Statement on Signing Limited Continuing Appropriations Legislation

Statement on Signing Limited Continuing Appropriations Legislation

December 22, 1995

Today I have signed into law House Joint Resolution 136, which
ensures that the Government makes veterans' benefit payments to 3.3
million veterans and their survivors without further delay.
The resolution also provides funding for several vitally important
programs for children and families. It continues funding for Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), ensuring that nearly 9 million
children receive benefits vital to their well-being. It funds child care
for about 600,000 children whose parents are trying to work their way
off welfare. And it continues funding for State child support
enforcement agencies to ensure that ``deadbeat dads'' do not get a
reprieve from supporting their children.

In addition, H.J. Res. 136 provides authority for the District of
Columbia to continue full operations. The resolution contains an
objectionable provision that would single out poor women by prohibiting
the use of District funds for providing abortion services. I have
opposed including this provision in the regular fiscal year 1996
District of Columbia appropriations bill. Nevertheless, H.J. Res. 136
allows the District government to continue to operate without
disruption.
Although I welcome H.J. Res. 136, it is a poor substitute for what
the Congress should do immediately--that is, send me an acceptable
continuing resolution to reopen the departments and agencies that are at
least partially shut down because they lack fiscal year 1996
appropriations. Along with the Departments of Veterans Affairs and
Health and Human Services, they include the Departments of Education,
Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Justice, State, and the
Interior; the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, and the Small Business Administration.
To be sure, H.J. Res. 136 prevents the serious impact that the
partial shutdown could have had on 3.3 million veterans and their
survivors as well as nearly 9 million low-income children. But the
shutdown continues to hurt millions of innocent Americans--from the
20,000 parents and students each day who cannot apply for student aid,
to the 2,500 moderate- and low-income working families each day who
cannot get their Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loans
processed.
The shutdown also has forced the affected departments and agencies
to furlough a total of about 280,000 Federal employees, throwing their
lives into disruption and raising their fears just as the holidays
approach. Federal workers, who are already being asked to do their jobs
more efficiently as we downsize the Government, deserve better.
The congressional majority apparently wants to use a partial
Government shutdown to force me into accepting their extreme budget
plan. It did not work last month, when the majority prompted an earlier
shutdown by not sending me an acceptable continuing resolution. And it
will not work now.
The Congress should send me an acceptable continuing resolution to
reopen the Government, return to work the 280,000 Federal employees who
were furloughed through no fault of their own, provide back pay for
these workers, and give the American people the services they expect
from their Government.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
December 22, 1995.