Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 2883 - Rural Development, Agriculture, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 1990

(Senate Floor)
(Sponsors: Byrd (D), West Virginia; Burdick (D), North Dakota)

The Administration has several concerns with respect to H.R. 2883, the FY 1990 Rural Development, Agriculture, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Administration has serious concerns with the total discretionary spending provided in the bill. By Congressional scoring, the discretionary spending levels provided by the bill are consistent with the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee's 302(b) allocations for discretionary budget authority and outlays. However, based on OMB's scoring, the bill would provide a total of $9,157 billion in discretionary budget authority, or $265 million more than the 302(b) allocation. The discretionary spending provided would result in outlays of $8,937 billion, or $45 million more than the 302(b) allocation.

The most significant difference between Congressional estimates and our estimates results from the scoring of a provision included in the Senate-reported bill that would require the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to obligate unused loan authority made available in previous years. The Administration estimates that this provision will result in an additional $252 million of REA electric loans in FY 1990, whereas Congress assumed that no new loans would result from this authority.

The Administration is also concerned that the Senate-reported bill, like the House-passed bill, failed to include a series of loan program reforms proposed by the Administration. As a result, the Senate-reported bill provides $5,311 billion more than requested by the President in discretionary budget authority and $2,156 billion more in discretionary outlays.

We sincerely hope that the Senate will reexamine and reevaluate the funding proposals in the Senate-reported bill and work with the Administration to arrive at a more appropriate distribution of our scarce resources.