Statement on Signing the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1996

Last night I signed into law H.R. 2020, the "Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations Act, 1996."

The Act provides a total of $11.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for various programs in the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Service, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Executive Office of the President, and several smaller agencies. With this legislation enacted into law, over 140,000 furloughed employees were able to go back to work.

I am pleased that a provision contained in an earlier version of the bill, which would have limited the political advocacy rights of non-profit organizations that receive Federal funding, was removed from the bill. This unacceptable provision would have presented a broad attack on the exercise of fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment.

Regrettably, the Congress has not funded the Internal Revenue Service at a sufficient level to ensure the kind of service that the taxpayers deserve. I am disappointed that the Congress eliminated the FY 1995 funding of $405 million for the compliance initiative as it creates serious risks to the levels of tax compliance. At the very least, this action is expected to result in the loss of additional revenue over the next five years. Major compliance cuts send the wrong signal and reward tax cheats. The Internal Revenue Service's FY 1996 funding level is not consistent with the efforts of the Administration and the Congress to balance the Federal budget.

Again, I urge the Congress to meet its responsibilities by sending me the remaining regular FY 1996 appropriations bills in acceptable form.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

The White House, November 20, 1995.