Supplemental Appropriations for FY1999: Central America Disaster Aid, Middle East Peace, and Other Initiatives (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
May 26, 1999 |
| Report Number |
RL30083 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Larry Nowels, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
During the early months of 106th Congress, lawmakers considered several major FY1999
supplemental appropriation requests, including those for Central American and Caribbean
reconstruction aid in the wake of hurricanes that struck the region in late 1998; additional aid for
Jordan, the most urgently sought portion of a three-year package for Israel, Jordan, and the
Palestinians to help implement the terms of the Wye Memorandum negotiated in October 1998; farm
loan assistance for farmers affected by continued low commodity prices; and Kosovo military and
humanitarian operations, a proposal initially considered separately from the others.
The President declared Central America aid, farm loan funds, and Kosova operations as
emergencies, thereby avoiding the need to offset the costs of the supplemental. He proposed to cover
the expenses of additional Middle East aid by using mostly Defense Department funds. Last year,
Congress approved about $21 billion in emergency funds that were not offset with cuts in existing
appropriations, a decision some lawmakers strongly opposed. They argue that all future
supplemental initiatives should be fully offset so as not to violate discretionary spending "caps" set
for FY1999 and beyond or reduce the projected surplus.
The House and Senate approved bills providing most of the President's requests for Central
America and farm relief, plus adding funds for other congressional priorities. The Senate
( S. 544 ), provided $2.5 billion in supplemental funding, including nearly four times as
much as proposed for farm relief aid ($592 million) and about $300 million in loan and other relief
programs for American steel and oil and gas industries. The House approved ( H.R. 1141 ) $1.3 billion in supplemental funds at levels similar to those proposed by the President for
Central American, Jordan, and farm relief.
The congressional decision to provide offsets, rescissions, and deferrals to cover most of the
costs of new supplemental spending raised significant opposition and veto threats from the White
House. S. 544 drew most of the program reductions nearly $3 billion from non-defense
emergency supplemental funds appropriated last year in the Omnibus Appropriations Act
for FY1999 ( P.L. 105-277 ), plus another $1.3 billion from domestic programs. The House bill cut
mostly (over $850 million) from foreign policy programs. One of the largest was a rescission of
callable capital appropriated prior to 1980 to back U.S. contributions to the World Bank.
After the House, on May 6, passed a separate Kosovo supplemental ( H.R. 1664 ),
congressional leaders folded it into the conference report on H.R. 1141 . Conferees
agreed on May 13 to a $15.1 billion supplemental measure providing roughly the President's request
for Central America and Jordan, but significantly higher amounts for farm relief and Kosovo
operations. All but $2 billion of the conference agreement is declared an emergency. Conferees
dropped most of the offsets opposed by the White House, as well as the Senate steel and oil/gas
industry loan programs. The President signed H.R. 1141 on May 21 ( P.L. 106-31 ).
