Clinton threatens veto of key agency funding bill

The House Appropriations Committee Tuesday approved a $14.4 billion bill funding the Treasury Department, the Postal Service and other federal agencies, but the Clinton administration immediately threatened a veto, saying the measure underfunds critical agency needs.

The bill represents a $700 million increase over fiscal 2000 funding, but Treasury-Postal Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., lamented the "very tight" allocation panel members were forced to work under as "in many ways inadequate to do the job."

In a letter to Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew threatened a veto, and criticized the appropriations process in general.

"Across the appropriations bills, there is a pattern of underfunding core government operations such as air safety, park maintenance, and the administration of Social Security and Medicare," Lew wrote. "The [Treasury-Postal] bill continues this pattern by underfunding the IRS, counterterrorism programs, presidential transition expenses, and necessary construction and repair of federal buildings."

The bill includes:

• $13.2 billion for the Treasury Department, an increase of $873 million over fiscal 2000 but some $872 million less than the President requested, with much of that reduction targeted at the Internal Revenue Service.
• $731 million for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an increase of $166 million over fiscal 2000 but some $66 million less than the President requested.
• $8.5 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, an increase of $261.5 million over fiscal 2000 but still $465 million below the President's request.
• $1.8 billion for the U.S. Customs Service, an increase of $123 million over fiscal 2000 but $66 million short of what the President requested.
• $656.5 million for White House executive offices, about the same as current-year funds but some $45 million less than requested by the President.
• $152 million for the General Services Administration, a $718 million reduction from what the President requested thanks to a moratorium on new construction projects.

Several measures affecting federal employees were also included in the bill:

• Reauthorized funding for a law that allows federal agencies to subsidize child-care for lower-income employees. The child care legislation was included in last year's budget as a one-year pilot program and has been extended for another year.
• A repeal next year of the the 0.5 percent retirement contribution increase imposed on federal employees as a budget-reduction tactic. The temporary increase in employee contributions began in January 1999 and is currently not scheduled to end until 2002.
• A requirement that providers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan continue to cover prescription contraceptives, as currently required by law.
• Delayed establishment of a Chief Financial Officer within the White House until 2001.

This story was compiled from reports in CongressDaily and National Journal News Service.