The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

President Clinton today sent Congress a package of $2 billion in Fiscal Year 1994 spending cuts and reform measures.

The legislation would implement elements of the National Performance Review, eliminate programs that are no longer needed, trim some appropriations back to the level proposed in the President's 1994 budget, and eliminate funds for unneeded projects.

Combined with the $9 billion in National Performance Review proposals sent to Congress last week, the President has now proposed $11 billion in specific spending savings for Fiscal Years 1994-1999, combined with comprehensive procurement reforms which the Administration estimates would save another $22 billion over five years.

The 37 rescission proposals affect programs of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, State, and Transportation, the Agency for International Development, the Army Corps of Engineers, the General Services Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Information Agency. The other reforms also affect a number of agencies. The proposals include the following:

• $339 million in savings resulting from the National Performance Review, including a number for which the repeal of authorizations was included in last week's proposals (but for which the Fiscal Year 1994 rescission amount was not counted)
• elimination of the State Justice Institute and the North/South Center
• repeal of numerous micromanagement provisions contained in appropriations bills, such as minimum levels of employees for specific agencies or functions, prohibitions on reorganizing agencies, and a provision limiting flexibility for the U.S./Russian cooperative space program
• rescissions of $601 million from military construction funding not requested in the President's budget
• rescission of the $126 million that was appropriated more than the amount requested by the Administration for the General Services Administration Federal buildings fund
• rescissions of $139 million from Department of Energy programs for unneeded nuclear reactor research and development
• rescissions of amounts for totally unauthorized highway projects and earmarked water projects, with flexibility for the Congress to rescind funds for specific projects or other funds in the same areas
• rescissions of $52 million in mass transit funds that have remained unobligated since Fiscal Year 1991 or prior years, to ensure that projects for which the money was intended are still appropriate.

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