Benjamin Gilman: “This en bloc amendment fixes a provision of the bill that is essentially technical in nature. It is required by an…”

“This en bloc amendment fixes a provision of the bill that is essentially technical in nature. It is required by an understanding that we reached with the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. There are two provisions in the original bill, H.R. 1486, that were inserted at the request of the administration to put into effect its fee reform provision. We lowered certain authorizations which were to be offset by these fees. Both of these provisions, however, were within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means and that committee has objected to their presence in our bill. Accordingly, this amendment takes care of their concerns by raising the authorization levels back to their original levels and by restoring the status quo in other respects. This amendment also strikes an earmark of $5 million for passport information services but inserts a requirement that such information be provided for fee. This change, which was inserted in the amendment at the request of the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Smith], avoids an earmarking problem with the Committee on Appropriations but addresses a concern he has been most forthright in addressing, the issue of charging Americans fees to find out the status of their passport applications.”