Richard Shelby: “today with my distinguished ranking member, Senator Kerrey, I bring before the Senate the Appropriations Committee…”

“today with my distinguished ranking member, Senator Kerrey, I bring before the Senate the Appropriations Committee recommendations on fiscal year 1997 appropriations for the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President and certain independent agencies. The bill we are presenting today contains total funding of $23,487,761,000. This bill is $324,007,000 above the appropriations provided in fiscal year 1996. The mandatory accounts make up $320,850,000 of this increase. In other words, this bill is $3,157,000 in discretionary spending above the fiscal year 1996 level. Of the totals in this bill we are recommending $11,291,000,000 for new discretionary spending. The $11,291,000,000 the committee proposes for domestic discretionary programs is $1.354 billion below the President's request. Let me repeat that, Mr. President. This bill is $1.354 billion below the President's fiscal year 1997 request. The fiscal year 1996 bill was $1.8 billion below the President's request. That is a reduction of $3.15 billion below what the President requested in 2 years. Reaching this level has not been an easy task. We have had to make some very difficult decisions, while trying to ensure that funds are made available to carry out essential Government services.”