From:  Pete

To:  Ken

Date: Friday, October 13, 2000


THE HILL REPORT
A Weekly Newsletter from Congressman Pete Sessions
Week of October 7 - October 13, 2000

This Week in Washington, we witnessed a horrific tragedy in the Middle
East. This week's situation has escalated into a sad reminder of
the sacrifice our men and women in uniform make when they report
to duty each day in service to our country. Our thoughts, prayers
and support go out to their families and to all American military
men and women serving our nation all over the world.

This is also a reminder that though we are living in an era of relative
peace and prosperity, America has enemies. There is unrest in the
world and we must be prepared to do everything in our power to find
the people responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice
swiftly. The world's brokers of terror will know there are consequences
when America is the target of their hate. We are a peace and freedom
loving people and these actions will not be tolerated against our
soldiers or our citizens.

In the United States House of Representatives we passed both the
Defense Authorization Bill and the Agriculture Appropriations bill
for fiscal year 2001.

The Defense Authorization Act, (H.R. 4205) passed by a vote of 382-31
and authorizes $309.9 billion in new budget authority for national
defense activities in FY 2001.  In honoring our commitment to our
men and women in service, this amount is $4.6 billion more than the
Clinton-Gore Administration's request.

Overall, the conference report authorizes (1) $75.8 billion for military
personnel; (2) $110.0 billion for operations and maintenance and
working capital funds, (3) $62.9 billion ($2.6 billion more than
the president's request) for weapons procurement, (4) $38.9 billion
($1.1 billion more than the president's request) for research and
development, (5) $8.8 billion ($788 million more than the president's
request) for military construction and family housing.

I strongly supported the measure and voted for it.  The bill also
provides a much needed and much deserved 3.7 percent military pay
raise and numerous bonuses and other retention and quality of life
programs.

The Agricultural Appropriations bill that also passed this week will
help farmers and producers of livestock and dairy who are suffering
another year of weather and financial losses, including an additional
provision that lifts limits to $150,000 this crop year on Loan Deficiency
Payments (LDPs) and provides the first move to re-opening for agricultural
trade into Cuba.

On Thursday, by a vote of 340 to 75, the House approved H.R. 4461,
the Agricultural Appropriations Act, with the Senate expected to
follow within the week.

Producers suffering a series of harvest losses due to weather extremes
will be able to draw upon funding that provides as much help as possible,
by providing upwards of $1.6 billion for crops - beyond USDA's recent
$1.3 billion estimate.

A prescription drug importation measure was also included in the
bill and will become law as part of the Agriculture Appropriations
Act for Fiscal Year 2001. I hailed the measure as a victory for seniors.

This is great news for America's seniors.  I have always said that
the world's best consumers should not be paying the world's highest
prices. This week we passed a bill to change that.

Currently, seniors in Texas and across the country are paying as
much as 70% more for prescription drugs than their counterparts in
other countries. For example, in 1998, a 30-day supply of "Prilosec"
cost about $99.95 in Texas but that same 30-day supply was a mere
$17.50 in Mexico.

I strongly support giving seniors more choices in their health care
options but warned that increased choices means increased responsibility.
 Millions of seniors wanted to be able to buy prescription drugs
from Canada and Mexico in order to save money on some drugs.  This
bill does that for them but seniors must be aware of the safety concerns
associated with getting drugs from other countries.

Around Texas...

Tomorrow, I will hold a town hall meeting in Mexia,  and following
the town hall meeting there will be a "Cancer Society Walk for Life".
 And next week, I will be in Bryan for a Town Hall Meeting.  See
the notices at the end of this e-mail.

Have a great weekend! - Pete



>>>  Town Hall Meeting <<<
Limestone County Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, October 14
WHEN:  1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
WHERE: TXU Electric
       211 North Sherman St
       Mexia, Texas


>>>  Town Hall Meeting <<<
Brazos and Robertson County Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, October
21
WHEN:  2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
WHERE: GTE Building
       501 Industrial Blvd
       Bryan, Texas


Have an old cell phone?  Donate it and save a life.......
http://www.house.gov/sessions/calltoprotect.htm

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