George Bush photo

Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5482 - Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992

August 07, 1992

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House)
(Owens (D) NY)

The Administration strongly supports reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act and is pleased that H.R. 5482 contains key Administration initiatives. The bill, as ordered reported, includes the Administration's proposals for: (1) the development and implementation of evaluation standards and performance indicators for the Title I basic State grant program; (2) a new grant program to demonstrate ways to increase client choice of rehabilitation services and providers; and (3) new business partnership demonstration grants to promote employment of underemployed workers with disabilities.

The Administration does not object to House passage of H.R. 5482, but will continue to work with the Congress to address serious concerns with the overall prescriptiveness of the bill and its unnecessary new mandates. For example, such provisions would:

—   Create two commissions that would consist of some members appointed by the President and a majority appointed by congressional leaders. Although the commissions' functions appear to be merely advisory, creation of commissions that are not clearly executive, legislative, or judicial is contrary to the constitutional separation of powers. Moreover, the contemplated activities could be conducted more efficiently under existing authorities within the Department of Education (ED) or the National Council on Disability.

—   Establish prescriptive new program mandates that would limit ED's ability to direct resources to areas of greatest need. H.R. 5482 would require ED to fund projects in specific areas under the Special Demonstrations and Training authorities and to award a minimum number of grants in these areas. Similarly, the bill would earmark one percent of funds in Titles 11-VII for outreach activities directed at specific colleges and universities.

—   Direct resources to individuals or institutions based on race.

Scoring for Purposes of Pay-As-You-Go and Caps

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA) requires that all revenue and direct spending legislation meet a pay-as- you-go requirement. Under this requirement, any changes to such legislation that would result in increased spending must be fully offset to avoid a sequester. Most programs authorized in this bill are funded in the Rehabilitation Services account, which is classified as mandatory under the Budget Enforcement Act. However, because of the structure of these authorizations, this bill would not, by itself, require an increase or decrease in direct spending. Thus, considered alone, this bill meets the pay-as-you-go requirement of OBRA because the pay-as-you-go effect is zero.

At the time FY 1993 appropriations are enacted, any appropriations in excess of the baseline level for the Rehabilitation Services account will be scored against the domestic discretionary cap. If total appropriations for the account are below the baseline, they will be scored as savings to the domestic cap.

George Bush, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5482 - Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/330379

Simple Search of Our Archives