[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 93 (Tuesday, July 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S8133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REPORT ON FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997--MESSAGE 
                       FROM THE PRESIDENT--PM 143

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the President of the United States, together with an accompanying 
report; which was referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.

To the Congress of the United States:
  As provided by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended 
(Public Law 92-463; 5 U.S.C. App. 2, 6(c)), I am submitting the Twenty-
sixth Annual Report on Federal Advisory Committees, covering fiscal 
year 1997.
  Consistent with my commitment to create a more responsive government, 
the executive branch continues to implement my policy of maintaining 
the number of advisory committees within the ceiling of 534 required by 
Executive Order 12838 of February 10, 1993. As a result, the number of 
discretionary advisory committees (established under general 
congressional authorizations) was held to 467, or 42 percent fewer than 
those 801 committees in existence at the beginning of my 
Administration.
  Through the advisory committee planning process required by Executive 
Order 12838, the total number of advisory committees specifically 
mandated by statute has declined. The 391 such groups supported at the 
end of fiscal year 1997 represents a 4 percent decrease over the 407 in 
existence at the end of fiscal year 1996. Compared to the 439 advisory 
committees mandated by statute at the beginning of my Administration, 
the net total for fiscal year 1997 reflects an 11 percent decrease 
since 1993.
  Furthermore, my Administration will assure that the total estimated 
costs to fund these groups in fiscal year 1998, or $43.8 million, are 
dedicated to support the highest priority public involvement efforts. 
We will continue to work with the Congress to assure that all advisory 
committees that are required by statute are regularly reviewed through 
the congressional reauthorization process and that any such new 
committees proposed through legislation are closely linked to national 
interests.
  Combined savings achieved through actions taken by the executive 
branch to eliminate unneeded advisory committees during fiscal year 
1997 were $2.7 million, including $545,000 saved through the 
termination of five advisory committees established under Presidential 
authority.
  During fiscal year 1997, my Administration successfully worked with 
the Congress to clarify further the applicability of FACA to committees 
sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National 
Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). This initiative resulted in 
the enactment of the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 1997 
(Public Law 105-153), which I signed into law on December 17, 1997. The 
Act provides for new and important means for the public and other 
interested stakeholders to participate in activities undertaken by 
committees established by the Academies in support of executive branch 
decisionmaking processes.
  As FACA enters its second quarter-century during fiscal year 1998, it 
is appropriate for both the Congress and my Administration to continue 
examining opportunities for strengthening the Act's role in encouraging 
and promoting public participation. Accordingly, I am asking the 
Administrator of General Services to prepare a legislative proposal for 
my consideration that addresses an overall policy framework for 
leveraging the public's role in Federal decisionmaking through a wide 
variety of mechanisms, including advisory committees.
  By jointly pursuing this goal, we can fortify what has been a 
uniquely American approach toward collaboration. As so aptly noted by 
Alexis de Tocqueville in  Democracy in America (1835), ``In democratic 
countries knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms 
of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others.'' This 
observation strongly resonates at this moment in our history as we seek 
to combine policy opportunities with advances in collaboration made 
possible by new technologies, and an increased desire of the Nation's 
citizens to make meaningful contributions to their individual 
communities and their country.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, July 14, 1998.

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