Environment - Appropriations Bill Riders

Appropriations Bill Riders

Letter to President Clinton on Proposed Environmental Riders
September 28, 1998

The Honorable William J. Clinton
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to let you know of our deep concern and strong opposition to the numerous anti-environmental riders attached to several of this year's appropriations bills in both the House and Senate. We appreciate your opposition to these assaults on public health, on public lands, and on the public treasury. We ask that you hold firm in your opposition to them, and carry out your promises to veto appropriations bills if these objectionable riders remain in them.

Anti-environmental riders have been inserted into several different appropriations bills this year, riders that affect the full range of environmental issues--from protection of public lands to exposure of children to toxic chemicals. Although not all of us agree on the substantive issues involved in all of the riders, we agree that these questions should not be resolved in this way. In many cases, the riders appear to be deliberate efforts to evade committee review and floor debate. The riders that have come to a vote attracted substantial opposition.

Resisting these backdoor proposals to weaken our environmental laws is critically important for our children and for our nation's future. We must support the public interest in these matters, and not allow the narrow interests of those who seek special exemptions or subsidies to erode the quality of our public lands or the quality of our people's lives. We appreciate that you have already noted the Administration's opposition to them throughout the appropriations process, and we urge you to veto bills that contain objectionable riders. We thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Gephardt
David E. Bonior
Maurice D. Hinchey
George Miller
Henry A. Waxman
Elizabeth Furse
Frank Pallone, Jr.

and 149 other Representatives