Bill Clinton: “Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Legislation October 21, 1998 To the House of Representatives: I am returning…”

“Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Legislation October 21, 1998 To the House of Representatives: I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 1757, the ``Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998''. I take this action for several reasons, most importantly, because the Congress has included in this legislation unacceptable restrictions on international family planning programs and threatened our leadership in the world community by tying our payment of dues to the United Nations and other international organizations to these unrelated family planning issues. Current law, with which Administration policy is fully consistent, already prohibits the use of Federal funds to pay for abortion abroad and for lobbying on abortion issues. This bill would go beyond those limits. One provision would deny U.S. Government funding for family planning programs carried out by foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that use their own funds to perform abortions even though the overall result of these NGO family planning programs is to reduce the incidence of abortion. Although the bill allows the President to waive this restriction, use of the waiver would also cripple many programs by limiting annual spending for international family planning to $356 million, $44 million below the amount available for Fiscal Year 1998.…”