Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 3019 - Balanced Budget Down Payment Act II (10th Continuing Resolution)

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

This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views on H.R. 3019, the Balanced Budget Down Payment Bill, II, FY 1996.

Five appropriations bills for FY 1996 have not been completed. We are now nearly halfway through the fiscal year, and we have operated under nine continuing resolutions. Thirteen of the fourteen departments receive some or all of their funding under the current continuing resolution. The resulting uncertainty has impaired the ability of our Federal agencies and State and local governments to provide critical services to the public. The Congress must not continue to govern by continuing resolution.

The Administration is committed to working with the Congress to produce a bill that the President can sign. Clearly, however, many complicated and difficult issues remain to be resolved. The Administration hopes that the congressional leadership will work with us to resolve them. Regrettably, however, for the reasons discussed below, if the bill were presented to the President in its current form, he would veto it.

Funding for the Administration's Priorities

The House bill still falls short -- by over $7 billion -- of funding the Administration's priorities. The Administration continues to support investments in critical programs that promote education, children, and training; the environment; crime programs, including the COPS program; veterans programs; and research and technology. Funding provided by the House bill for these critical areas is unacceptable.

The Administration has proposed that the additional funding for these programs be fully offset and thereby not add to the deficit. Toward that end, the Administration has made available to the Committee a-list of potential offsets. The Administration is committed to working with the Congress to identify acceptable offsets for this spending.

The Administration believes that funding for these priority programs should be provided directly and not made contingent upon a set of conditions being met in the future. Contingent appropriations would only further impair the ability of Federal/ State, and local governments to restore responsible fiscal policies.

Legislative Riders

All of the remaining unenacted appropriations bills still include legislative riders that the Administration opposes. The House bill retains virtually all of these provisions. If the Administration is to reach agreement with the House on this bill, the remaining objectionable issues, discussed more fully in previous written and other communications with the Congress, must be dropped or modified in an acceptable manner.

In a few cases, the House bill contains marginal changes in language issues. The Administration notes that, in particular, the Committee has made changes to several riders in the Interior section of the bill, but the language continues to contain unacceptable policy on environmentally sensitive issues as in the case of the Tongass National Forest provision.

The Administration understands that an amendment may be offered on the House floor to strike the provision that would change existing law by allowing States to deny Medicaid funding for abortions to victims of rape and incest. The Administration strongly opposes any effort to curtail the ability of poor women to choose abortion in cases of rape or incest and would support the amendment to strike this provision.

The House bill would cap loan volume in the direct student loan program at 40 percent of total student loan volume and would cap at $260 million the 1996 amount available to run loan programs. The cap on loan volume would prevent the 500 new schools already committed to direct lending from starting to make loans on July 1, 1996. The cap on administrative expenses would effectively terminate direct lending by cutting off funding of operating contracts.

The Administration also opposes the amendment made in order in the rule that would create new, unduly burdensome, confusing and potentially overly broad reporting requirements for nonprofit and for-profit Federal grantees. These onerous reporting requirements would go substantially beyond anything generally required under the recently enacted Lobbying Disclosure Act, and would apparently apply to lobbying of State and local governments as well as the Federal government.

Bosnia/Jordan

The Administration appreciates the prompt action by the House on, the supplemental request to secure funding associated with the Bosnia peace implementation plan, the Jordan aircraft sale, and recent natural disasters. The House is strongly encouraged to provide the full funding request of $140 million for the Jordan supplemental and the multi-year procurement authority for the C-17 aircraft.

The Administration is eager to work with the Congress to provide funding through the end of the fiscal year for agencies funded by the five unenacted bills, including the District of Columbia bill, before the current continuing resolution expires on March 15, 1996.