[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 39 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Pages 1876-1877]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and 
Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997

September 26, 1996

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 3666, the ``Departments of 
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent 
Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 1997.''
    The Act provides funding for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National 
Science Foundation, and several other agencies. This Act will fund vital 
environmental, veterans, housing, community development, science, and 
space programs.
    I am pleased that the Congress has responded to my call to include 
three bipartisan provisions aimed at eliminating a range of health care 
crises that thousands of Americans face every year. These include: a 
mental health parity provision that prohibits health plans from 
establishing separate lifetime and annual limits for mental health; the 
Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 that requires 
health insurers to let all new mothers and their babies stay in the 
hospital for at least 48 hours following normal deliveries; and my 
proposal to assist the children of Vietnam veterans who are born with 
the birth defect, spina bifida.
    The Act provides funding for a number of my high-priority investment 
proposals, including the Corporation for National and Community Service 
and the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund. The 
National Service initiative gives young people an opportunity to obtain 
funding for a college education while serving the country in areas of 
great need, such as education, environment, public safety, and human 
services. If Congress had provided my request, an additional 6,000 young 
Americans would have had the opportunity to help their community through 
AmeriCorps. Funding for CDFI will increase the flow of capital to 
distressed neighborhoods and their currently underserved, low-income 
residents, and provide financing for neighborhood redevelopment and 
revitalization efforts.
    The Act provides $6.7 billion for the EPA, or 4.5 percent less than 
my request and will enable the EPA to adequately enforce our 
environmental laws and provide for the continued cleanup of hazardous 
waste sites.
    I am, however, concerned about the levels provided for EPA's 
important implementation of the recently enacted safe drinking water and 
food quality legislation, continued progress on the U.S. global climate 
change Action Plan, Montreal Protocol efforts to prevent ozone layer 
depletion, and Boston Harbor clean-up. I will continue to press the 
Congress to provide more adequate funding levels for these and other 
important priorities as my Administration negotiates with the Congress 
over an omnibus appropriations bill to resolve remaining fiscal 1997 
funding issues.

[[Page 1877]]

    The Act extends several expiring provisions of last year's bill that 
are critical to HUD's ability to continue its activities, including 
demolishing and replacing the worst public housing, supporting movement 
from dependency to work, and streamlining low-income housing assistance 
and FHA mortgage insurance programs. The bill also provides the tools 
necessary to reduce the costs of section 8 renewals for FHA-insured 
properties, and fully funds my request for the Housing Opportunities for 
Persons With Aids program.
    I am pleased that the bill continues to support States and cities 
through HUD's key economic development programs--Community Development 
Block Grants, and the Home Investment Partnerships program. Funding 
provided for the Youthbuild program will help at-risk youth learn 
valuable skills, that will enable them to gain employment and break the 
cycle of poverty. The bill also provides needed capital and operating 
funds to support the sound operation of over one million public housing 
apartments.
    The Act fully funds my request for the medical care of this Nation's 
veterans and includes incremental funding for a VA hospital at Travis 
Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. I am, however, disappointed 
that the bill does not provide necessary funding for an additional 
hospital in Brevard County, Florida.
    The bill fully funds the Space Station program, and includes needed 
buyout authority for NASA as it moves to restructure itself for the 
future.
    I am concerned, however, that the bill does not provide funding for 
NASA's or EPA's contribution to the innovative GLOBE program. This 
unwarranted change of direction will adversely impact thousands of 
teachers and students in 2,000 U.S. schools and in 35 other countries 
who have invested their resources, time, and energy in this valuable 
program. I plan to press the Congress to include funding for GLOBE in 
the omnibus 1997 funding bill that my Administration is negotiating with 
the Congress.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
Septebmer 26, 1996

Note: H.R. 3666, approved September 26, was assigned Public Law No. 104-
204.