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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 19, 1995

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today I took concrete steps to put the government back to work for the American people.

I have signed the Treasury-Postal and Legislative Branch appropriations bills. In addition, the Department of Defense is recalling to work the people who staff Armed Forces Recruiting Centers. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development is recalling employees who process public housing funds.

Last Friday, I took steps that resulted in furloughed employees being recalled to work to process Social Security and Medicare claims and accept applications for veterans benefits. Earlier in the week, I signed the funding bill for the Department of Transportation. All told, these actions bring back to work over 200,000 of the 800,000 federal employees who were furloughed last week.

These bipartisan bills mark real progress in our efforts to fully reopen the government so it can serve the American people. I am determined that we should fully reopen the government. Then we can openly and fairly decide the best way to balance the federal budget while protecting Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment.

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