    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [December 31, 1995]
    [Pages 1936-1937]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters on the Budget Negotiations
    December 31, 1995

        Q. Mr. President, are you close to a deal today?
        The President. Let me tell you where we are today. We had a very
    long discussion yesterday. We discussed almost all the issues where we
    had differences on our plans financially, in terms of the dollars. And
    this morning we're going to have an extensive discussion of the Medicare
    policy. And then we're going to give our staffs some instruction. We're
    going to meet again on Tuesday, and we're going to do our best to work
    through this and come to an accord.
        My New Year's wish is that we'll get this balanced budget plan, and
    we'll do it in a way that protects the things that we care about, the
    Medicare, the Medicaid, the education and environment, the other issues.
    And we've been working at it. I've been very well pleased, and I think
    we've been somewhat successful because we haven't said very much about
    it. We've just got to keep working until we reach an accord.
        Q. Mr. President, will you touch on--[inaudible]--negotiations----
        Q. Will you leave town today without reopening the Government, of
    the three----
        Speaker Gingrich. I'm sure we'll be talking about that, that's one
    of the things we want to get done and get agreed to. So we're trying to
    work out how to get the Federal employees back to work. We'd also like
    to get them paid. I think that's an integral part of getting them back
    to work. But as the President said, I think, frankly, most of our
    success so far has been that we've been in this room talking with each

    [[Page 1937]]

    other and not getting involved in negotiating in public, and I think
    we've made a lot of progress.
        Q. To follow on that, sir, is it healthy to have the House Speaker
    talking on CNN yesterday on the----
        Speaker Gingrich. Oh, that is nonsense. I told the President on
    Friday that I was so favorable about him in answering their big question
    on ``Evans & Novak'' that I thought he'd want to see it. The fact is
    we're working very well together. I was asked a question about the
    campaign next year, and I suspect if you ask Mr. Gephardt or Vice
    President Gore about how they'll campaign next year, they'll give you
    similar answers. We're negotiating very well from a Government
    standpoint in here, and I think we have a lot to be proud of. Our New
    Year's wish ought to be that we get this done and give the American
    people a balanced budget and the Government paid for and back to work.
        Senator Dole. The Senate is going to meet at noon; we'll try to pass
    something to help the Federal employees.
        Q. Are you closer?
        Senator Dole. Oh, we're about 6 feet apart. [Laughter]
        Senator Daschle. We'll be a lot closer in a couple of hours.
    [Laughter]
        The President. We're working at it steady.
        Happy New Year, everybody.

    Note: The exchange began at 9:50 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House, prior to a meeting with congressional leaders. A tape was not
    available for verification of the content of this exchange.