[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[October 28, 1993]
[Pages 1855-1856]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Treasury, Postal Service, and General 
Government Appropriations Act, 1994
October 28, 1993

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 2403, the ``Treasury, Postal 
Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1994.''
    This Act provides funding for the Department of the Treasury, the 
U.S. Postal Service, the General Services Administration, the Office of 
Personnel Management, the Executive Office of the President, and several 
smaller agencies. Programs within these agencies address major law 
enforcement activities in the United States as well as the fiscal 
operations and general management functions of the Federal Government.
    This Act provides funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax 
system modernization initiative and the tax law enforcement initiative. 
These initiatives are part of my investment program that was transmitted 
in the FY 1994 Budget. The investment in modernizing IRS will improve 
service to taxpayers, increase the productivity of IRS operations, and 
increase tax compliance. The tax law enforcement initiative will provide 
IRS with resources to address serious tax compliance problems and 
increase revenue collections.
    This Act also contains a provision that would implement, on a pilot 
basis, the recommendation made by the National Performance Review (NPR) 
that would allow up to 50 percent of an agency's unobligated funding for 
salaries and expenses at the end of FY 1994 to be carried forward to FY 
1995. The authority is limited to agencies covered by this bill. Of the 
50 percent carry-over, up to two percent of the funds may be used to 
finance cash awards to employees whose actions contributed to producing 
the savings, and up to three percent may be used for employee training 
programs.
    As requested by the Administration, this Act eliminates a long-
standing restriction on the use of Federal Employee Health Benefit 
program funds for eligible persons seeking abortions.
    Several provisions in H.R. 2403 condition the President's 
authority--and the authority of certain agency officials--to use funds 
appropriated by this Act on the approval of congressional committees. 
The Administration will interpret

[[Page 1856]]

such provisions to require notification only, since any other 
interpretation of such provisos would contradict the Supreme Court 
ruling in INS vs. Chadha.
    The Act contains a prohibition on the implementation of the NPR 
recommendation to transfer the functions of the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms to the Department of Justice. Because this 
prohibition is representative of the kind of restriction cited by the 
NPR as counterproductive to efficient government operations, I will work 
with the Congress to lift it.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,
October 28, 1993.

Note: H.R. 2403, approved October 28, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
123. This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 29.