the judgment in Newdow v. U.S. Congress (9th Cir. 2002) (holding unconstitutional, as a violation of the First amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a California school district's policy requiring teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and a statute inserting the words "under God" into the Pledge); or (4) to seek a delay with respect to the issuance of a warrant or court order for search and seizures.
(Sec. 805) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for a contribution to any United Nations commission, organization, or affiliated agency that is chaired or presided over by a country that the Secretary of State has determined to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.
(Sec. 806) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to destroy or conceal physical and electronic records and documents related to any use of Federal agency resources in any task or action involving or relating to members of the Texas Legislature for the period beginning May 11, 2003, and ending May 16, 2003.
(Sec. 807) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for the issuance of visas to aliens supporting international child abductors and to relatives of such abductors in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
(Sec. 808) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to enforce the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Glassroth v. Moore, decided July 1, 2003 (holding unconstitutional, as a violation of the First amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the placement of a granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama State judicial building in Montgomery, Alabama).
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Bill titles: Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes.
Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov
