This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's
views on S. 1768 and S. 1769, as reported by the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
It is critical to our national security that Congress pass a single
bill that provides funding for our missions in Bosnia and Iraq, for overdue
payments to the United Nations, and for the International Monetary Fund.
American economic and security interests will suffer badly if the
President's requests are not enacted into law. It is also essential that
Congress approve emergency disaster assistance for victims of recent
natural disasters. Such a bill should be free of extraneous and
objectionable language provisions.
The Federal government is currently responding to natural disasters in
49 states. Since January of this year, there have been disasters in 16
states. On March 3, 1998, the President requested emergency supplemental
funds for disaster assistance requirements resulting from recent flooding,
ice storms, El Nino and other natural disasters. In addition to meeting
individual needs through the FEMA and SBA programs, funds are needed for
emergency highway repair, debris removal, assistance for state and private
forestry, assistance to farmers and for other disaster programs. The
Committee is to be commended for approving such funding.
The Administration appreciates the Senate Committee's prompt action to
ensure that vital resources needed for recovery from natural disasters, for
our troops overseas and for the International Monetary Fund are enacted as
soon as possible. However, the Administration is deeply disappointed that
the Senate Committee did not approve funding for overdue payments for
international organizations and chose to add provisions to the IMF funding
that are unworkable. In addition, we are disappointed that the Senate
Committee attached two objectionable environmental riders to the bill.
Finally, the Administration is disappointed that the pending supplemental
appropriations have been segregated into two distinct appropriations bills
and strongly recommends that the two Senate measures should be combined
into a single bill.
Overdue Payments to the United Nations and Other International
Organizations
The Administration is deeply concerned that the Committee has not
provided funding for arrears payments to the United Nations (U.N.) and
other international organizations. The failure to provide such funding
would undermine U.S. leadership in the international community and should
not be separated from other critical, emergency foreign affairs priorities
(Bosnia, Iraq, IMF).
Because the U.N. will consider one last time, starting in May, a
resolution to adopt important reforms, including reducing the U.S.
assessment rate, it is critical that the necessary legislation that funds
these arrearage payments be completed very soon. Absent legislation, there
is no possibility for the United States to garner international support for
these reforms, and the United States may risk an erosion of support for
other U.S. policies and positions in the international community. The
Administration strongly urges the Senate to provide the full request for
arrears.
International Monetary Fund
The Administration supports the Committee's recognition that the
Congress should act now to authorize and appropriate funds for both the New
Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) and the quota increase. The Administration
believes that the immediate approval of these requests is necessary to
provide the IMF with the resources it needs to protect the international
financial system -- and, therefore, the U.S. economy -- against the risk of
new or escalating financial crises of the kind now gripping key East Asian
economies. A failure to act or a significant delay in action could leave
us without the capacity to protect United States interests in the current
environment.
The Administration is deeply concerned, however, with some of the
provisions of the Committee-reported bill. These concerns relate primarily
to the procedural requirements attached to the proposed appropriation for
the quota increase, not necessarily to the underlying policy objectives of
such requirements. In fact, the Administration is in agreement with many
of those objectives as policies that the United States should vigorously
promote at the IMF. However, a number of the reported bill's proposed
procedures for achieving those objectives are unworkable.
For example, section 101 of the bill would condition the availability
of the increased U.S. quota resources on the IMF's agreement that all
lending agreements with member countries include specified provisions. The
United States Government itself could not meet some of the conditions that
would theoretically be imposed on borrowers from the IMF. The
Administration believes that the practical effect of this section alone
would delay indefinitely the implementation of the quota increase, denying
the IMF resources it needs to perform its mission during a period of
crisis.
Other sections pose similar kinds of problems. To solve these
problems in a constructive manner, the Administration will work to amend
these provisions as this much-needed bill moves through the appropriations
process. If the IMF does not have sufficient resources to deal with future
crises, it will significantly affect our workers, our farmers, and our
businesses. It is important for Congress to act on this request at the
earliest possible legislative opportunity, and we strongly recommend that
this request be joined with S. 1768.
Department of Defense Funding
The Administration welcomes the Committee's support in S. 1768 for the
President's FY 1998 emergency supplemental request for Bosnia, Southwest
Asia, and natural disasters. Funding for Bosnia and Southwest Asia will
cover the costs of unanticipated military operations in these areas that
directly support U.S. national interests, while also protecting military
readiness. Additional funding for natural disasters will ensure that
affected bases and facilities can recover fully and quickly from storm
damage.
Department of Agriculture: Forest Service
The Administration has serious concerns with riders added to the
Committee-reported version of the bill, as well as with report language,
and strongly opposes the inclusion, in an emergency appropriations bill, of
extraneous and controversial authorizing provisions. The Administration
strongly opposes section 405 of S.1768, which is an unwarranted and
ill-timed interference with the Forest Service's proposal to implement a
temporary suspension of new road construction in the roadless areas of our
national forests. The provisions appear overly broad in that they could
apply to any Forest Service "project" -- not just to timber sales affected
by the proposed suspension -- that for whatever reason do not go forward in
FY 1998 and FY 1999. The provisions also attempt to preempt a public
process that the Forest Service has initiated to develop a long-term,
science-based transportation policy to address a 380,000 mile road system
that it cannot afford to maintain.
Major provisions of section 405 could not be implemented. There is
currently no final rule imposing a suspension, only a proposal. These
provisions assume continued road building or replacement of speculative
timber sales and other projects. These potential projects may not have
received thorough environmental analysis and the Government may not have
contractual obligations meriting replacement or compensation. Furthermore,
the provisions, as drafted, might not increase county receipt payments as
anticipated. Finally, the provisions would also invite costly, divisive
lawsuits that would not benefit any of the resources the public cares
about. The Administration urges the Congress to adopt the FY 1999 Budget
proposal to stabilize Forest Service payments to local governments.
Department of the Interior
Again, the Administration has serious concerns with riders added to
the Committee-reported version of the bill, as well as with report
language, and strongly opposes the inclusion, in an emergency
appropriations bill, of extraneous and controversial authorizing
provisions. In October 1997, the Department of the Interior testified
before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on
National Parks that Secretary Babbitt would recommend that the President
veto S. 633, a bill to modify Petroglyph National Monument (NM) boundaries
to facilitate construction of the Paseo del Norte highway. Such
legislation has now been added to the emergency supplemental (section 404).
This would set an unworkable precedent for the National Park System by
mandating that park lands be used in a manner that disregards the expert
judgement of the park managers and damages the overall integrity of the
monument.
In addition, report language directs the Department not to modify
financial terms for oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico that are
eligible for royalty relief under the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act.
Compliance with such direction would clearly interfere with the
Department's conduct of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) program and
limit the Department's authority to set the terms and conditions of a lease
sale, which would undercut the Government's ability to meet the
requirements of the OCS Lands Act regarding due diligence and obtaining the
fair market value of oil and gas royalty payments for U.S. taxpayers.
Federal Communications Commission
The Administration is concerned with the Committee's language in S.
1768 imposing unwarranted and burdensome requirements on the Federal
Communications Commission in administering Universal Service Programs,
particularly the new program to ensure that every school and library has
access to advanced telecommunications services, which promises to enhance
educational opportunities across our country. These programs serve a broad
range of constituents as illustrated by the over 39,000 applications that
have been submitted thus far from schools and libraries throughout the
United States. These applications represent communities, small and large,
urban and rural, from every State. No language should be included that
would jeopardize the successful and timely implementation of these
much-needed programs.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The Administration objects to the failure of the Committee to include
$173 million in NASA appropriations transfer authority for FY 1998 for the
International Space Station, as proposed by the President, and requests
that the bill be amended consistent with the President's proposal. The
transfer authority is an insurance policy to maintain the planned assembly
schedule for the U.S. and its international partners, react to new program
requirements as the need arises, and control out-year costs. The
Administration's FY 1999 proposal for the International Space Station
assumes that the funding derived by this transfer would be made available
to the Space Station program.
Other Issues
The Administration is also concerned that the Committee did not
approve emergency funding for the Bureau of Reclamation, that it did not
approve the proposed repeal of the FERS/CSRS open season and that it places
unnecessary restrictions on the ongoing space consolidation of the Patent
and Trademark Office. The Administration also believes that the earmark
for Emergency Conservation funds should be dropped, consistent with the
longstanding practice for providing disaster funding to all eligible
communities.
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