THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

     Making Bipartisan Progress On The Budget:  The President Signs
        VA/HUD/Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill Into Law

                            October 20, 1999

Demonstrating that progress can be made through bipartisan cooperation and agreement on spending priorities and acceptable offsets, President Clinton today will sign into law the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2000. In order to reach a successful resolution, the Administration identified priorities and provided resources to pay for them -- consistent with the President's commitment to fiscal discipline. This legislation, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis between the Administration and Congress, provides $69.4 billion for these agencies in fiscal year 2000, an increase of $2.8 billion from fiscal year 1999. It maintains America's commitment to veterans, housing and science and technology programs, supports critical investments that empower communities, improves environmental clean-up, and promotes key research in space and science programs.

Highlights of bipartisan progress in the bill include:

Empowering Communities and Providing Affordable Housing. President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to tapping the potential of America's urban and rural communities. This budget will help revitalize our nation's communities so that all American's share in the economic prosperity by:

• Funding 60,000 New Housing Vouchers for America's Hard-Pressed Working Families. The bill includes $347 million for 60,000 new housing vouchers for low-income families. The President's budget had requested 100,000 new vouchers (building on last year's level of 50,000) and the House and Senate-passed bills had approved zero funding. These vouchers will subsidize the rents of America's hard-pressed working families and enable families to move closer to economic opportunities. This is particularly important in a booming economy where about two-thirds of new jobs are being created in the suburbs far from where many low-income families live. Families with such vouchers pay about a third of their income in rent, with the vouchers paying the remainder of the cost. Last year, the President secured the first new housing vouchers in four years.
• Creating American Private Investment Companies (APICS) -- Part Of The President's New Markets Initiative. The bill includes $20 million in funding (if authorized) for America's Private Investment Companies, a key element of the President's New Markets Initiative that would leverage up to $800 million dollars of new investment in America's underserved communities. The President requested $37 million for APICs -- the House and Senate-passed bills included no funding.
• Continuing To Build A Network Of Community Development Banks Across The Nation. The bill included $95 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund that will expand the capacity of the network of community development financial institutions across the country, spurring the flow of capital to distressed neighborhoods and low-income residents. The President's budget requested $125 million for the CDFI Fund -- the House appropriated $70 million and the Senate appropriated $80 million. These added resources bring funding up to FY99 levels.
• Additional Funding For Empowerment Zones. The bill provides $70 million in funding for Rural/Urban Empowerment Zones. The President's budget requested $165 million for next year -- the House and Senate bills included no funding. All of the Urban and rural EZs (20 Zones) and rural enterprise communities (20 ECs) that were designated by the Vice President in January 1999 as Round II zones will receive funding.
• Expanding Rent Subsidies For Low-Income Families. The bill includes $10.8 billion for the renewal of all Section 8 contracts, an increase of $1.2 billion from FY 1999. This will ensure continuation of HUD rental subsidies for low-income tenants in privately-owned housing. In addition, the bill includes expansion of funding for affordable housing for the elderly and disabled by $911 million, $57 million above FY 1999, enabling 150,000 people to have affordable housing. Also included was a Housing Security Plan for older Americans that recognizes the dramatic increase in our elderly population and the changing housing needs that accompany this demographic shift.
• HUD Fair Housing. The budget includes $44 million for efforts to fight housing discrimination, a $4 million increase from last year's enacted level, as part of his "One America" initiative.

IMPROVING HEALTH CARE FOR VETERANS. The bill provides $19.8 billion for the medical care of our nation's veterans. This funding will help improve the quality of veteran's medical care and cut down on waiting times consistent with the President and Vice-President's commitment to improving access and delivery of veteran's medical services. Funding provided in this bill will improve service and allow for the provision of a range of home and community-based care for those high priority veterans who do not have access to such services, and provides resources for the aggressive testing and treatment of Hepatitis C.

Investing in Space and Science. The bill increases the nation's investment in scientific discovery and education, which has helped fuel our remarkable economic growth for the past decade.

• NASA - Investing in Our Future. The bill includes $13.7 billion for NASA, an additional $100 million. This funding levels passed by the House would have cut the NASA budget by almost $1 billion. These investments offer the potential of new scientific breakthroughs through an aggressive robotic series of exploration missions into the solar system, as well as enhancing our ability to monitor important changes in the earth's climate system, and strengthening aviation safety for the travelling public.
• NSF - Strengthening Our Commitment to Research and Education in Science and Engineering. The bill includes an additional of $45 million for the National Science Foundation, the only agency that supports research in all science and engineering disciplines, for a total of $3.9 billion. The bill provides $126 million for the President's "Information Technology for the 21st Century" Initiative, consistent with the recommendations of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. This investment is critical, since the information technology sector accounts for 1/3 of U.S. economic growth, and is generating jobs that pay almost 80 percent more than the private sector average.

Keeping Community Service Strong. The bill includes $438.5 million for AmeriCorps, funding that will support nearly 50,000 AmeriCorps members in their community service projects across the country. This funding level is roughly at the last year's level; the President will continue to push for an expansion of AmeriCorps so that 100,000 members can serve every year and so that more of our young people can give back to their communities through service.

Boosting Funding For Natural Disasters Such As Hurricane Floyd. So that FEMA can continue its efforts to help victims of Hurricane Floyd, the bill includes $2.5 billion in contingent emergency funds, along with the $821 million appropriated, to ensure that the country is well-prepared to deal with unforeseen natural disasters.

Investing in Cleaner Environment. The bill also includes investments for improving water pollution and speeding up toxic cleanups. - The bill includes $630 million for the Clean Water Action Plan, a five-year initiative to help communities and farmers clean up almost 40 percent of America's surveyed waterways still too polluted for fishing and swimming. In addition, the budget provides $820 million for Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, $45 million above the House passed bill which would have frozen funds at last year's levels.

• The bill includes $1.4 billion for Superfund to keep the program on track to meet the President's goal of 900 site cleanups by 2002.

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