    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [November 13, 1995]
    [Pages 1739-1742]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Vetoing Temporary Public Debt Limit Increase Legislation and
    an Exchange With Reporters
    November 13, 1995

        The President. Good morning. Today I am vetoing H.R. 2586, which the
    congressional leadership sent to me last night. It would allow the
    United States to pay its debts for another month but only at a price too
    high for the American people to pay. Here are the reasons why.
        First, the bill actually increases the likelihood of a default on
    America's obligations for the first time in our history by taking away
    from the Secretary of the Treasury the tools he now has to avoid default
    under extraordinary circumstances.
        Second, the bill obligates the Government--Congress and the
    President--to pass the Republican congressional budget plan with its
    huge cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, education and technology, the
    environment, and its tax increases on working families.
        Third, the bill implements the Republican congressional proposal to
    reverse a 30-year bipartisan commitment to environmental protection and
    public health. It would increase pollution and decrease the purity and
    safety of our air, water, and food.
        This legislation is part of an overall back-door effort by the
    congressional Republicans to im-

    [[Page 1740]]

    pose their priorities on our Nation. Here is what is really going on.
        Last spring, Speaker Gingrich said he and his new Republican
    congressional majority would force me, the congressional Democrats, and
    the American people to accept their budget and their contract by
    bringing about a crisis in the fall, by shutting down the Government and
    pushing America into default, unless I accepted their extreme proposals.
    In this way, the congressional Republicans sought to get around the
    United States Constitution which gives the President the power to veto
    measures not in the public interest.
        They are now implementing the strategy Speaker Gingrich told us
    about last spring. And because I refuse to go along with it, they say I
    am refusing with them to solve these short-term problems.
        When the time came for the Republicans to announce their balanced
    budget plan, I said I supported a balanced budget. I said I agreed with
    balancing the budget, but I did not agree with the way they proposed to
    do it. So I offered an alternative plan, and I offered then to work with
    them. I offered it repeatedly, beginning 5 months ago. They dismissed my
    offer and said at every turn that I would simply have to accept their
    budget conditions. That is what this legislation says again today.
        When the time came for them to pass their own budget, however, they
    did not do their work. It is now 6 full weeks into the new budget year,
    and they have passed only 3 of the required 13 budget bills.
    Furthermore, they have not yet resolved the differences between the
    Republican House and Senate versions of the balanced budget. Instead,
    they propose to attach elements of a budget plan and their contract to
    essential bills to raise the debt ceiling so that America can meet its
    obligations and to keep the Government running until they do finish
    their budget work and a proper budget is passed. Their goal is to force
    me to sign legislation which I know to be harmful to our Nation and to
    its future or to veto the legislation, also with harmful consequences.
        This is a critical moment of decision for our country. But the issue
    is not whether we will balance the budget and not whether I will work
    with them to solve this short-term problem. I do want to balance the
    budget. Remember that in 1993 when I took office, we had a huge deficit
    that was growing larger. Congress passed my economic plan, and since
    then we have reduced our deficit 3 years in a row for the first time in
    nearly 50 years. Today, only one industrialized nation has a lower
    deficit than the United States. We've also reduced the size of the
    Federal Government dramatically, so that today, as a percentage of the
    civilian work force, our Federal Government is the smallest it has been
    since 1933. The American economy has done well since 1993, since this
    budget plan was passed, as everyone knows.
        The balanced budget plan that I have proposed would finish the job.
    It would eliminate the deficit in a way that strengthens our economy
    and, most important, reinforces our most important values: our
    responsibility to our parents and to our children; to provide
    opportunity to all Americans to make the most of their own lives through
    education and technology; to strengthen our families; to preserve our
    environment; to keep America the world's strongest force for freedom and
    democracy, for peace and prosperity.
        So that is the issue here. I believe we must pass a budget that is
    consistent with our values and our interests. I have said for months
    that I will not sign a budget that violates these values and undermines
    our economic interests. This bill I veto today is a big downpayment on
    that Republican congressional budget. It is not good for America.
        Our country has to choose between two very different options, two
    very different visions and paths to the 21st century. Throughout our
    history, our Nation has been able to reach important decisions on
    matters like this about national priorities through proper channels of
    deliberation and debate as set out in our Constitution. This year, the
    Republican Congress has failed to pass most of its spending bills, has
    not yet passed its overall budget plan, but instead has sought to impose
    some of its most objectionable proposals on the American people by
    attaching them to bills to raise the debt limit and to keep the
    Government running.
        Now, the appropriate step for Congress to take would be to authorize
    America to meet its obligations and to pass temporary legislation to
    keep the Government running while this overall budget battle is taking
    place. This has been the course of action taken at other moments in
    history when Congress failed to meet its budget deadlines. That is
    exactly what we did just last September when the Congress did

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    pass and I signed legislation to keep the Government running.
        Our agreement in September was fair. It was unbiased. It kept the
    Government going, able to pay its bills and meet its obligations. That
    agreement was an honorable compromise. In recent days, Congress has
    chosen the path of confrontation. It is not in the national interest,
    but it is exactly what they said they would do last April.
        They have attached these controversial, long-range proposals to
    emergency legislation, not only to meet our financial obligations but
    just to keep the Government running. In the bill to keep the Government
    running, they voted to raise Medicare premiums by 25 percent for every
    single senior citizen who uses Medicare, $264 a year for the typical
    couple, beginning the first of January. They voted to roll back three
    decades of environmental laws. Now they voted to put the United States
    on the path to default.
        This is an unacceptable choice. Congress has said it will pass
    emergency legislation to keep the Government going and paying its bills
    only if we increase Medicare, cut education, cut the environment, take
    other unacceptable steps.
        I know the American people want us to balance the budget with common
    sense and without bitterness, to drop the extreme proposals and get to
    work. Congress should take the sensible step of passing the legislation
    necessary to keep the Government going and to have America meet its
    financial obligations. Therefore, today, I am transmitting legislation
    to Congress that would enable the Government to pay its bills without
    forcing the acceptance of extreme cuts in Medicare, education, and the
    environment. This legislation would enable us to have a fair debate on
    our country's direction without rancor or threats. Congress should pass
    it without delay. This is not the time or the place for them to backdoor
    their budget proposals. It is not the right thing to do. I cannot, and I
    will not accept it.

    Government Shutdown

        Q. What happens now? Is the Government going to shut down? Will we
    default on our bills?
        The President. That's up to the Congress. That is entirely up to
    them. I am certainly willing to work with the bipartisan leadership of
    the Congress to resolve this problem, but it is important that the
    American people have a forthright debate over this budget in the
    ordinary constitutional way. That is important. It is critically
    important that the President not permit this budget to be passed in a
    backdoor way, because we have to keep the Government running, because we
    have to meet our financial obligations.
        This budget is a dramatic, even a radical, departure from the
    deliberate, disciplined, and I might add, highly successful plan that
    this administration has pursued over the last 2 years. It is also an
    dramatic and unacceptable departure from the appropriate way of doing
    business in this Government. America does not react well to this kind of
    pressure.

    Budget Negotiations

        Q. Mr. President, Speaker Gingrich yesterday appeared to offer what
    may be an olive branch when he said that everything was on the table if
    you would just agree to sit down and talk and agree in principle to a
    balanced budget in 7 years. Is that possible? Could you do that? And why
    not?
        The President. I cannot agree in principle--we had a discussion in
    here the other day, I did with the Speaker and Senator Dole, I would
    remind you, about the budget and other things. We can have any
    discussion we want on the budget. But I will not agree as a matter of
    principle to any discussion in which they say, we want to raise Medicare
    premiums by 25 percent in a bill designed to keep the Government running
    or that we want to do it in a bill designed to enable America to meet
    its financial obligations.
        I have asked them to do only one thing. I have asked them to say
    forthrightly that they're willing to meet with me and the bipartisan
    congressional leadership in an atmosphere in which they can pass
    whatever bills they want to pass in the budget process, but they will
    not attempt to raise Medicare premiums just as the price of letting the
    Government run for 2 more weeks or another month. I don't think that is
    right. I don't think the American people think that is right.
        There is a procedure for passing budgets and for passing the budget
    plan. That is a procedure they have chosen not to follow. I don't know
    how many years, how many decades it's been since the Congress got 6
    years into a new budget plan, having voted on only 3 of the 13 budget

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    bills for the year. They have still not even met and resolved the
    differences between the House and Senate balanced budget plans.
        There is a procedure for dealing with this. Now they have to resolve
    those differences. And it is time to get on the timetable. But avoiding
    that, they seek to tack on to measures necessary to simply go through
    the ordinary business of the Government their budget, including a
    dramatic increase in Medicare premiums. All I have asked them to do is
    to say that they will not seek to increase Medicare premiums on this
    interim legislation to keep the Government running and that we will have
    this bipartisan meeting of the congressional leadership. And we will
    talk about everything if they do that. That is all I have asked them to
    do.
        But America has never liked--ordinary Americans don't like pressure
    tactics. And I would be wrong to permit these kind of pressure tactics
    to dramatically change the course of American life. I cannot do it, and
    I will not do it.

    Terrorist Attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

        Q. Mr. President, what do you know about Riyadh?
        The President. At this moment, I know very little more than you do.
    I know that Americans were killed in an explosion. We have expressed our
    condolences and deep regret to the families of those who were killed,
    and we have already begun the process of determining what happened and
    who, if anyone, was responsible if it was not an accident. And we will
    devote an enormous effort to that.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:26 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House.