    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [December 16, 1995]
    [Page 1896]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Budget
    December 16, 1995

        Let me, first of all, welcome all of you here. I thank you for being
    here. I imagine some of you have stayed here in an unplanned way over
    the weekend.
        We are determined, as Democrats, to try to work together and to try
    to work with the Republicans to achieve a balanced budget but in a way
    that is consistent with our principles.
        As all of you know, yesterday the Republican congressional leaders
    called the negotiations off unless we would first put much bigger
    Medicare and Medicaid cuts on the table. I thought that was wrong and
    unwarranted.
        Virtually all of us don't agree with the large portions of their tax
    package and particularly a lot of the special interest provisions of it.
    But we didn't ask them to abandon it just to talk and begin
    negotiations.
        So we hope that we can get back to a constructive dialog consistent
    with our values, our principles, and what's good for this country. And
    that's what we're going to be working on today.
        We don't believe that decimating Medicare and Medicaid and
    undermining our investments in education and the environment, raising
    taxes on working families is a good prescription for America's future.
    And it is not necessary to balance the budget.
        So we're going back to work today. We're going to keep working,
    trying to reach as much agreement among ourselves as possible, and then
    we'll keep reaching out to the Republicans in Congress in the hope of
    passing the right kind of balanced budget.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:40 a.m. at Blair House, prior to a
    meeting with Democratic Members of Congress.