    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [November 18, 1995]
    [Pages 1772-1773]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1772]]

    The President's Radio Address
    November 18, 1995

        Good morning. Last night I went the extra mile to bring Republicans
    and Democrats together to open the Government up and get down to the
    hard work of balancing the budget. I sent my Chief of Staff, Leon
    Panetta, to Capitol Hill to forge a common ground. I had hoped the
    Republicans and Democrats of good faith would be able to work together
    to reopen Government and to continue our larger debate over national
    budget priorities.
        But this morning it looks like this chance to reopen the Government
    may be slipping away. I hope that's not true, and I call on reasonable
    Republicans to join with Democrats in Congress to pass a bill to reopen
    the Government and open the way to real, serious talks on how to balance
    the budget.
        I know that for many people across our country, all this conflict
    and drama looks just like people in Washington are playing politics
    again. What every American has to realize is that this is way beyond
    politics. There are very, very profound, fundamental issues involved.
    What's at stake is nothing less than two different visions of our
    country and two different futures for our people.
        I believe we must balance the budget. I'm determined to eliminate
    the Federal deficit to avoid passing a legacy of debt on to our
    children. I am proud that in my first 3 years in office, our
    administration has cut the deficit in half and that now we already have
    the smallest deficit of any major economy in the world. It's time to
    finish the job and pass a balanced budget plan.
        So what's at issue is not whether to balance the budget, but how.
    And we and the Republican Congress are offering two very different
    visions for our country and two different futures. You need to know the
    whole reason the Government is shut down is that the Republican
    Congress, following a plan announced last spring by Speaker Gingrich,
    has shut the Government down unless I accept the framework of their
    budget.
        Well, last night the House of Representatives passed their budget.
    This is what they say we have to accept as the price of reopening the
    Government. First, on Medicare, just a few weeks ago the Speaker of the
    House said their goal was to let Medicare, and I quote, ``wither on the
    vine.'' Now we know that's exactly what will happen. We know the
    Medicare program that has worked for everyone and guaranteed a dignified
    retirement for senior citizens, that program's days are numbered, even
    though it's efficient and effective. Under the Republican plan there
    will be two Medicares in America: one for the healthy, one for the sick;
    one for the rich, and one for the poor, with everyone in the middle
    getting squeezed with fewer choices, higher costs, and less quality.
    Most sadly, the oldest, the poorest, and the sickest senior citizens
    will get hit too hard.
        The Republican budget would also deny 360,000 deserving students the
    scholarships they need to go to college and make the most of their
    lives. And it would make college loans harder to get for millions more
    Americans at the very time when more people need to go on to college and
    when the costs are going up.
        Unbelievably, this budget would deny Head Start preschool programs
    to 180,000 young children at a time when we know that on our mean
    streets, too many of our young people are raising themselves. This
    budget of theirs would make it much harder for our Government to
    guarantee the safety of the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food
    we put on the table. Unbelievably, too, their budget would actually
    raise taxes on 15 million of our hardest pressed working families. Oh,
    and by the way, it also cuts the School Lunch Program. And it would even
    prevent thousands of disabled children from being able to live with
    their parents by cutting off assistance for home care.
        In recent days, I've heard from Americans all across our country
    about the real impact this will have on the lives of our people. One of
    my friends called to tell me about a woman he knows with a disabled
    child. This woman rides an hour a day to work on subsidized
    transportation. And she works for barely above the minimum wage. She
    comes home to care for her child. Under their budget she loses three
    ways: Her transportation to work is going to be more costly because
    we're cutting aid to

    [[Page 1773]]

    transportation in cities under their budget; her ability to help her
    disabled child will be less because the disabled child will lose Federal
    assistance; and unbelievably, at her low income with her child at home,
    she gets a tax increase under their plan so that people in my income
    group can get a tax cut. It doesn't make sense.
        Another friend of mine, the chairman of the board of a technical
    college, wrote to say how important it is that we help our young people
    get scholarships to go on to college today. My friend remembers that in
    the 1960's he got help from Government to pay for his college education.
    And because all of us took a risk in lending him the money for college,
    today he pays a lot more in taxes every year than the total he borrowed.
    He asked a very simple question: If we can't invest in our people, how
    can we ensure the future of our country?
        My fellow Americans, none of these extreme cuts, not one of them,
    are necessary to balance the budget. This extreme budget reflects not
    economic necessity but a philosophy that would strip the ability of our
    National Government to be an instrument of meeting our national goals.
    It would make us a more divided, winner-take-all society, a community
    with fewer connections and less common purpose. Its economic assumptions
    operate on the premise that our country will not grow very much if their
    plan is passed, that our best days are behind us.
        I have proposed a balanced budget rooted in our fundamental values,
    providing opportunity but expecting responsibility from people, honoring
    our obligations to our parents and our children, helping our families to
    be stronger and to stay together, and making sure our country is the
    strongest force for peace and freedom, democracy, and prosperity in the
    world.
        My budget cuts hundreds of wasteful programs. We have already
    reduced the size of the Federal Government by 200,000. It's the smallest
    it's been in 30 years and, as a percentage of the civilian work force,
    the smallest it's been since 1933. But my budget also invests in our
    people and our future. It secures Medicare and Medicaid into the future.
    It invests in education. It ensures the protection of the environment.
    It gives working families a tax cut targeted at education and
    childrearing. Now, that's the right way to balance the budget.
        I'll say again, I want to balance the budget. But any budget that
    cuts funding for disabled children and school lunches, for Head Start
    for our youngest children, for college scholarships and loans, that
    doubles Medicare premiums and undermines the entire Medicaid program
    that provides for nursing home care and home health care for the
    elderly, the disabled, and health care for poor children--this budget's
    dead on arrival when it comes to the White House. And if the price of
    any deal are cuts like these, my message is, no deal.
        The effort to make the American people swallow a budget that will
    hurt our country is over. Let's get back to work, together, to balance
    the budget without unbalancing our values.
        To the Republicans in Congress, I say, listen to the American
    people. Let's all say yes to a balanced budget and no to extremism in
    cuts in health care, education, and the environment. If we do that,
    America will be strong and true to its values and its vision as we enter
    the 21st century. Now let's get the job done.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House.