[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16999-S17000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DISCUSSIONS ON THE PRESIDENT'S TRIP TO ISRAEL

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me add another point that I think is 
important. It has been discussed over the weekend again, and for the 
life of me I cannot understand how this got started, but there has been 
some discussion, led particularly by the Speaker of the House, that on 
the trip to Israel last week the President did not come back to discuss 
any of these matters with leadership.
  I must tell you, I was there. The minority leader of the House, Dick 
Gephardt, was there. The majority leader was there, and the Speaker was 
there. The Israeli Ambassador was there. So there are a number of 
people who were there who can vouch for what I am about to tell you.
  The fact is that, not once, not twice, but on a number of occasions 
throughout that trip, both going and coming back, the President came 
back and expressed himself, talked with us, hoped we could work 
something out. We did not talk specifics, but we talked very 
specifically about the desire to resolve these differences. Not only 
did the President come back to talk to us, but on a number of occasions 
his Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, came back.
  As I say, I do not know how this got started. But there ought to be 
no question, and we ought to put to rest once and for all this rumor, 
this innuendo, this statement on the part of Republican leadership, 
especially the Speaker, that the President did not express any interest 
in open discussion of this issue.
  He was there with some frequency. He came back on a number of 
occasions. And, of course, it was the Speaker's prerogative to seek the 
President if he felt so strongly about the need to talk. He could have 
come up. If he did not think it was enough, as many times as the 
President came back and as many times as his Chief of Staff came back--
if that was not enough--he could have sought out the President. There 
was no ``do not enter'' sign in the quarters. There was no statement, 
``you are not welcome up here.'' There was every opportunity for people 
to come, every opportunity to talk with 

[[Page S 17000]]
the President, every opportunity to express themselves to the Chief of 
Staff or to the President.
  So I must say, again, it does a real disservice to this dialog and, 
really, to a factual and honest accounting of what happened on that 
trip. The President came back on a number of occasions, and I have yet 
to see anyone else dispute that fact.
  I hope that the Speaker would admit that on a number of occasions he 
had conversations directly relevant to the budget with the President of 
the United States on the trip and coming back from Israel just last 
week, in fact, a week ago tonight.

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