    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [July 26, 1995]
    [Page 1152]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Senate Action on Appropriations Legislation
    July 26, 1995

        Yesterday's action by a Senate appropriations subcommittee removing
    funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy would seriously
    undermine the Nation's battle against drug abuse and drug-related crime.
        Removal of all funding for this office would severely curtail my
    ability to sustain a coordinated strategy among some 50 Federal agencies
    involved in drug control, including supply and demand, enforcement,
    interdiction, eradication, education, treatment, and prevention. Just
    when this coordinated effort is showing sustained success, the
    subcommittee is proposing we go back to the days when the Nation did not
    have a coordinated drug control strategy.
        The Republican majority is already proposing severe cuts in antidrug
    programs--a 60 percent cut in safe and drug-free schools, which teaches
    39 million children about the dangers of drugs; a 26 percent cut in
    prevention and treatment services aimed at reducing the number of
    potential criminals; and a 50 percent cut in international antidrug
    cooperation programs, a cut that could prevent the continued arrests of
    the world's top drug kingpins.
        Members of Congress cannot tie our hands by cutting effective
    antidrug programs, kill the very office that coordinates our national
    antidrug strategy, and then expect to be taken seriously when they
    criticize the administration for not doing more. It's time instead for
    the Congress to support our antidrug initiatives.
        Lee Brown, Director of the ONDCP, is doing an extraordinary job
    focusing the Nation's attention on the need to fight drugs at all
    levels. He has helped me develop a comprehensive, effective, balanced
    antidrug strategy and has worked to reduce duplication among those
    agencies who play a role in our counternarcotics efforts.
        As this bill is now constructed, I will not sign it. I urge the full
    Appropriations Committee and the Senate to restore the funding of this
    office that is so critical to our battle against drugs.