[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

[[Page 1741]]

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

[[Page 1742]]

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.