[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[Pages 2024-2025]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Energy and Water Development Appropriations 
Act, 1996

November 13, 1995

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 1905, the ``Energy and Water 
Development Appropriations Act, 1996.''
    I urge the Congress to complete action on the remaining regular FY 
1996 appropriations bills and to send them to me in an acceptable form. 
Last year, the Congress had sent--and I had signed--all 13 
appropriations bills by September 30th. Regrettably, this is only the 
third bill that I have been able to sign for this fiscal year.
    The Act provides $19.3 billion in budgetary resources for programs 
of the Department of Energy, portions of the Departments of Interior and 
Defense, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several smaller agencies. 
While the bill does not fully fund my budget requests in a number of 
programs, the bill provides important funding for many major programs in 
these agencies.
    The bill supports the Administration's proposal to reinvent the 
Department of Energy to improve the way it serves the American people. 
The bill provides $6.1 billion for a critical environmental mission to 
continue working cooperatively with States and all other interested 
stakeholders to clean up the Department's former weapons production 
facilities. The bill also fully funds my request for the Department of 
Energy's Stockpile Stewardship and Management program, assuring the 
safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear 
testing. In addition, the bill provides full funding for one of my key 
science initiatives to enhance the operation and availability of the 
Department of Energy's science facilities, giving more researchers 
access to these facilities to conduct more basic and applied research. 
This is a modest investment that will leverage a significant return from 
the scientific community.

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    The enrolled bill provides $4.0 billion for water resources programs 
at the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation--98 percent of 
the amount I requested. At the same time, the Congress added 14 
unrequested Corps of Engineers new start construction projects that will 
require over $1.1 billion in total Federal funds to complete, 
potentially causing delays in ongoing projects. I look forward to 
maintaining a dialogue with the Congress to formulate a mutually 
acceptable reinvention strategy for the Corps of Engineers.
    I am particularly pleased that the Congress satisfactorily resolved 
sensitive language issues that the Administration was concerned about, 
including some cases in which language contained in earlier versions of 
the bill would have overridden environmental laws.
    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 13, 1995.

Note: H.R. 1905, approved November 13, was assigned Public Law No. 104-
46.