This bill does not meet the priorities and needs of our Nation and people.

You should report to me in writing by March 31, 1996, on the specific steps you will take to implement this policy.

We can and will continue to prosecute and convict these criminal drug users.

Continued drug use is unacceptable.

We owe that to the American people.

Once they've been arrested, we must stop them from repeating their crimes.

Too often, the same criminal drug users cycle through the court, corrections, and probation systems still hooked on drugs and still committing crimes to support their habit.

It cuts funding of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities so deeply as to jeopardize their capacity to keep providing the cultural, educational, and artistic programs that enrich America's communities large and small.

I am eager to work with the Congress to reach agreement on a balanced budget plan.

Illegal drugs plague our communities, causing despair and illness, and, most importantly, contributing significantly to unacceptable levels of crime and violence.

The Federal criminal justice system should serve as a model for State criminal justice systems.

It is wrong for the Congress to shut the Government down just to make a political point the week before Christmas.

The cycle must be broken.

We can't tolerate a revolving door of criminal drug abusers in our system.

I am also directing you to take all appropriate steps to encourage States to adopt and implement the same policies that we are initiating at the Federal level.

This is short-sighted and unwise.

I'm proud of our antidrug strategy.

I cannot permit it to happen.