Today, President Clinton will sign an Interior Department budget bill for fiscal year 2001 that provides unprecedented dedicated funding for the conservation of America's land and coastal resources - a total of $12 billion over six years. The bill also provides increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities - a total of $225 million -- supporting important initiatives to increase understanding and access to arts and humanities for all Americans. In addition, the $16.9 billion budget measure increases funding to prevent and fight wildfires, to develop and deploy new energy conservation technologies, and to assist Native American communities.
PROVIDING DEDICATED CONSERVATION FUNDING FOR AMERICA'S TREASURES. In the culmination of a bipartisan effort, the President and Vice President secured dedicated conservation funding totaling $12 billion over six years to protect parks and forests, community green spaces, and coastland. This bill -- which will more than triple the current funding for these programs by 2006 - represents a major step toward the goal of permanent conservation funding. At the same time, the Clinton-Gore Administration fought back numerous anti-environmental riders that would have traded hard-won environmental safeguards for short-term special interest gains.
This legislation provides $1.2 billion for conservation in 2001, with an additional $400 million to be provided in the Commerce-State-Justice appropriations bill, for a total of $1.6 billion - more than double current funding. This dedicated funding will rise to $2.4 billion in 2006. Nearly two-thirds of these funds will go to the states and local communities to protect their own special places. This will provide an historic opportunity for the federal government to work with communities to protect the nation's natural treasures, and for states and local communities to provide parks and recreation and to protect the local open green spaces and forests that are most important to them.
This legislation represents a major step forward while the Administration continues to work with Congress to secure additional funding.
Programs receiving dedicated multi-year funding include:
-*Maintenance and Repair of Federal Facilities.* A minimum of $150 million a year for maintenance work at national parks, wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management lands and national forests.
-*Coastal Programs.* Sets aside a minimum of $400 million a year for programs protecting the coastal environment, including programs to benefit endangered Pacific salmon, coral reefs, marine sanctuaries, and estuarine reserves. Further funding will be allocated in the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations process.
INCREASED FUNDING FOR WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION AND REDUCTION. The legislation provides $2.9 billion, more than twice current funding, to address both the economic and environmental impact of this summer's wildland fires; to rehabilitate fire-damaged areas; to reduce the threat of future wildfires on our forests, grasslands and private lands; and to work with communities to prevent fires in high-risk urban/wildland interface areas.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND SAVING MONEY THROUGH ENERGY CONSERVATION. The legislation provides $817 million, a 10 percent increase over last year, for research and development of more efficient cars, trucks and buildings, and clean non-petroleum fuels; and for grants to help low-income households insulate their homes for the coming winter. This funding -- a record level for the Clinton-Gore Administration -- will benefit the environment, our nation's energy security, and consumers' pocketbooks.
PROMOTING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES IN AMERICA. In 1996 Congress imposed deep cuts on both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which led both agencies to cut approximately 40 per cent of their staff and reduce the number of grants awarded by approximately two-thirds. This year, President Clinton proposed to expand resources for the NEA and NEH to provide support for important cultural, educational and artistic programs for communities across America. The Interior appropriations bill the President will sign today includes significant funding increases for both agencies. The bill increases the NEA's budget by $7 million, for a total of $105 million, the first increase in more than seven years. Among other important grant programs, NEA will use these funds to move forward with Challenge America, which provides grants to expand arts education and promotion in traditionally underserved communities. The bill also increases NEH's budget by $5 million -- to a total of $120 million -- which will allow the agency to fund important cultural and humanities programs across the nation, including programs to broaden access to the humanities programs in traditionally underserved areas.
INCREASED FUNDING FOR NATIVE AMERICAN PROGRAMS. The bill also provides $4.9 billion for the Departments of Interior and Health and Human Services, a 12 percent increase, for key components of the Administration's Native American Initiative Program, including most of the requested investments in Indian school construction, law enforcement, and health care.
What's New Archives: 1994-1996
Presidential Webcast: Meeting the Challenge of Global Warming
Urging Congress to Keep its Commitment and Complete this Year's Education Budget
Preserving America's Coral Reefs
Human Rights Day: The Eleanor Roosevelt Award and The Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Clinton Launches New Effort to Increase Immunization Rates Among Children
President Clinton and Vice President Gore: Restoring an American Natural Treasure
Progress in Efforts to Combat International Crime
President Clinton's New Markets Initiative: Revitalizing America's Underserved Communities
President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and Congressional Democrats Win a Landmark Budget
Announcing Welfare Reform Achievements and Budget Wins for America's Families
President Clinton Issues Strong New Consumer Protections to Ensure the Privacy of Medical Records
Enacting a Budget that Invests in Education, Health Care, and America'
The United States on Track to Pay Off the Debt by End of the Decade
President Clinton: Strengthening the Federal Government-University Research Partnership
Keeping the Heat and Lights On During Unusually Cold Weather
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