Statement on Signing the Sixth Continuing Resolution

Statement on Signing the Sixth Continuing Resolution

January 6, 1996

Last night, I signed into law H.R. 1643, the Sixth Continuing
Resolution for fiscal 1996, which puts all Federal workers back on the
job with pay from December 16 until January 26 and also funds a limited
number of Federal activities until September 30, 1996.
This bill is a step in the right direction--but only a step. It does
not end the partial shutdown of the Federal Government that continues to
seriously impair the activities of the Departments of Commerce,
Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development,
Interior, Justice, Labor, State, and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental
Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
the Small Business Administration; and many smaller agencies.
Most importantly, H.R. 1643 enables Federal workers to return to the
job and to be paid--both the 480,000 who have been working without pay
and the 280,000 furloughed workers.
The bill also funds a limited number of Federal functions for the
rest of fiscal 1996. They include nutrition services for the elderly;
grants to States for child welfare services; Federal Parent Locator
Service activities; State unemployment insurance administration
activities; general welfare assistance payments and foster care payments
to Indians; the Federal subsidy to the rail industry pension and certain
other expenses of the Railroad Retirement Board; visitor services of the
National Park System, National Wildlife Refuges, National Forests,
Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts, and United States Holocaust Memorial; and State
Department visa, passport, and U.S. citizen services. In addition,
family support payments to States and payments to States for foster care
and adoption assistance are provided through March 15, 1996.
The bill ensures, through September 30, 1996, benefit payments to
about 3.3 million veterans and their survivors. It also provides for
payments to contractors of the Veterans Health Administration for
services related to the health and safety of patients in Veterans
Affairs medical facilities.
The measure provides authority for the District of Columbia to
continue full operations, using District funds, through September 30,
thereby extending the authority provided by the Fifth Continuing
Resolution for fiscal 1996, which expires January 25. Regrettably, the
measure contains an objectionable provision that would single out poor
women by prohibiting the use of District funds for providing abortion
services. I oppose including this provision in the regular fiscal 1996
District of Columbia appropriations bill, and I urge the Congress to
send that bill to me--in a form I can sign--as soon as possible.
The measure also provides for reimbursement to States for State
funds used to implement Federal programs and to pay furloughed State
employees whose compensation is advanced or reimbursed, in whole or in
part, by the Federal Government during

any 1996 lapse in appropriations and it makes interest payable on the
State funds that were used.
The problem with this bill is in what it does not do. It does not
end the inconvenience, if not suffering, that millions of Americans
continue to experience because of the partial government shutdown. It
does not provide funds to help put 100,000 more police officers on the
streets of U.S. cities; funds for Head Start; funds for the States for
social services and job training; funds to help U.S. businesses with
export financing; and funds to continue the Space Station program and
other key initiatives at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Nor does the bill provide needed funds for contracts
vital to protecting the environment.
Along with denying services, the shutdown is threatening the
vitality of thousands of businesses, many of them with contracts with
the Federal Government. Also at risk are the jobs of thousands of
workers in those businesses. The longer the shutdown continues, the more
its effects will be felt.
Clearly, this bill is only a partial solution to the partial
shutdown. The real solution, and the one that the Congress should pursue
without delay, is to send me acceptable 1996 appropriations bills for
the agencies in question or, at a minimum, an acceptable continuing
resolution that will permit the Government to perform the full range of
services that citizens expect.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
January 6, 1996.