    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [January 6, 1996]
    [Pages 15-16]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 15]]

    Statement on Signing the Seventh Continuing Resolution
    January 6, 1996

        Today I have signed into law H.R. 1358, the Seventh Continuing
    Resolution for fiscal 1996, which provides funds for a long list of
    Federal activities through September 30.
        This continuing resolution builds upon H.R. 1643, which I signed
    early this morning and which put all Federal workers back on the job
    with pay from December 16 to January 26 and provided funding for a
    limited list of Federal activities.
        While both measures help to restore needed Government services, the
    Congress has not ended the partial shutdown of the Federal Government,
    nor the suffering it is causing millions of Americans and thousands of
    businesses. The shutdown continues to affect the Departments of
    Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban
    Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, and Veterans Affairs; the
    Environmental Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics and Space
    Administration; the Small Business Administration; and many smaller
    agencies.
        This bill provides full-year funding for allowances to Peace Corps
    volunteers, their spouses and minor children; activities, including
    administrative expenses, needed to process single-family mortgage loans
    and refinancing for low-income and moderate-income families; projects
    and activities directly related to the security of U.S. diplomatic posts
    and facilities abroad; the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
    emergency food and shelter program; retirement pay and medical benefits
    for Public Health Service Commissioned Officers, payments under the
    Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan and Survivor Benefit Plan
    and for the medical care of dependents and retired personnel, and
    payments to the Social Security trust funds, which the Secretary of
    Health and Human Services deemed necessary because of Commissioned
    Officer pay raises; and projects and certain activities of the Federal
    Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Organized
    Crime Drug Enforcement, Federal Prison System, U.S. Attorneys, U.S.
    Marshals Service, Support of U.S. Prisoners, Fees and Expenses of
    Witnesses, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Executive
    Office for Immigration Review.
        Also funded are projects and activities of the Judiciary; Health
    Care Financing Administration State surveys and certifications; trade
    adjustment assistance benefits and North American Free Trade Act
    benefits; payments to health care trust funds; expenses of Medicare
    contractors; grants to States for Medicaid; the general business loan
    guaranty program and section 504 certified development company program;
    surety bond guarantees revolving fund; visitors services on public lands
    managed by the Bureau of Land Management; disease control, research, and
    training; Indian self-determination and self-governance projects and
    activities of tribes or tribal organizations; expenses of the Kendall
    Demonstration Elementary School and the Model Secondary School for the
    Deaf; and payments for benefits and interest on advances, and expenses
    of operation and administration, for black lung disabilities and
    disabled coal miners.
        This measure also extends, from December 31, 1995, to June 30, 1996,
    the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1994
    and extends the San Carlos Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of
    1992 from December 31, 1995, to December 31, 1996. The bill also
    includes fisheries related provisions.
        Even with H.R. 1643 and H.R. 1358 in place, however, the Congress
    has not funded significant activities covered by the six appropriations
    bills that are not enacted. The Congress has not provided funds to help
    put 100,000 more police officers on the streets of our communities;
    funds for the States for social services and job training; funds for
    Head Start; funds to help U.S. businesses with export financing; funds
    to help the Environmental Protection Agency enforce environmental laws;
    and funds to continue the Shuttle program and other key initiatives at
    the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
        Along with denying services to our citizens, the shutdown is
    threatening the vitality of thousands of businesses which supply goods
    and services to the Federal Government under contract. The jobs of
    thousands of workers in those businesses are at risk. The longer the
    shutdown

    [[Page 16]]

    continues, the more that its effects will be felt. Clearly, this is no
    way to run the Government and deliver services and benefits to millions
    of Americans, whether they are elderly, children, students, working
    parents, or businessmen and women.
        More than 3 months into fiscal 1996, the Congress has not even sent
    me three of the six remaining, full-year appropriations bills. I vetoed
    the other three because they would have been bad for the country. Those
    bills underfunded essential programs for the environment, for veterans,
    for law enforcement, for technology, and for Native Americans.
        At this point, the Congress should work with me to reach agreement
    on these six measures. At the very least, the Congress should send me an
    acceptable continuing resolution that will fully reopen the Government
    while they work with me to find common ground on the budget.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    January 6, 1996.

    Note: H.R. 1358, to require the Secretary of Commerce to convey to the
    Commonwealth of Massachusetts the National Marine Fisheries Service
    laboratory located on Emerson Avenue in Gloucester, Massachusetts,
    approved January 6, was assigned Public Law No. 104-91.