Postal Service FY2000 Appropriations bill

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title I: Department of Treasury

Title II: Postal Service

Title III: Executive Office of the President and Funds

Appropriated to the President

Title IV: Independent Agencies

Title V: General Provisions

Title VI: General Provisions

Title VII: Child Care Centers in Federal Facilities

Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 for the Treasury Department, the U.S. Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and certain independent agencies.

Title I: Department of the Treasury - Treasury Department Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for the Department of the Treasury for: (1) departmental offices; (2) department-wide systems and capital investments programs for development and acquisition of automatic data processing equipment, software, and services; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) the Inspector General for Tax Administration; (5) repair and restoration of the Treasury building and annex; (6) the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; (7) violent crime reduction programs; (8) the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, including amounts for maintenance and facility improvements; (9) the Financial Management Service; (10) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; (11) the U.S. Customs Service, including amounts for operations and maintenance of marine vessels and aircraft and collection of the Harbor Maintenance Fee; (12) the Bureau of the Public Debt; (13) the Internal Revenue Service, including amounts for tax law enforcement, earned income tax credit compliance and error reduction initiatives, and information systems and telecommunications support; and (14) the Secret Service, including an amount for construction and improvement of facilities.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

(Sec. 116) Authorizes the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, from October 1, 1999, through January 1, 2003, to offer voluntary separation incentives to specified employees to carry out the plan to reorganize the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(Sec. 117) Permits the Commissioner of the Financial Management Service, from October 1, 1999, through January 31, 2000, to offer such incentives to specified employees to carry out the closure of the Chicago Financial Center in a manner deemed efficient, equitable to employees, and cost-effective.

Requires the Secretary of the Treasury, prior to obligating resources for voluntary separation incentive payments, to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a strategic plan outlining the intended use of such payments and a proposed organizational chart for the agency once such payments have been completed. Provides for approval of such plan by the OMB Director. Permits such payments only in accordance with the strategic plan. Reduces the total number of funded employee positions in the agency by one position for each vacancy created by the separation of any employee who has received such a payment unless OMB believes that the agency plan demonstrates that the positions would better be used to reallocate occupations or reshape the workforce and produce a more cost-effective result.

(Sec. 118) Amends the Federal judicial code to provide that moneys due from or payable by the United States to any state against which a judgment is pending with respect to damages sought for certain terrorist acts shall be subject to attachment and execution to the same extent as if the United States were a private person.

Authorizes the President, upon determining that a waiver is necessary in the national security interest, to waive certain requirements for execution or attachment of property with respect to which certain financial transactions are regulated under the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in connection with a judicial order directing attachment or execution against the principal office of a foreign mission to the United States used for diplomatic purposes or any funds held by such mission necessary to satisfy actual office operating expenses. Makes such a waiver inapplicable to: (1) the principal office of a foreign mission used for any nondiplomatic purpose by either the foreign state or the United States or to the proceeds of such a purpose; or (2) the proceeds of a sale or transfer if any asset of the office is sold or transferred for value to a third party.

Applies the amendments made by this section to any claim for which a foreign state is not immune from the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts in cases where damages are sought for certain terrorist activity, including claims arising before this Act's enactment date.

Title II: Postal Service - Postal Service Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for payments to the Postal Service Fund for revenue foregone on free and reduced rate mail.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

Title III: Executive Office of the President and Funds Appropriated to the President - Executive Office Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for: (1) compensation of the President and the White House office; (2) operating, maintenance, and reimbursable expenses of the Executive Residence at the White House; (3) White House repair and restoration; (4) special Assistance to the President and the official residence of the Vice President; (5) the Council of Economic Advisers; (6) the Office of Policy Development; (7) the National Security Council; (8) the Office of Administration; (9) OMB; (10) the Office of National Drug Control Policy; (11) the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center; and (12) Federal drug control programs, including amounts for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program and for a national anti-drug campaign for youth.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

Title IV: Independent Agencies - Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for the: (1) Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled; (2) Federal Election Commission; (3) Federal Labor Relations Authority; and (4) General Services Administration (GSA), including amounts for the Federal Buildings Fund, Government-wide policy and operations, Office of Inspector General, and allowances and office staff for former Presidents.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

(Sec. 409) Designates the Federal building located at 220 East Rosser Avenue in Bismarck, North Dakota, as the William L. Guy Federal Building, Post Office and United States Courthouse.

(Sec. 411) Directs the GSA Administrator to convey specified lands in Washington, D.C. to the Columbia Hospital for Women to enable the expansion by the Hospital of its Ambulatory Care Center, Betty Ford Breast Center, Center for Teen Health, and Reproductive Toxicology Center. Sets forth conditions on such conveyance.

Makes appropriations for: (1) the Merit Systems Protection Board; (2) the National Archives and Records Administration, including amounts for repairs and restoration of archives; (3) the National Historical Publications and Records Commission; (4) the Office of Government Ethics; (5) the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), including an amount for the Office of Inspector General; (6) Government contributions for health and life insurance benefits for annuitants; (7) the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (8) the Office of Special Counsel; and (9) the U.S. Tax Court.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds.

Rescinds a specified amount of funds made available for the National Historical Publications And Records Commission grants program.

Establishes a revolving fund in the Treasury to be available for expenses and equipment necessary to provide for storage and related services for all temporary and pre-archival Federal records to be stored or stored at Federal National and Regional Records Centers by Federal agencies. Appropriates funds for the fund's initial capitalization. Credits the fund with user charges received from other Federal Government accounts as payment for providing personnel, storage, materials, supplies, equipment, and services.

Requires the National Archives and Records Administration to provide quarterly reports on the fund to specified congressional committees.

Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth authorized and prohibited uses of funds made available under this Act.

(Sec. 506) Sets forth Buy American provisions.

(Sec. 511) Requires OMB to prepare and submit an inventory of existing Federal grant programs to specified congressional committees.

Title VI: General Provisions - Sets forth authorized and prohibited uses of funds appropriated for Federal departments, agencies, and corporations.

(Sec. 621) Bars the use of funds made available for the Customs Service in this Act to allow the importation of any good produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor.

(Sec. 628) Requires the OMB Director to report to Congress: (1) estimates of annual costs and benefits of Federal rules and paperwork; (2) impacts of Federal regulation on State, local, and tribal government, small business, wages, and economic growth; and (3) recommendations for reform. Requires the Director to issue guidelines to agencies to standardize measures of costs and benefits and the format of accounting statements.

(Sec. 634) Bars the use of funds appropriated by this Act to enter into or renew a contract which includes a provision providing prescription drug coverage, except where the contract also includes a provision for contraceptive coverage. Makes exceptions to such prohibition for religious health plans.

(Sec. 636) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Postal Service is encouraged to issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

(Sec. 637) Prohibits funds appropriated by this Act from being available to pay for an abortion or the administrative expenses of any Federal employee health plan which provides benefits for abortions. Makes such prohibition inapplicable if the mother's life would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in cases of rape or incest.

(Sec. 639) Amends provisions of the Social Security Act regarding block grants to States for temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) to require bonus grants to States for high performance in operating the TANF block grant program to be based on: (1) employment- related measures; (2) the percentage of former recipients of TANF assistance who receive subsidized child care; (3) the improvement since 1995 in the proportion of children in working poor families eligible for food stamps that receive food stamps to the total number of children in the State; and (4) the percentage of members of families which are former TANF recipients (which have ceased to receive such assistance for not more than six months) who currently receive Medicaid or child health assistance under title XXI (Children's Health Insurance) of the Act.

Requires certain quarterly reports by States under the TANF program to include, for States not participating in bonus grants, information on outcome of welfare reform.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to Congress on earnings and unemployment characteristics of former TANF recipients based on information currently being received from States.

(Sec. 640) Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an interactive program on an Internet website where any taxpayer may generate an itemized receipt showing a proportionate allocation of the taxpayer's total tax payments among the major expenditure categories (national defense, international affairs, Medicaid, Medicare, means- tested entitlements, domestic discretionary, social security, interest payments, and all other) as well as selected examples of more specific expenditure items.

Title VII: Child Care Centers in Federal Facilities - Federal Employees Child Care Act - Mandates that a Federal agency that either operates, or contracts for the operation of, a child care facility primarily for the use of Federal employees in an executive facility comply with specified child care standards related to child care in the State or locality involved or obtain the applicable State or local licenses for the facility.

Directs the GSA Administrator to: (1) establish and enforce child care health, safety, and facility standards; and (2) require child care facility compliance with accreditation standards issued by a child care accreditation entity. Prescribes enforcement procedures.

Requires the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, the Librarian of Congress, and the head of a designated entity in the Senate to ensure that the corresponding child care facility obtains accreditation by a child care accreditation entity. Directs such officials, if the facility does not maintain accreditation status, to issue regulations governing the operation of the facility to ensure the safety and quality of care of children in the facility. Requires such regulations to be no less stringent than the requirements for executive agencies. Prescribes a parallel requirement for regulations issued by the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for child care facilities in judicial facilities.

Provides for technical assistance, studies, and reviews in order to assist executive, legislative, and judicial agencies and child care center operator compliance with this Act.

Instructs the Administrator to establish an interagency council to facilitate cooperation and coordinate policy regarding the provision of child care in the Federal Government.

Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 704) Requires the Administrator and the OPM Director to submit a joint evaluation of child care provided by entities sponsoring child care facilities in executive, legislative, or judicial facilities to Congress. Includes within such report recommendations for improving the quality and cost effectiveness of such care.

(Sec. 706) Amends Federal law to authorize agencies to conduct projects to test innovative approaches to providing alternative forms of quality child care assistance for Federal employees. Requires evaluations of such projects to be submitted to the Administrator.

Requires Federal child care centers located in Federal spaces to ensure that center employees (including existing employees) undergo criminal history background checks.