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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release June 9, 1997

Today the President forwarded to the Congress a package of FY 1998 budget amendments to adjust his pending budget requests, as presented in the FY 1998 Budget, to be consistent with the recently negotiated Bipartisan Budget Agreement between the President and the Leadership of Congress:

The package would:

Restructure the Administration's request for emergency disaster funding. The pending FY 1998 $5.8 billion request for the contingent emergency reserve fund within Funds Appropriated to the President would be withdrawn. The FY 1998 funding request for the Federal Emergency Management Activity would be reduced by $2.4 billion and, instead, these funds are requested as an FY 1997 supplemental.
Shift funding requested for fixed capital assets for the Department of Energy ($62 million), the Department of the Interior ($15 million), and the Army Corps of Engineers ($331 million) from full, up-front funding in FY 1998 to advance appropriations as needed for obligation during FY 1999 through FY 2002.
Increase funding for priority programs, including $700 million for the Department of the Interior's Priority Federal Land Acquisitions and Exchanges, and $22 million for Amtrak. The obligation limitation for highway programs would be increased by $2 billion, and the obligation limitation for mass transit programs would be increased by $105 million.
Pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Agreement, shift funding for the Third Grade Literacy initiatives from mandatory to discretionary spending. A request for $260 million in discretionary funding is included in the President's transmittal.
Make technical appropriations language adjustments required to implement user fees for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration.

The President also provided his priorities for how the additional funding assumed in the Bipartisan Budget Agreement for national defense should be allocated, and urged the Congress not to reduce protected domestic programs needed for America's future.

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