[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[September 30, 1994]
[Pages 1672-1673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Treasury, Postal Service and General Government 
Appropriations Act, 1995
September 30, 1994

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 4539, the ``Treasury, Postal 
Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1995.''
    The Act provides a total of $11.6 billion in discretionary budget 
authority for various programs in 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.
    I am pleased that the Act appropriates $39 million from the Violent 
Crime Reduction Trust Fund to several Treasury agencies to fight crime 
and promote gang resistance programs.
    The Act also provides important funding for the United States 
Customs Service to support the commitments made to enhance the 
enforcement of trade laws and regulations related to NAFTA. This 
initiative remains an Administration priority.
    This Act funds the IRS tax compliance initiative, which is essential 
in ensuring that everyone pays his or her fair share of their Federal 
taxes. This initiative is expected to have deficit-reducing potential by 
strengthening audit and debt collection activities, thereby generating 
additional revenue without raising taxes.
    Several other provisions in H.R. 4539 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 such provisions to require 
notification only, since any other interpretation of such provisos would 
contradict the Supreme Court ruling in INS vs. Chadha.
    Regrettably, the Congress has continued its past practice of 
including personnel floors and other restrictions in several of the 
Treasury agencies funded by the enrolled bill. Such measures run counter 
to our efforts to reduce the

[[Page 1673]]

number of Federal employees, as recommended by the National Performance 
Review and mandated in the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994. 
These restrictions would exclude over 20,000 Treasury employees from 
reduction, thereby imposing a greater burden on other agencies. While we 
have made a start on deficit reduction, we cannot fully achieve our 
goals without making reductions in the Federal workforce, fairly 
apportioned among all departments and agencies.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,
September 30, 1994.

Note: H.R. 4539, approved September 30, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
329. This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 1.