President Clinton welcomed members of Congress back from their Memorial Day recess with a statement at the White House demanding movement on a variety of measures that had been included in the fiscal 2000 supplemental spending bill sent to Capitol Hill earlier this year.
Clinton listed a variety of consequences stemming from Congress' failure to act on the measures, which GOP leaders have decided to incorporate into the regular order spending bills.
The President said the lack of supplemental funding for U.S. operations in Kosovo put American troops at risk. "Delaying this funding may force the Army to put off regular maintenance of tanks and other weaponry, or even to cancel combat exercises crucial to the readiness of our troops around the world," he said.
Clinton also said inadequate funding for air traffic control operations could lead to flight delays over the summer, and called attention to the depleted funds available for summer energy assistance and difficulties in the ongoing drug war in Colombia. Such problems could have been lessened had Congress appropriated the requested funds sooner, in Clinton's view.
"The emergency spending bill should have been passed months ago," Clinton said. "Let's do it now, so that we can move on to other pressing business that we can and should pass this summer."