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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 6, 2003

Statement by the Press Secretary

On Saturday, December 6, 2003, the President signed into law:

H.R. 421, the "Environmental Policy and Conflict Resolution Advancement Act of 2003," which authorizes appropriations of $4 million for each of FYs 2004 -- 2008 for the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution;

H.R. 1367, the "National Veterinary Medical Service Act," which authorizes the Department of Agriculture to conduct a student loan repayment program for veterinarians that provide services in certain veterinarian shortage situations;

H.R. 1821, which provides for the production and presentation of a congressional gold medal to Dr. Dorothy Height and authorizes the production and sale to the public of bronze duplicates of the medal;

H.R. 3038, the "National Veterinary Medical Service Act," which makes clarifications and technical corrections to the Health Care Safety Net Amendments of 2002;

H.R. 3140, the "Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act," which provides for the availability of contact lens prescriptions to patients;

H.R. 3166, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service at 57 Old Tappan Road in Tappan, New York, as the John G. Dow Post Office Building;

H.R. 3185, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 38 Spring Street in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the Hugh Gregg Post Office Building;

H.R. 3349, which authorizes a cost-of-living salary adjustment for the Federal Judiciary for 2004;

S. 579, the "National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2003," which authorizes appropriations for the National Transportation Safety Board; provides for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assume NTSB's responsibility for assisting families of aircraft accident victims when the FBI is leading the accident investigation; and authorizes NTSB to contract for certain accident investigation services on a noncompetitive basis;

S. 1152, the "United States Fire Administration Reauthorization Act of 2003," which reauthorizes appropriations for the U.S. Fire Administration, and authorizes increased Federal assistance in evaluating and standardizing fire prevention and control technologies and in preparing for State and local fire service response to national emergencies;

S. 1156, the "Veterans Health Care, Capital Asset, and Business Improvement Act of 2003," which enhances and makes changes to a number of Department of Veterans Affairs authorities related to healthcare; construction and facilities and personnel;

S. 1768, the "National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2004," which extends the national flood insurance program; and

S. 1895, which extends certain Small Business Administration programs until March 15, 2004.

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