[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 42 (Monday, October 20, 1997)]
[Page 1566]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Energy and Water Development Appropriations 
Act, 1998

October 13, 1997

    I have today signed into law H.R. 2203, the ``Energy and Water 
Development Appropriations Act, 1998,'' which provides $20.7 billion in 
discretionary budget authority for the discretionary programs of the 
Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of the Interior's Bureau of 
Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several smaller agencies.
    The Act provides necessary funding to continue DOE's commitment to 
ensuring the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile and 
DOE's investment in developing advanced renewable energy technologies. 
The Act also provides essential funding to develop and protect the 
Nation's environmental resources.
    I hereby declare $5 million from the Construction General account of 
the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of an emergency outlet 
for Devils Lake, North Dakota, as an emergency requirement pursuant to 
section 251(b)(2)(D)(I) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
Control Act of 1985, as amended.
    I urge the Congress to complete action on the remaining FY 1998 
appropriations bills as quickly as possible, and to send them to me in 
an acceptable form.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 13, 1997.

Note: H.R. 2203, approved October 13, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
62.