[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 51 (Monday, December 25, 1995)]
[Pages 2199-2200]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the House of Representatives Returning Without Approval the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and 
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996

December 18, 1995

To the House of Representatives:

    I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 2099, the 
``Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and 
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996.''
    H.R. 2099 would threaten public health and the environment, end 
programs that are helping communities help themselves, close the door on 
college for thousands of young people, and leave veterans seeking 
medical care with fewer treatment options.
    The bill includes no funds for the highly successful National 
Service program. If such funding were eliminated, the bill would cost 
nearly 50,000 young Americans the opportunity to help their community, 
through AmeriCorps, to address vital local needs such as health care, 
crime prevention, and education while earning a monetary award to help 
them pursue additional education or training. I will not sign any 
version of this appropriations bill that does not restore funds for this 
vital program.
    This bill includes a 22 percent cut in requested funding for the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including a 25 percent cut in 
enforcement that would cripple EPA efforts to enforce laws against 
polluters. Particularly objectionable are the bill's 25 percent cut in 
Superfund, which would continue to expose hundreds of thousands of 
citizens to dangerous chemicals and cuts, which would hamper efforts to 
train workers in hazardous waste cleanup.
    In addition to severe funding cuts for EPA, the bill also includes 
legislative riders that were tacked onto the bill without any hearings 
or adequate public input, including one that would prevent EPA from 
exercising its authority under the Clean Water Act to prevent wetlands 
losses.
    I am concerned about the bill's $762 million reduction to my request 
for funds that would go directly to States and needy cities for clean 
water and drinking water needs, such as assistance to clean up Boston 
Harbor. I also object to cuts the Congress has made in environmental 
technology, the climate change action plan, and other environmental 
programs.
    The bill would reduce funding for the Council for Environmental 
Quality by more than half. Such a reduction would severely hamper the 
Council's ability to provide me with advice on environmental policy and 
carry out its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy 
Act.
    The bill provides no new funding for the Community Development 
Financial Institutions program, an important initiative for bringing 
credit and growth to communities long left behind.
    While the bill provides spending authority for several important 
initiatives of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 
including Community Development Block Grants, homeless assistance and 
the sale of HUD-owned properties, it lacks funding for others. For 
example, the bill provides no funds to support economic development 
initiatives; it has insufficient funds for incremental rental vouchers; 
and it cuts nearly in half my request for tearing

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down the most severely distressed housing projects. Also, the bill 
contains harmful riders that would transfer HUD's Fair Housing 
activities to the Justice Department and eliminate Federal preferences 
in the section 8, tenant-based program.
    The bill provides less than I requested for the medical care of this 
Nation's veterans. It includes significant restrictions on funding for 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that appear designed to impede him 
from carrying out his duties as an advocate for veterans. Further, the 
bill does not provide necessary funding for VA hospital construction.
    For these reasons and others my Administration has conveyed to the 
Congress in earlier communications, I cannot accept this bill. This bill 
does not reflect the values that Americans hold dear. I urge the 
Congress to send me an appropriations bill for these important 
priorities that truly serves the American people.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
December 18, 1995.