[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PRESIDENT HAS ALREADY AGREED TO PRECONDITIONS IN BUDGET DEBATE

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if you watched the news shows 
this weekend, but the drumbeat has been from the Chief of Staff, Leon 
Panetta, that the President would meet with leaders of Congress 
provided that there are no preconditions. No preconditions. No 
preconditions. It is a mantra he has been repeating and he has been 
beating.
  Mr. Speaker, 29 days ago the President signed a piece of paper that, 
in fact, did have one single precondition. It was very simple. It said 
that he agreed the President and the Congress should enact legislation 
in the first session, that ends at the end of December, to achieve a 
balanced budget not later than the fiscal year 2002. As estimated by 
whom? By the Congressional Budget Office.
  That is the only precondition, but it is a very real precondition and 
it is an important precondition. How can the President now be saying 
that he is not going to even meet, he will not even talk unless there 
are no preconditions. Obviously, what the President has decided, what 
the Chief of Staff has decided, is that they are going to take the 
lowest road they possibly can and demagogue this right through 
Christmas.

                          ____________________