Statement on Signing the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1989

July 19, 1988

Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4567, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1989. I want to take this opportunity to commend the Congress for two reasons: first, the responsible speed with which they produced this bill; and second, for keeping funding contained in this Act at acceptable levels.

The Energy and Water bill was presented to me earlier than any other appropriations bill during my two terms in office. During the past several years appropriations bills have been enacted as part of omnibus continuing resolutions. As I noted in my State of the Union address earlier this year, the use of such patched-together, multi-purpose spending bills does not permit the Legislative and Executive branches to exercise proper scrutiny of government spending. In contrast, this bill has been submitted in a manner to allow thorough review by all participants in the budget process. The public interest is best served when budget laws are enacted individually, after careful deliberation over the spending measures by members of Congress and the President, and well before the crisis atmosphere sets in at the end of the fiscal year in September. I therefore strongly urge the Congress to complete consideration of the remaining 12 appropriations bills and to transmit them to me in a timely manner as well.

The funding provided by this Act totals $18.0 billion in budget authority and $17.8 billion in outlays. These funding levels do not exceed the amounts I requested in my budget while fully funding the essential requests for atomic energy defense activities. This action by the Congress is consistent with the plan for 2-year budget reductions, the Bipartisan Budget Agreement, that members of my Administration developed with the leaders of the Congress. I encourage the Congress to work with me to ensure that all remaining spending legislation complies with this agreement.

Ronald Reagan

The White House,

July 19, 1988.

Note: H.R. 4567, approved July 19, was assigned Public Law No. 100 - 371. The statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 20.