    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [July 24, 1995]
    [Pages 1139-1140]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on House of Representatives Action on Appropriations
    Legislation
    July 24, 1995

        I proposed a reasonable plan to balance the budget while investing
    more in education and training. Republicans want to balance the budget
    through cuts that hurt working families while providing a huge tax cut
    that goes largely to people who don't need it. They are cutting deeply
    into Medicare and Medicaid, and they are cutting the very education and
    training programs that our working families need.

        Nowhere are the differences between my approach and theirs more
    clear than the extreme bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee
    today. That measure slashes critical resources for education, training,
    and jobs for our people. If Congress sends me this bill in its present
    form, I will have to veto it.
        I want to invest in our people, not turn back the clock on them.
    There has always been a strong bipartisan consensus for investment in
    quality education, training, health, and worker protections. These
    harsh, partisan, and unwise cuts undermine that consensus as well as the
    future income and living standards of working families and their
    children.
        In addition, I believe abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. But
    this bill effectively ends the family planning program that Republicans
    and Democrats have long agreed is needed to help prevent the need for
    abortion. Furthermore, it changes existing law to allow States to deny
    poor women access to abortions under Medicaid even if they are victims
    of rape or incest. That is wrong.

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        I once again urge the Congress to begin the work of making
    commonsense corrections in this and other appropriations bills. I will
    not allow our people to be sacrificed for the sake of political
    ideology.