*EPF118 11/22/2004
Congress Approves Massive Spending Bill for U.S. Government
(Deletes Cuba travel, food labeling measures; boosts high-tech visas) (720)

By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Congress completed work November 20 on a massive spending bill to fund large portions of the U.S. government and decided against relaxing travel and trade restrictions on Cuba, easing rules for Mexican trucking and easing labeling rules for imported foods.

Those and other contentious provisions could have stalled final approval of the $388 billion spending package, which funds much of the federal government's discretionary spending for the current year. The 2005 fiscal year began October 1 and runs through September 2005.

Two Senate-passed provisions opposed by the Bush administration that would have relaxed trade and travel restrictions on Cuba were dropped from the omnibus bill. One would have allowed U.S. farmers and medical suppliers to obtain U.S. licenses to sell their products in Cuba. The other would have blocked federal government spending to enforce the ban on most U.S. travel to Cuba. President Bush threatened to veto the bill over either of the provisions.

The final bill reconciles differences between earlier spending measures advanced in the House of Representatives and Senate. It passed the House 344-51 and the Senate 65-30.

Congress had earlier approved discretionary spending for security and intelligence. Nondiscretionary spending requires no year-to-year appropriations and includes such mandatory spending as interest payments on the national debt and payments to retired persons under the Social Security pension program.

The House is scheduled to make a correction to the final spending bill November 24 before sending it to Bush for his signature or veto.

Also dropped from the bill was a House-passed provision that would have allowed importation of some prescription drugs from Canada, which the administration opposed.

Congress also dropped a provision for making country-of-origin labeling voluntary instead of mandatory for imported meats, fruits and vegetables. The labeling requirement, passed as part of the 2002 farm bill, has drawn criticism from meatpacking plants and grocery stores as too costly to implement. Congress had earlier delayed the implementation deadline two years to 2006.

The bill does contain a House-passed provision blocking a rule proposed by the Bush administration that would have delayed implementing certain safety regulations in the United States for Canadian and Mexican trucks.

Under the provision, the U.S. Department of Transportation must require without delay that Canadian and Mexican trucks seeking to transport goods in the United States carry certification that they were manufactured according to U.S. safety standards.

The proposed rule would have given trucks from those countries manufactured 10 years ago or more a two-year grace period to comply with the safety regulations.

The Bush administration's latest statement on the trucking issue did not threaten to veto the bill over the provision, concluding that it did not violate U.S. obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Another provision that survived to the final bill would increase the number of foreign high-tech workers who could get temporary visas, called H-1B visas, to work in the United States.

It was supported by business groups but opposed by labor unions and groups seeking tighter immigration rules.

Under the existing law, the 65,000 H-1B visas available for the current fiscal year were used up October 1 -- the very first day of the year. The provision in the spending bill would expand the number of visas by 20,000 a year, re-impose a $1,500 fee for each visa and raise the minimum wage for H-1B workers.

The provision would also tighten the rules for what are called L-1 visas, which are intended to let companies move their foreign executives to U.S. locations. Congressional investigators reportedly found that some companies were using these unlimited L-1 visas to bring over foreign workers in order to evade the H-1B visa cap.

Aside from foreign aid spending, the final spending bill would give the State Department $8.3 billion, 3 percent below the administration's request and 6 percent below the level of the previous year. That money includes $4.2 billion for diplomatic and consular programs, $1.5 billion for embassy security, construction and maintenance, $1.2 billion for membership in international organizations, and $490 million for international peacekeeping missions.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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