[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[June 14, 1995]
[Pages 879-881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Welfare Reform and an Exchange With Reporters
June 14, 1995

    The President. I'd like to, if I might, just say a couple of words. 
First of all, I want to thank Senator Daschle, Senator Moynihan, Senator 
Breaux, Senator Mikulski for coming here today to discuss welfare with 
the Vice President and me and Governor Romer and Secretary Shalala.
    Last night I laid before the Nation my plan to balance the budget in 
10 years in a way that is consistent with the long-term prosperity of 
the American people and our fundamental interests. And one of the 
priorities I stated was pursuing the right kind of welfare reform. I 
still believe that the Republican bill is too tough on children and too 
weak on work and runs the risk of undermining our fundamental commitment 
to the welfare of children without moving people from welfare to work.

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    I want to endorse today the bill authored by Senators Daschle, 
Breaux, and Mikulski because it does meet those criteria. It is--it 
supports work. It supports doing the things that are necessary to get 
people into the work force and protecting children, especially dealing 
with the child care issues and requiring States to continue to support 
the children of the country who, through no fault of their own, are born 
into poor families.
    So I believe this is the right kind of welfare reform. It also saves 
money. It will help us balance the budget, but it does it in the right 
way.

Federal Budget

    Q. Mr. President, the Democratic reaction to your budget has been 
overwhelmingly negative. Do you have a revolt on your hands on Capitol 
Hill?
    The President. Well, I think it's been sort of decidedly mixed, 
don't you? Senator Breaux was just telling me that he and Senator 
Lieberman endorsed it today.
    Q. But a lot of people feel that you have let them down, you pulled 
the rug out from under them.
    The President. Well, let me just say, a lot of people--I'm 
sympathetic with the Democratic position. The Democratic position is the 
Republicans won the Congress by just saying no. They voted against 
deficit reduction. They proposed health care plans and then walked away 
from them. They just said no, and somehow they were rewarded for that. 
And therefore, we should just say no, at least for a much longer time.
    But I do not believe that's the appropriate position for the 
President even if it--the voters have a lot on their hands in their own 
lives. It's hard not to figure out what's going on in your own life 
today without trying to figure out what's going on here. And I don't 
believe it's right for the Democrats to kind of overreact to the last 
election.
    Even though I don't think they were treated fairly--I don't think 
the last Congress got anything like the credit they deserved for 
reducing the deficit, bringing the economy back, and doing all the 
wonderful things that were done--I still believe that the long-term best 
interests of the country are furthered by bringing the deficit down in a 
way that increases our investment in education, preserves our commitment 
to the historic commitments of the Democratic Party to helping those in 
need, permits us to protect the environment and have a strong defense 
and do the things the country needs.
    So I believe I have done the right thing. I know there will be those 
who think that it's the wrong time or the wrong thing, and they are free 
to express their opinion. But I still feel very good about what I----
    Q. Mr. President, much of that criticism appears to be directed at 
your proposal to cut the growth of Medicare.
    The President. Well, I believe--if you look at what we've done--
first of all, we've already cut the growth rate of Medicare. The 
inflation rate has been coming down. And we've done it without cutting 
services to the elderly.
    Their proposal will provide for drastic cuts in services to the 
elderly. Our proposal will provide for some health care reform which 
expands health care coverage, including to the elderly, and cuts the 
rate of increase at a more moderate rate than the Republicans do and in 
a way that enables us to avoid cutting services to the elderly or 
charging low-income elderly people a couple of thousand more dollars for 
health care that they can't afford. We're not going to do that.
    So if you look at the details of our proposal compared with theirs, 
I think ours is going to stand up very, very well. And that's why I have 
urged all the Members to look at the details, look at the facts before 
they reach a final judgment.
    Q. Do you want to meet with Republicans as well?
    Q. Where does it all go from here, Mr. President, a budget summit?
    The President. [Inaudible]--the details, like welfare reform.

Note: The President spoke at 12:33 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House, prior to a meeting with congressional leaders. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.

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