|
This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views
on H.R. 1664, the bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for
military operations, refugee relief, and humanitarian assistance relating
to the conflict in Kosovo, and for military operations in Southwest Asia.
The Administration appreciates the Committee's prompt action on the
President's supplemental request and looks forward to working with the
Congress on a bi-partisan basis on this important legislation.
On April 19th, the President submitted to Congress a request for $6.05
billion for the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and other
international programs to provide the funds necessary to cover the costs of
the military and humanitarian operations related to the crisis in Kosovo.
Also included were funding requests to cover costs associated with
on-going, enhanced operations in Southwest Asia.
The Administration's package:
- Protects the military readiness of those forces in the Balkan
theater and
all other U.S. forces;
- Ensures our military has the full measure of resources necessary to
carry
out the Kosovo air campaign; and,
- Funds the U.S. commitment to provide humanitarian relief now and
respond to potential future refugee assistance needs.
The fact that we are asking the Congress for funding to respond to
emergency needs in Kosovo does not in any way diminish the importance of an
emergency that is very close to home. The Central American emergency
relief package remains urgent and should be approved without offsets.
Every day we delay means another day the people of Central America lose
hope in their ability to rebuild their homes, earn their livelihood, and
achieve a prosperous future in their homeland. In addition, the FY 1999
supplemental request for $100 million in assistance for Jordan is critical
to stabilizing the Jordanian economy, ensuring a smooth transition of
leadership and promoting the goal of peace in the Middle East that we all
share. Also of critical importance is our request for emergency
agricultural relief to our farmers, which should be approved without
offsets. The Administration urges the Congress to avoid confrontation by
acting quickly to enact these requests without extraneous riders and
spending.
Regrettably, the Committee-reported bill, which totals nearly $13 billion,
goes well beyond the funding requirements of the mission in Kosovo and the
need to maintain current readiness. It includes funding of over $1 billion
for military construction projects, most of which may not begin
construction for several years and many of which are not even included in
the Department's long range plan. It includes significant increases for
operation and maintenance programs that have been budgeted for in the FY
2000 Budget and should be considered during the FY 2000 appropriations
process, not in an emergency supplemental bill.
We continue to believe that the Administration request is the appropriate
level of funding and we continue to urge the Congress to provide funding at
that level. We support the Obey amendment made in order in the rule to
reduce the amount of unrequested, non-emergency defense funding in the bill
and to provide the urgent Central America, Jordan and agricultural relief
funding discussed above.
The Administration would strongly oppose a Coburn amendment made in order
in the rule that would impose a 10 percent across the board cut on most
non-defense programs in FY 2000. This irresponsible and unworkable
amendment would result in cuts of at least $1,543 million for NIH; $357
million for VA medical care (the Department of Veterans Affairs could not
expand out-of-network emergency care benefits to disabled veterans enrolled
in the medical care system, and 13,188 veterans would not receive
treatment); $273 million for FBI (resulting in an estimated reduction of
2,200 FBI agents); $171 million for INS (resulting in a reduction of
approximately 1,100 border patrol agents); $527 million for special
education; $466 million for Headstart (resulting in 50,000 fewer children
served); $761 million less for Pell Grants (resulting in a reduction of
$250 in the maximum grant award); and $50 million from Safe and Drug-free
Schools.
Such a sequester would also reduce the funding available to FEMA and the
Small Business Administration to respond to natural disasters such as the
recent tornados in Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as resources for embassy
security, rural development, the Coast Guard, air traffic controllers,
low-income housing, operating our national parks, refugee assistance, clean
water programs and the cleanup of Superfund sites. Relative to the
President's budget, the impact of these cuts would be significantly deeper.
With regard to the Latham amendment, inadequate funding for agricultural
relief programs is provided. Moreover, the amendment inappropriately
separates agricultural relief, Central America, and Jordan funding that was
linked in the House-passed bill and contains offsets that we strongly
opposed in that bill. We strongly urge the Congress to maintain the
linkage between agricultural relief, Central America, and Jordan; provide
adequate funding; and not to use offsets inappropriately to fund true
emergencies.
The Administration would strongly oppose controversial limitation
amendments that may be offered that would inappropriately complicate and
delay enactment of this emergency spending bill.
Despite months of allied diplomatic efforts to achieve a balanced peace
plan, the government of Slobodan Milosevic defied the international
community and pursued a course of repression and terror against the people
of Kosovo. We determined that we could not allow these actions to go
unchallenged. Now, we have a responsibility to our country and to the men
and women serving our country in the Balkans and to address the
humanitarian crisis provoked by the Milosevic government. The
Administration has provided you with our best estimate of the resources
required to achieve our goals in Kosovo. Now is not the time to slow
progress on our emergency supplemental request by adding funding unrelated
to the mission or to maintaining current readiness or by adding extraneous
provisions.
As the President stated on April 28th, "My request fully funds our military
and humanitarian needs in Kosovo. Congress should resist the temptation to
add unrelated expenditures, even important ones, which could delay the
process, because that would undermine the very goals that this funding is
intended to meet." We ask the Congress to act quickly upon this request
and send a clear message to Milosevic - his actions will not be tolerated
and we are prepared to back our words with action.
|
