[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[November 20, 1995]
[Pages 1775-1776]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Treasury, Postal Service, and General 
Government Appropriations Act, 1996
November 20, 1995

    Last night I signed into law H.R. 2020, the ``Treasury, Postal 
Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1996.''
    The Act provides a total of $11.3 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. With this legislation enacted into law, over 140,000 
furloughed employees were able to go back to work.
    I am pleased that a provision contained in an earlier version of the 
bill, which would have limited the political advocacy rights of non-
profit organizations that receive Federal funding, was removed from the 
bill. This unacceptable provision would have presented a broad attack on 
the exercise of fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment.
    Regrettably, the Congress has not funded the Internal Revenue 
Service at a sufficient level to ensure the kind of service that the 
taxpayers deserve. I am disappointed that the Congress eliminated the FY 
1995 funding of $405 million for the compliance initiative as it creates 
serious risks to the levels of tax compliance. At the very least, this 
action is expected to result in the loss of additional revenue over the 
next five years. Major compliance cuts send the wrong signal and reward 
tax cheats. The Internal Revenue Service's FY 1996 funding level is not 
consistent with the efforts of the Administration and the Congress to 
balance the Federal budget.

[[Page 1776]]

    Again, I urge the Congress to meet its responsibilities by sending 
me the remaining regular FY 1996 appropriations bills in acceptable 
form.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,

November 20, 1995.

Note: H.R. 2020, approved November 19, was assigned Public Law No. 104-
52.