Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 925 - Private Property Protection Act

(House and Senate)
(Canady (R) FL)

The Administration strongly supports private property rights, and is continuing to implement regulatory reforms that will provide relief to property owners.

However, H.R.. 925, as reported by the Committee on the Judiciary, would impose — without regard for the government's important role in protecting the general welfare — an arbitrary compensation requirement for reductions in property values attributable to regulatory and other actions by Federal agencies. This unacceptable and extreme requirement would: (1) seriously undermine the Federal Government's ability to protect the general welfare; (2) impose an almost unlimited fiscal burden upon the American taxpayer; (3) create a potentially costly new direct spending program, as well as a new and costly Federal bureaucracy to evaluate compensation claims; and (4) supplant 200 years of constitutional jurisprudence under the Fifth Amendment.

For these reasons, the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 925. The Administration is prepared to work with Congress to provide relief that does not impose new burdens upon the American taxpayer; create new bureaucracies or costly direct spending programs; or threaten the public welfare.

Pay-As-You-Go Scoring

H.R. 925 would affect direct spending; therefore, it would be subject to the pay-as-you-go requirements of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. Preliminary estimates indicate that the effect of the bill would be to increase the deficit by at least several billion dollars during FYs 1995-1998.

The bill does not contain provisions to offset the increased deficit spending. Therefore, if the bill were enacted, its deficit effects would contribute to a sequester of mandatory programs. Such a sequester would force automatic reductions in medicare, veterans' readjustment benefits, various programs providing grants to States, child support administration, farmer income and price support payments, agricultural export promotion, student loan assistance, foster care and adoption assistance, and vocational rehabilitation.

This estimate is based on a preliminary analysis and is likely to increase as agencies analyze the bill's full effect; thus, final scoring of this legislation may deviate from this estimate.