Memorandum on Fiscal Responsibility

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies and Employees of the Executive Office of the President

Subject: Government Fiscal Responsibility and Reducing Perquisites

To promote Government fiscal responsibility by cutting the perquisites and excesses of Government office, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Executive Dining Facilities

Executive dining facilities in the executive departments and agencies and the White House Executive Mess will not be permitted hereafter to provide below-cost meals. The Office of Management and Budget, after consultation with the agencies as needed, will develop promptly a plan and issue any directives required to recover the costs of meals served in these executive dining rooms.

I strongly support the decision of those Secretaries who have concluded that they do not need an executive dining room for the conduct of their agencies' business and have closed and converted them to other uses. I therefore am requesting the other heads of agencies to review their official needs and close voluntarily executive dining facilities that are not essential for the regular conduct of Government business.

Section 2. Conferences

The public interest requires that agencies exercise strict fiscal responsibility when selecting conference sites. Accordingly, agencies are not to select conference sites without evaluating the cost differences of prospective locations. When agency representatives attend conferences sponsored by others, the agency must keep its representation to a minimum consistent with serving the public's interest. The Office of Management and Budget, after consultation with the agencies, will issue further directives necessary to implement this requirement.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON