[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[June 17, 1997]
[Page 760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Legislation
June 17, 1997

    I am pleased to have signed into law H.R. 1871, the ``1997 Emergency 
Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from Natural Disasters, and 
for Overseas Peacekeeping Efforts, Including Those in Bosnia.''
    This bill provides over $5.8 billion so that Federal agencies can 
help the hundreds of thousands of people who have suffered terribly from 
the flooding and other natural disasters that have ravaged the Dakotas, 
Minnesota, California, and 29 other States. The bill also provides $1.8 
billion to replenish Department of Defense accounts in connection with 
our peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Southwest Asia, and to assure 
that the Department can maintain maximum readiness of the troops.
    With regard to the funds described above, I hereby designate as 
emergency requirements all funds in this Act so designated by the 
Congress that I have not previously designated pursuant to section 
251(b)(2)(D)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act 
of 1985, as amended.
    I commend the Congress for approving my request to extend 
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid benefits through the end 
of fiscal 1997 to all legal immigrants who would otherwise lose them. 
This approach ensures that the Congress has the time to restore SSI and 
Medicaid benefits for disabled legal immigrants, consistent with the 
recent Bipartisan Budget Agreement.
    I am disappointed that the Congress chose to include several 
objectionable items that I identified in my veto message of June 9. 
Funding included in the bill for the Commission for the Advancement of 
Federal Law Enforcement not only will waste valuable Federal resources 
but also could interfere with Federal law enforcement policy and 
operations. As I indicated in my veto message, this type of oversight is 
more properly the role of the Congress, not an unelected commission.
    I am also disappointed that the Congress chose to rescind funds for 
the Ounce of Prevention Council and the Department of Defense Dual-Use 
Applications Program. The Council will be forced to reduce the level of 
grants for youth substance abuse prevention, for which about 300 
applications are under review. The reduction in the Dual-Use 
Applications program will result in higher costs of future defense 
systems.
    On balance, however, this bill is a vast improvement over the 
legislation that I vetoed on June 9. It includes the desperately needed 
resources for our Nation's hard-hit areas, but it does not include 
extraneous riders that had nothing to do with the goal of providing 
disaster relief. I am pleased that my Administration and the Congress 
worked together in a bipartisan fashion.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,

June 17, 1997.

Note: H.R. 1871, approved June 12, was assigned Public Law No. 105-18.