Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1158 - Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Additional Disaster Assistance and Maxing Rescissions for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1995, and for Other Purposes

(House Floor)
(Sponsor: Livingston (R), Louisiana)

This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views on the supplemental appropriations and rescissions bill as reported by the House Appropriations Committee.

The Administration strongly opposes this bill in its present form. We believe that it unnecessarily cuts valuable, proven programs that educate our children and aid the disadvantaged. The Administration also opposes cuts for programs that were established to ensure our Nation's role in the advancement of technology, we also strongly oppose a provision in the bill that would upset the balance contained in current law concerning Federal funding of abortions for the victims of rape and incest and a provision that would prohibit implementation of the Executive Order on striker replacements. Based on all of these considerations, if the President were presented a bill containing these provisions, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget would recommend that he veto the bill.

As the President said in his February 14, 1995, letter, the Administration is proud of its record for reducing the deficit while providing prompt assistance to the Victims of natural disasters. The Budget Enforcement Act, signed by President Bush, established the authority for the President and Congress to exempt certain spending from the statutory caps, specifically for the purpose of meeting emergency, unanticipated requirements. This joint designation by the President and the Congress has been used over the last four years to provide critical assistance in response to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, extreme cold and agricultural disasters, and for other purposes.

The Administration remains firmly committed to deficit reduction. In 1993, the Administration worked with the Congress to enact the largest deficit reduction package in history. We cut Federal spending by $255 billion over five years, cut taxes for 40 million low- and moderate-income Americans, and made 90 percent of small businesses eligible for tax relief, while increasing income tax rates only on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of Americans. As we placed a tight "freeze" on overall discretionary spending at the FY 1993 levels, we shifted spending toward investments in human and physical capital that will help secure our future.

This Administration's economic plan helped bring the deficit down from $290 billion in FY 1992, to $203 billion in FY 1994, to a projected $193 billion this year — providing three straight years of deficit reduction for the first time since Harry Truman was President.

We believe that we can address the issue of deficit reduction and provide for the Middle Class Bill of Rights without putting low-income families at risk. The Administration does not believe that sound programs, particularly those aimed at the disadvantaged and those that will ensure our Nation's standing in areas of science and technology, should be cut. It would be particularly unwise to make such cuts to finance a tax cut for higher-income taxpayers.

In the FY 1996 Budget, the President has proposed significant rescissions for FY 1995 and additional program terminations in FY 1996 for numerous low-priority programs. In contrast, this bill would impose severe reductions on a number of high-priority programs. These cuts would have a particularly harmful effect on our Nation's children by cutting funding for National Service, Summer Jobs, and WIC. Many of the cuts are shortsighted, reducing funding for education, for advanced technology programs that are critical to our Nation's future, and eliminating funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which would be instrumental in leveraging investments in our country's most distressed communities. Other cuts would adversely affect the health of Americans by cutting safe drinking water funding and violent crime prevention programs.

The Administration is opposed to an amendment that was added by the Committee that would allow states to decide to stop using public funds to pay for abortions in cases of rape and incest. The President believes that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. The Administration is committed to ensuring that women who are victims of rape and incest have the right to choose abortion as an option. A woman should not be precluded from choosing this option if she is poor.

The Administration opposes a provision in the bill that would prohibit the Executive Branch from using FY 1995 funds to issue, implement, administer, or enforce any Executive Order or other rule or order that prohibits Federal contracts with companies that hire permanent replacements for striking employees. This provision would impinge upon the Executive Branch's ability to ensure a stable supply of quality goods and services for the government's programs.

The Administration objects to an amendment that was added by the Committee that would mandate a minimum level of timber salvage sales from Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. The Department of Justice has advised that enactment of this amendment would likely result in renewed judicial review of the President's Forest Plan and could reduce timber, grazing, and mining activities in the West. The Administration ls already taking steps to restore and sustain significant levels of timber harvest in the immediate future. In addition, the Administration will shortly announce changes in the consultation process designed to expedite review of timber salvage sales as well as other actions to increase timber harvest, in full compliance with environmental laws.

The Administration is disappointed that the Committee has chosen to include urgently needed FEMA emergency supplemental funds in this controversial bill. This could cause an unnecessary delay in assistance to victims of natural disasters. If action on the Administration's request is delayed, FEMA will, beginning in May, be unable to allocate funds to meet any new disaster requirements, unless money reserved for the 40 states currently receiving disaster assistance is cut.

Additional Administration concerns with the Committee- reported bill are contained in the attachment.

Attachment

Attachment (House Floor)

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

H.R. 1158 — MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE AND MAKING RESCISSIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1995, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

(AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE FULL COMMITTEE)

FEMA Disaster Relief

P.L. 102-229, the Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1992, contained a special provision on emergency designations under the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) for FEMA Stafford Act activities. That provision specifies that all appropriations for disaster assistance in excess of the then historical annual average obligation of $320 million (or the amount of the President's budget request, whichever is lower) "shall be considered as 'emergency requirements' pursuant to" the BEA, and "such amounts shall hereafter be so designated." This provision is permanent law applying in FY 1993 and "thereafter," and expressly applies "notwithstanding any other provision of law." In FY 1995, the President requested and the Congress did in fact appropriate $320 million for FEMA disaster activities.

The Administration is disappointed that the Committee has decided to disregard this provision of law and to include this emergency funding in a controversial rescission bill, which will inevitably lead to delay.

Summer Jobs

The Summer Jobs Program provides meaningful work experience for hundreds of thousands of economically disadvantaged youth who might otherwise not have any opportunity to learn necessary job skills and workplace behaviors during crucial formative years. The proposed rescission would eliminate funding for the Summer Youth Employment program in each of the summers of 1995 and 1996, thereby eliminating job opportunities for about 615,000 disadvantaged youth in each of these summers. The Administration strongly believes that improving the job prospects of at-risk youth is an important element in a broader strategy to ensure employment opportunities for all Americans and a vibrant, productive workforce for U.S. business. The House is urged to restore funding for this important initiative.

National Service

The proposed $210 million rescission for the Corporation for National and Community Service would reduce significantly the President's National Service program, depriving more than 15,000 young adults of the opportunity to serve their communities as an AmeriCorps member and earn an education benefit. The proposed rescission would eliminate funding for the opportunity for thousands of school children to learn about responsibility to their community for the first time.

This program has a proven track record. For example, AmeriCorps members have already reclaimed recreation areas in inner cities from gangs, and thousands of low- income and migrant children have received proper immunizations to protect their health.

The Administration strongly believes that national service is a key to solving problems inside America's communities. The House is urged to restore funding for this important program.

Women. Infants, and Children (WIC)

The bill would reduce funds available for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) by $25 million. The WIC program provides nutritious supplemental foods to low-income pregnant, post-partum, and breastfeeding women, and to infants and children up to their fifth birthday. The Committee's action would result in 600,000 fewer food packages for women, infants, and children. Jeopardizing the health and welfare of these mothers and children cannot be justified.

Education Programs

The bill would reduce by over one-third ($174 million) the funding for Goals 2000, which would greatly diminish support to States and communities for raising academic standards and improving their local schools. The bill also proposes to cut the Education for the Disadvantaged program by $105 million, which would reduce services to educationally disadvantaged children. The bill's sharp reduction in funding for education technology programs ($65 million) would enable fewer local communities to put state-of-the-art tools of learning in classrooms where they are most needed to prepare our students for the future.

Science and Technology

This Administration remains firmly committed to increasing the Nation's productivity and raising living standards by investing in science and technology. These investments will lead to a healthy, educated public; job creation and economic growth; world leadership in science, mathematics, and engineering; and harnessed information technology. The rescissions proposed in this bill for many of the programs in the Department of Commerce would severely threaten the United states' standing with respect to technology advancements and competitiveness.

The proposed rescission of funds for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would reduce the number of new centers established from 36 to 10. This would result in reduced access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and techniques by U.S. manufacturers — a key component of the U.S. economy.

The $30 million rescission proposed for the National Information Infrastructure Grants program would eliminate grants to about 70-90 schools, hospitals, non-profits, and state and local governments. This action would decrease the credibility of the program as a funding source and thus discourage private sector matching grants to program applicants.

Reductions are also proposed for the Department of Energy's (DOE) solar, renewable energy, and conservation research programs. Such reductions would threaten our national effort to implement fully the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and the Climate Change Action Plan. Reduction to the DOE science budget also would adversely impact climate change, human genome, and neutron research. In addition, the $45 million reduction to the Environmental Management program would impede progress at several of the Department's cleanup sites.

The proposed rescission of $16.8 million, or 10 percent of the operating budget of the National Biological Service in the Department of the Interior, this late in the fiscal year, will force the Service to consider closing one or more of the four major Centers located in Lafayette, Louisiana; Seattle, Washington; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Anchorage, Alaska; as well as several other laboratories. This would severely hamper the Service's ability to provide basic scientific information to the land managing bureaus within the Department, including programs in the Pacific Northwest, and would eliminate joint State projects underway ln more than 30 States.

The House is urged not to imperil our Nation's standing on the technology frontier.

Violent Crime and Drug Abuse Control

The Administration is concerned that the Committee has chosen to rescind nearly $482 million in funding for the Safe and Drug Free School Program at the same time that every poll shows that crime and school safety are a major concern of Americans. This program is the centerpiece of the Administration's fight against the use of drugs and stimulants by an alarmingly increasing number of our youth.

The Administration opposes the Committee's recommendation to rescind $65 million for violent crime prevention and drug control initiatives funded through the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund. Of this amount, nearly $28 million would come from the Drug Courts program, which will provide drug treatment and real opportunities for rehabilitation for non-violent, first-time drug offenders. Another $37 million would come from the Family and Community Endeavor Schools (FACES) program, which seeks to provide healthy alternatives to the streets for youth.

Housing Assistance

As currently drafted, this bill would threaten the well-being of our Nation's most needy and vulnerable citizens and would wreak havoc upon the stability of our Nation's most distressed communities. The draconian cuts targeted towards programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development would deny help to 63,000 needy, low-income households, including many homeless families. The bill would also prevent another 24,000 homeless families from moving to transitional or permanent housing during this fiscal year. Hundreds of communities would lose money that they have counted on for critical community needs such as housing rehabilitation and social services for the elderly. The House is urged to restore funding to these vital areas.

In addition, the rescission of all FY 1995 funding for the Federal Government's primary rural multi-family rental housing direct loan program (section 515) would put thousands of rural residents living in existing Federal multi-family projects at risk and jeopardize the Government's investment in these projects. Many of the Department of Agriculture's projects need to be rehabilitated and, without the FY 1995 funding, would be in danger of being closed.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund

The proposed rescission of $124 million would terminate this program. Without this funding, the CDFI Fund would not be able to provide: $10 million in direct loan subsidies to support over $23 million of direct loans to CDFIs; $50 million in grants, technical assistance, and other financial assistance to CDFIs; and $20 million in community development incentives for depository institutions. The Fund's investments in CDFIs, banks, and thrifts would leverage an estimated $500 million in investments, loans, and financial services in the country's most distressed communities. The House is urged to restore this funding.

International Programs

The bill does not appropriate the requested $672 million emergency supplemental for assessed U.N. peacekeeping costs that will accrue during FY 1995. The United States is bound by treaty to pay these costs. Failure to pay them by the end of the fiscal year will imperil the continuity of U.N. missions in regions of great importance to the U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Rather than approve the requested supplemental, the Committee has rescinded peacekeeping funds.

This bill provides only $50 million of the $275 million requested for Jordan debt forgiveness. This debt forgiveness is linked to the historic steps taken by King Hussein to conclude a peace agreement with Israel, an act that markedly improved prospects for overall peace in the region and that involved considerable risk for King Hussein. We urge the House to provide the requested funds for Jordan debt forgiveness in support of the hopeful developments in this region.

Highways - Emergency Relief

This bill would eliminate $351 million in funding previously appropriated in response to the Northridge earthquake and other disasters. Over $50 million of this amount is expected to be needed just to meet claims for flood damage in California and Washington. In addition to leaving the Department of Transportation unable to meet the funding needs of existing disasters, this rescission would eliminate the Department's ability to respond promptly to future disasters.

Instead of recommending rescission of these needed funds, the Administration urges the House to cancel unobligated balances of highway demonstration projects, as proposed in the President's FY 1996 Budget.

Drinking Water State Revolving Funds

The rescission of $1.3 billion in funds to help municipalities comply with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements would seriously exacerbate local financing problems. Municipalities need almost $9 billion in capital costs to comply with existing regulations and additional billions to comply with future rules needed to prevent problems such as the Cryptosporidium outbreak in Milwaukee in 1993 that killed 100 people and caused illness in another 400,000.

Most affected by this rescission would be the 27 million people who get their water from a system that has violated drinking water standards. If Congress fails to authorize the drinking water state revolving fund program, these funds can be used without further Congressional action to address the $137 billion in wastewater construction needs.

Coast Guard

The Administration opposes action to reduce Coast Guard operating expenses while supplementing funding for expenses related to operations in Haiti and Cuba. Offsets to pay for those activities deemed an emergency by the Administration are counterproductive. Additional cuts would negate the effects of the supplemental, thereby rendering the Coast Guard less able to provide the level of service the public expects.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The Administration believes that the Committee's action to reduce funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) by a total of 23 percent from FY 1995 to FY 1997 is excessive and shortsighted. The Administration is committed to providing equal access to educational opportunities, particularly for young children, regardless of income or geographic location.