[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 45 (Monday, November 15, 1993)]
[Pages 2329-2330]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Department of Interior and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1994

 November 11, 1993

    Today I have signed into law, H.R. 2520, the ``Department of the 
Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994.''

    H.R. 2520 provides funds for various programs of the Department of 
the Interior and Energy, the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture), 
and the Indian Health Service (Department of Health and Human Services). 
Funding for various independent agencies such as the Smithsonian 
Institution and the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities 
is also included.

    The Act provides funding to further the protection and 
rehabilitation of America's inventory of natural and cultural assets, 
including our national parks and forests.

    I am pleased that the Act includes funding in support of the Forest 
Plan for the Pacific Northwest, which will help both to begin 
implementation of ecosystem management and to offset economic 
disruptions to forest communities in Washington, Oregon, and Northern 
California.

    The Act provides funding for my proposal to establish a National 
Biological Survey. This new bureau within the Department of

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the Interior will facilitate improvement in the quality of biological 
research. Better science will result in improved decision-making in the 
management of the Nation's federally managed lands and will enable 
Federal land managers to avoid future contentious actions under the 
Endangered Species Act.

    The Act provides funding for a number of my investment proposals for 
energy conservation and fossil energy research and development. These 
investments are important for our Nation's energy future.

                                            William J. Clinton

The White House,
November 11, 1993.

Note: H.R. 2520, approved November 11, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
138.