Angie Craig: “in conjunction with the administration, and the members of the Budget Committee, we have made a series of technical…”

“in conjunction with the administration, and the members of the Budget Committee, we have made a series of technical changes to S. 1608 as it was reported by the committee. These changes are designed to: (1) respond to the concerns of some members with the bill as reported; (2) address some additional issues raised by the Administration; (3) rectify technical problems with the bill; as well as (4) bring the bill's costs in line with the amount provided in fiscal year 2001 budget resolution. Let me briefly describe the most important changes for the benefit of the Senate. We have modified the formula used to calculate the ``full payment amount'' to which states are entitled from the Forest Service under this bill. Rather than having this payment calculated on the average of the three highest 25 percent payments for each eligible county within each state, the calculations will be based upon the average of the three highest 25 percent payments for each state during the fiscal years of the eligible years period. We also reduced the annual adjustment for inflation. These changes will reduce the cost of the bill as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office from $1.46 billion over a 5-year period to around $1.1 billion over the same period. In section 102(a) and section 103(a), we clarify that the duration of the bill will be fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2006. It is the manager's intent that this bill be sunsetted after six years.”