Statement of Administration Policy: S. 2399 - Appropriations Category Reform Act of 1992

(Senate)
(Sasser (D) Tennessee and 47 others)

If S. 2399 were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisers would recommend a veto.

S. 2399 seeks to raise the legal cap on domestic discretionary spending by allowing the use of defense resources for this purpose. By so doing, it creates a political incentive to cut defense beyond the 30 percent cut that the President has recommended — and thereby threatens to put U.S. national security interests at risk.

The President has recommended that defense savings not be used to increase spending. If Congress were to abandon the mutually- agreed discipline of the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA), it could trouble financial markets, cause interest rates to rise, and thus prove counter-productive. That is, it could slow recovery and threaten job-creation.