Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 4404 - Dire Emergency Supplemental Appropriations

(Senate Floor)
(Whitten (D) Mississippi)(Byrd (D) West Virginia)

The Administration urges expeditious Senate action on H.R. 4404 so that Congress can present the President with an acceptable bill promptly. Although the Administration has many concerns with the Senate Committee-reported bill, the foreign assistance provisions of the Senate bill go a long way toward meeting the President?s request. The Administration's concerns are noted below.

Abortion Language

The Senate Appropriations Committee has used H.R. 4404 as a means to modify the abortion provisions in the FY 1990 District of Columbia Appropriations Act. The President vetoed H.R. 3610, the second D. C. appropriations bill, because of language identical to that contained in the Senate Committee-reported bill. The Administration strongly believes that "dire emergency" appropriations legislation should not be used to reconsider non-emergency issues that were resolved in the regular appropriations process. If Congress presents the President with a bill that contains the abortion language that was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in H.R. 4404, his senior advisors will recommend that he veto the bill, and it is virtually certain that he would do so. It would be highly regrettable if good work on this dire emergency supplemental were threatened by another struggle over this highly contentious issue.

Panama-Nicaracrua and Other Foreign Assistance

The Senate Committee-reported bill fully funds the request for assistance to Nicaragua. However, the bill reduces the $500 million requested for Panama to $420 million. The Senate reallocates $75 million of the $80 million reduction from Panama for assistance to Namibia ($10 million), for assistance to the Caribbean ($15 million), for a development fund for Africa ($20 million), and for funding for refugees ($30 million) in addition to the $70 million requested. The bill fully offsets this funding by savings from the Department of Defense. While the foreign aid provisions in the Committee bill are not in full agreement with the President?s proposals, the Administration finds these provisions acceptable.

The Senate Committee bill makes modifications to the provisions contained in the House version regarding housing guarantees to Israel. These modifications would appear- to limit seriously U. S. flexibility in discussions with Israel over use of these funds. The Administration will work in Conference to assure that adequate flexibility is available.

The Senate Committee has added to the bill a provision making $10 million available for expenses related to "the establishment of an American embassy in the independent Republic of Lithuania. " The Administration's position continues to be that the United States does not recognize the forcible incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, at this juncture, the Administration finds this provision unhelpful and unnecessary. The Administration also opposes a provision that makes mandatory the interest equalization program of the Export-Import Bank.

DoD Provisions

The Administration is fully committed to ensuring that the members of the Armed Forces receive the pay and benefits to which they are entitled by law, notwithstanding the failure of Congress to provide sufficient appropriations for that purpose for FY 1990. The Administration identified to Congress in January 1990 sources of previously-appropriated Defense appropriations that would correct this military personnel funding shortfall in a manner consistent with an effective overall defense program. The Administration strongly opposes the provision to cut Defense appropriations accounts across-the-board to cure the shortfall. The Senate Appropriations Committee's proposal would unnecessarily create disruption in virtually all on-going Defense programs and operations.

The Administration supports repeal of the proviso in the RDT&E, Air Force chapter of the FY 1990 DoD Appropriations Act (P. L. 101-165) that would require obligation of $50 million for cruise missile testing on the B-1B bomber. The House-passed bill repeals the proviso, but the Senate Committee bill does not. Repeal of the proviso is essential to avoid needlessly complicating the resolution of cruise missile issues in strategic arms negotiations. Moreover, an effective stand-off weapons capability for manned, penetrating bombers does not require such testing at this time.

A Committee amendment appears to impact a classified program which is not addressed in the report. Absent receiving an explanation of the proposed action, the Administration cannot comment on this amendment.

Section 614

The Administration supports the Hollings amendment to repeal Section 614 of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act for FY 1990.

Domestic Discretionary Additions

The Senate Committee-reported bill contains several unrequested provisions that increase domestic discretionary spending. The Administration is concerned that some of the additional domestic discretionary spending is neither necessary nor a response to a dire emergency.

The Administration is particularly concerned about provisions to provide advanced funding to fight fires that may never occur. These can hardly be deemed a "dire emergency" at this point. The Administration believes that funding for firefighting above the $77 million mandated in the bill for Department of the Interior reimbursement should either be dropped or offset. However, since the Budget Committees classify all FY 1990 firefighting appropriations as mandatory, the Administration can understand Congress' decision not to offset these funds. In lieu of offsets, the Administration supports a provision that limits the availability of all firefighting funds to FY 1990 only. This provision should ensure that any funds not spent on emergency fire suppression activities in FY 1990 would not be available to fund discretionary programs in FY 1991.

Mandatory Program Increases

The Senate Committee-reported bill would provide increases for several mandatory programs, including $705 million for Food Stamps and $435 million for veterans' programs. These appropriations have recently been estimated to be necessary and, because they are mandatory, do not require offsets from savings in other areas.