[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[June 24, 1993]
[Pages 928-929]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With the University of 
Arkansas Rollin' Razorbacks Wheelchair Athletes
June 24, 1993

Economic Program

    Q. Mr. President, surrounded by all these winners, do you think you 
can be a winner tonight?
    The President. Well, I hope so.
    Q. What is your latest assessment?
    The President. I feel just the way I did before the House vote. I'm 
just working. I'm working. We're picking up a few and----
    Q. Have you called any Republicans?
    The President. I think I should answer that question after the vote 
tonight.
    Q. We don't want to blow their cover.
    The President. I think I should answer that question----
    Q. Mr. President, in retrospect, do you wish you had reached out 
more to Republicans early on? Some moderates say they'd be on board if 
you had.
    The President. I don't know. I did call a number of them. And I 
tried to--after Senator Boren and Senator Danforth announced their 
little coalition--I don't mean little, I mean their coalition--I also 
reached out to some Republicans then. And I continue to reach out to 
some Republicans in the House. It's just rare in these first tough 
budget votes to get any votes from the other party. And I hope that

[[Page 929]]

this will never happen again. I hope that it won't ever happen again.
    But you have to understand, we're also trying to reverse 12 years 
of, basically, people being told the easy thing and letting the country 
just sort of slowly grind downhill. And we're trying to change it. And 
these changes are never easy. I never thought they'd be easy. I'm 
hopeful for tonight.
    Q. What would be--in the conference committee, sir?
    The President. I'll be glad to answer that question after we see if 
we're going to have a conference. First, we have to prevail tonight. 
Let's try to make sure we win tonight, and then we'll be able to----
    Q. Are you--[inaudible]
    The President. I'm only concerned until there's a vote. We're 
working hard. I think we'll prevail, but let's wait and see what 
happens.

Note: The exchange began at 5:40 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.