[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[March 31, 1993]
[Pages 369-370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Cabinet Meeting
March 31, 1993

Budget Resolution and Stimulus Package

    Q. Mr. President, are you going to get a $1 billion package for the 
Russians in aid?
    The President. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow in 
Annapolis. I'm going out there to speak.
    Let me say in front of the whole Cabinet here, it was just 6 weeks 
ago that I presented my plan to the United States Congress. They are on 
the verge of adopting the budget resolution, which will drastically 
reduce the Federal deficit. The Senate, I believe, is on the verge of 
passing the jobs program to put a half-million jobs into this economy. 
Things are going well. We are moving with remarkable speed.
    I do want to make one point, which was obscured a little in the news 
stories today. I say that not out of criticism, but on the issue of

[[Page 370]]

the drop in consumer confidence, the Wall Street Journal had a very 
detailed article which showed that the principal reason for it is the 
continuing worry of the American people that this economy is not 
producing jobs. And consumers without jobs don't have confidence because 
they don't have money with which to consume. So it is very important 
that this week, before the Congress goes home, that we pass the budget 
resolution to reduce the deficit and the jobs program to create jobs. If 
we can do that, this will be an historic 6 weeks in which we are moving 
at a very rapid pace.
    Q. Do you think, Mr. President, that the Republicans will seek to 
filibuster against the stimulus package? And if they do, what's your 
strategy?
    The President. Well, we're going to try to win. I don't think so. I 
believe some of the Republicans support this. As a matter of fact, I 
think a lot of them support it. Some of them may never vote for it 
because of partisan divisions. But I think they know that the American 
people will be very disappointed to find out that a half a million jobs 
went by the wayside because 41--not even a majority, but 41 Senators 
stopped a vote from occurring. I don't think that's going to happen. I 
would be very surprised.

Note: The exchange began at 10:12 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.