[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[September 12, 1995]
[Pages 1352-1353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Legislative Agenda and an Exchange With Reporters
September 12, 1995

    The President. Let me--first of all, I want to welcome the 
leadership of the Congress here and thank them for coming down to the 
White House for the meeting today. I'm looking forward to having a 
chance to discuss a number of things, including the present situation in 
Bosnia, the status of the welfare reform legislation, the budget--
progress toward a balanced budget, and a number of other issues, 
including the lobby reform measure passed by the Senate and the line-
item veto and anything else that might be on the minds of the 
congressional Members who are here.
    I have said before, I will say again, I'm very hopeful that we can 
achieve common ground on this budget. This is a truly historic moment. 
We do have some different priorities, but I think we can reach an 
agreement if we work at it. It seems clear now that such cannot be the 
case by the time this fiscal year ends on October 1st, so I'm hopeful 
that we can, for a limited period of time, pass a continuing resolution. 
It

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would be a straightforward resolution, appropriate for the reduction of 
spending to meet the overall budget targets, and I look forward to 
working on that.
    I believe that the American people want us to work together and get 
something done, and I think most of us want the same thing, so that's 
what we're going to talk about.

Bosnia

    Q. President Clinton, can you give us a--[inaudible]--the way you 
see the situation in Bosnia right now and what you plan to talk about?
    The President. Well, I think the agreement signed in Geneva by the 
three parties is very, very hopeful--the Bosnian Government, the 
Croatian Government, the Serbian Government. I think the negotiations 
should continue. I'm sending Ambassador Holbrooke back there tonight. In 
terms of the bombing, that's really up to the Serbs. The U.N. Security 
Council resolution is clear, and the conditions laid out by our 
committee on the ground are clear, and we'll just have to see what 
happens there.
    Q. Mr. President, Russia is comparing the bombings to genocide. 
Other than the traditional ties to the Serbs, what do you think is 
behind Yeltsin's sterner and sterner opposition to bombings?
    The President. Well, I think you have to ask them that. Let's just 
make it clear--if you look at the facts of the bombing attacks, they are 
clearly not that. First of all, they were authorized by the United 
Nations; secondly, they came only after extreme provocation, after the 
killings, the shelling--resulting from the shelling of Sarajevo, the 
killing of innocent civilians; and thirdly, they have been very, very 
carefully targeted and carried out with great discipline and skill by 
the United States pilots and the NATO allies. There has been no genocide 
there. There has been an extraordinary amount of care and discipline but 
firmness and strength. They were appropriately done. And I want to say 
in the presence of these Members here how much I appreciate the comments 
that Senator Dole and others have made on that.
    The United States, I think, is united in being opposed to resumption 
of the killing of innocent civilians in protected areas. They said we 
wouldn't do it, we wouldn't tolerate it, and we can't.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 5:42 p.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 these remarks.