Don Nickles: “I rise in support of S. 1391, the FY 2004 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, as reported by the Senate…”

“I rise in support of S. 1391, the FY 2004 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, as reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. I commend the distinguished Chairman and the Ranking Member for bringing the Senate a carefully crafted spending bill within the Subcommittee's 302(b) allocation and consistent with the discretionary spending cap for 2004. The pending bill provides $19.6 billion in discretionary budget authority and $19.4 billion in discretionary outlays in FY 2004 for the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, Energy conservation and research, the Smithsonian and the National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for Humanities. The bill is at the Subcommittee's 302(b) allocation for budget authority and $4 million in outlays below the 302(b) allocation. The bill provides $155 million or .8 percent more in discretionary budget authority and $1.0 billion or 5.6 percent more in discretionary outlays than last year's bill. The bill provides $72 million more in discretionary budget authority and $93 million more in discretionary outlays than the President's budget request. I urge the adoption of the bill.”