[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 43 (Monday, October 26, 1998)]
[Page 2077]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999

October 17, 1998

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 4103, the ``Department of Defense 
Appropriations Act, 1999.''
    Our military readiness must remain our top national security 
priority. This Act fully funds many of the Department's critical 
readiness programs and supports our commitments to a better quality of 
life for our military personnel and their families. I anticipate that 
the Congress shortly will act to include the emergency funds necessary 
for our ongoing participation in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia in a 
supplemental funding bill. I strongly urge them to do so. In addition, 
as I have said before, I believe we should examine near-term and long-
term options to secure additional funds to address critical readiness 
shortfalls.
    While the Act funds a number of modernization priorities, I have 
expressed my strong concerns that this legislation contains excessive 
funding for projects that are not currently needed for our Nation's 
defense at the expense of higher priority programs.
    I am concerned about section 8115 of the Act, which forbids the 
obligation or expenditure of appropriated funds under this Act for any 
additional deployment of U.S. Armed Forces to the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Albania, or Macedonia until after 
transmittal of a burdensome report to the Congress on the deployment. 
Consistent with the plain language of section 8115 and the intent of the 
Congress, I shall interpret it to apply only to the deployment of 
additional ground forces to one or more of the three countries. Further, 
I shall interpret and implement section 8115 consistent with my 
constitutional authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United 
States and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive, and not in a 
manner that would encumber my constitutional authority.
    I will continue to work with the Congress on the appropriate level 
of long-term funding for defense in order to adequately address the 
Nation's security needs.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 17, 1998.

Note: H.R. 4103, approved October 17, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
262.