House Republican appropriations leaders are raising concerns about new supplemental spending requests they believe President Clinton is preparing to send to Congress.
Speaker-designate Bob Livingston, R-La., and Appropriations Chairman-designate Bill Young, R-Fla., Thursday sent Clinton a letter saying they are troubled that the administration may attempt to designate additional spending as "emergencies" outside the spending caps. Those supplemental requests may include an additional $250 million for the International Monetary Fund, almost $2 billion for the Mideast peace process and $233 million for Hurricane Mitch disaster relief.
"However, with the exception of the $233 million for Hurricane Mitch, we are unsure your requests fit the definition of true emergencies," the House leaders said in the letter.
In addition, the leaders reaffirmed the so-called "Livingston Rule," which states that appropriators are "not bound to fund any commitments about which we have not been consulted in advance." They said that unless the administration consults congressional leadership on international commitments, "we may be forced to include a congressional consultation requirement in law."
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