    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [January 11, 1996]
    [Pages 33-43]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference
    January 11, 1996

        The President. Good afternoon. I want to report to you this
    afternoon and to the American people about the progress we've made
    toward achieving a balanced budget that reflects our values. But first,
    let me tell you about the action we are taking to help the millions of
    people along the East Coast who are stranded and afflicted by the
    Blizzard of 1996.
        I have asked the Director of FEMA, the Secretary of Transportation,
    and the Secretary of Defense to work together and to take all
    appropriate actions. Today I announced that we will provide Federal
    disaster assistance in situations where response is beyond the
    capability of State and local governments. In particular, we will
    provide funds to open up emergency routes in communities once States
    have applied for this assistance and FEMA verifies the need. This will
    allow ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency workers to do their
    jobs.
        Today I am announcing that this assistance will be provided to
    Maryland and the District of Columbia. FEMA has also received a request
    for assistance from New York, and we are expecting shortly to receive
    requests for assistance from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North
    Carolina, and Delaware. We will act on these requests quickly.
        This has been a trying time for everybody affected. It's often the
    case that in natural disasters you see the best come out in people. As
    we continue to dig out from the Blizzard of '96, I hope Americans in
    their communities will continue to look out for their neighbors, to help
    those in need, and to pull together. We will do what we can here.
        Now I want to discuss the budget. After many weeks of public debate
    and private discussion, historic agreement on a balanced budget is
    within reach if we set aside partisanship and work to seize this moment.
    I'm optimistic that we will balance the budget, and I know we have come
    too far to let this opportunity slip away.
        In the 12 years before I took office, for the first time in
    America's peacetime history, our Government deficit skyrocketed. Our
    administration has already cut the deficit nearly in half. But our need
    to pay off the interest on the debt run up in the last 12 years is
    giving us a deficit. Indeed, but for the interest payments on the debt
    run up in the 12 years before I became President, our budget would be in
    balance today.
        We have already reduced the size of the Federal Government by more
    than 200,000, so that it is smaller than it has been at any time since
    1965. As a percentage of the civilian work force, the Federal Government
    is the smallest it's been since 1933. We cut hundreds of programs. We're
    eliminating 16,000 pages of rules and regulations. But it's time to
    finish the job.
        Let me be clear: We can balance the budget. We can do it in a way
    that invests in our people and reflects our values: opportunity for all,
    doing

    [[Page 34]]

    our duty for our parents and our children, strengthening our
    communities, our families, and America.
        As all of you know, I have submitted a plan to balance the budget in
    7 years using the conservative estimates of the Congressional Budget
    Office. Let me repeat: With this letter, which I am carrying around with
    me to remind everyone that we have done it, Congress' own economists
    confirm what we have said all along. We can balance the budget without
    excessive cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, without cutting education or
    the environment or raising taxes on our hardest pressed working
    families.
        Now, as all of you know also, the Republicans in Congress are
    insisting on cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment
    that I believe are well beyond what is necessary to balance the budget,
    well beyond what is necessary to secure the solvencies of those
    programs, well beyond what is necessary for the Congressional Budget
    Office to say we have to do to balance the budget.
        We all know, too, that there are two strains at work in the
    Republican effort. There is the genuine desire to balance the budget,
    which I share. But there are those who want to use the balanced budget
    and a huge tax cut crammed within the balanced budget to strip our
    National Government and our country of our ability to do our part here
    in Washington to help people out in our communities with the challenges
    they face. We shouldn't let our fundamental agreement on a balanced
    budget be held hostage to a narrower agenda that seeks to prevent
    America from giving Medicare to senior citizens or quality nursing home
    care or educational opportunity for young people or environmental
    protection to all of us.
        We could quickly find common ground on balancing the budget and
    providing appropriate modest tax relief; we could do this in 15 minutes,
    after the tens of hours we have already spent together. What has held up
    this agreement is the insistence of the Republicans on cuts that I
    believe are excessive in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the
    environment, and insistence on a tax hike on the lowest income of our
    working families. These things are not necessary to balance the budget.
        Having said that, let me say we have come a long way. We have agreed
    on well over $600 billion of savings, far more than necessary to balance
    the budget. This should be a moment for national unity, a time to put
    aside partisanship, to reject ideology, to find common ground for the
    common good. A balanced budget that reflects the best of both parties,
    the best of our values, and will pass on to the next generation a
    stronger America, that is within our grasp. We should get it done now,
    and I believe we will get it done in the near future.
        Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

    The First Lady

        Q. Mr. President, some newly released documents raised questions
    about some statements by Mrs. Clinton on the White House Travel Office
    firings and her role in representing the Madison Guaranty Savings and
    Loan Association. Do you think it would be a good idea for her to
    testify before Congress to clear up these issues?
        The President. Well, she has said that she will do whatever is
    necessary to answer all the appropriate questions, and I think that she
    should do that. And I think that we will determine in the days ahead,
    together, what is necessary. She has begun to answer those questions.
    We'll be doing some more of that before the week is out, and I presume
    we'll be doing quite a lot of it in the days ahead. And as you know,
    there was a hearing, I think, today on part of this matter in the Senate
    and will be another one next week. These questions should be answered.
        Let me say, for 4 years, as these questions have come up, we have
    tried to answer them all; we have tried to be fully cooperative. And we
    will be in this case. And I think she should do what is necessary to
    answer the questions. That's what she said she'll do, and I think that's
    what will happen.
        Q. Is that within the pale, though, testifying? Do you----
        The President. Well, I think--I want to leave it the way I said it
    today. I think whatever is necessary to fully answer the questions she
    will do. That's what she said she would do, and I think we should leave
    it there for now.

    Budget Negotiations

        Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].
        Q. Mr. President, Speaker Gingrich seems to have thrown in the towel
    on the budget, seems to--says something about there won't be a budget,
    not until the next election. And you

    [[Page 35]]

    talked to Senator Dole today. Did he agree with that? What's going to
    happen? Is there a meeting on Wednesday? Also, the last proposal you put
    on the table, did that make a lot of new major concessions?
        The President. Well, let me try to answer all those questions. First
    of all, we all pledged, all the parties, that we would not discuss our
    proposals that would require all of us to agree. So I don't believe that
    I should violate the understandings that we had in our meeting to
    discuss the specifics.
        Let me say that we have come very close together, I believe. We have
    come most of the way. The differences in dollars are not as different
    now as some of the differences in policies. We have also made some
    remarkable progress on policies in some areas. We've had some
    interesting discussions, for example, on what we should do for small
    business, arising out of the White House Conference on Small Business.
    We've talked a lot about the serious problems that would befall our
    farmers if farm legislation is not enacted, or at least this farm bill
    extended--should it be allowed to lapse; we can't have that. So we've
    talked about a lot of other things. We've had long, exhaustive
    discussions about welfare reform in an attempt to resolve that in the
    context of these negotiations. So I think the talks have been good, even
    though there are still some thorny difficulties remaining.
        I called Senator Dole today because I just kind of wanted to check
    in with him and get a reality check. I said, ``You know, when we left
    that meeting I asked you and I asked the Democratic leaders to consider
    a proposal that I made because I had not made it to the Democrats
    either. I wanted them, all four, to look at it. We had an agenda of
    things that our staffs were going to work on during this week, and we
    characterized it quite consciously as a recess. And I still feel that we
    can and should reach an agreement. And I just want to make sure you feel
    that way, and if so, we'll keep working together.'' And I got a pretty
    good response.
        Now, I have not had a chance to talk to the Speaker. But I can tell
    you this: When we left, we agreed that they would consider the last
    suggestion I made, all of them. We agreed that there would be certain
    things that we would work on together and with the Governors. We agreed
    that this would be a recess, and we agreed that we would meet on
    Wednesday. So I assume that all that is still the way it was agreed.
        Q. Well, are the American people going to have to tolerate one
    shutdown after another and neglect of all their services?
        The President. Well, as you know, I didn't--I don't approve of any
    of these shutdowns. I think Congress was wrong to do it the first time.
    I think it was wrong to continue. I was pleased when Senator Dole said
    that that policy should be abandoned, and I was pleased when the Speaker
    said that it was morally indefensible to hold the Federal employees
    hostage. So I do not believe it will shut down again. There is no need
    to have a shutdown again.
        I'm telling you, we're not that far apart. If the objective is
    balancing the budget and giving an appropriate tax cut, we are not that
    far apart. And we ought to resolve the policy issues we can resolve, put
    the ones we can't to the side. There will be plenty of things to argue
    about in the election season, but this is something we ought to give the
    American people. And I think we will. I'm quite confident. I think we
    will.
        Mr. Blitzer [Wolf Blitzer, Cable News Network].

    President's Visit to Bosnia

        Q.  Mr. President, could you explain to us why it's so important
    that you go to Bosnia at this moment, when U.S. troops and NATO troops
    are still trying to implement the peace agreement and having all sorts
    of logistical problems, and the security situation, frankly, is not very
    good, as well? Why endanger yourself and the deployment in order to go
    to Bosnia right now?
        The President. Well, first of all, I do not believe that in going
    there I would endanger the deployment. And the judgment about whether I
    am in danger is one that is made by the Secret Service, and they believe
    we can make the trip that we have scheduled. I would not go if the
    commanders were not ready for me to come.
        As you know, I wanted very much to go there over Christmas, on
    Christmas Eve. But our commander there said that it was an inappropriate
    thing to do because of the disruption in the deployment.
        I think it's important that I go see the troops, that I see
    firsthand how this mission that I have

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    sent them on is being implemented, that I tell them, personally, that
    they are doing a good job. They are performing a remarkable service in a
    terribly important mission. So I feel quite comfortable about this trip.
    We have worked very hard with our commanders on the ground in Bosnia to
    structure the trip so that its objectives can be met without in any way
    undermining our fundamental mission there. And on the security front, I
    feel quite comfortable with the trip as it has been designed and as we
    will carry it out.
        Yes?

    Budget Negotiations

        Q. The offer that you made over the weekend--certified now, as you
    point out, by the Congressional Budget Office--has extracted from the
    Republicans a rather substantial set of concessions, the most
    substantial they've made yet. In light of that, they seem to be
    expecting you to counter that with a similar offer of your own. If you
    did, and you're as close as you say they are, it seems that would almost
    clinch it. Why not go ahead and do that, sir?
        The President. That's my speech. You just made my speech for me.
    [Laughter] I have--first of all, I believe if you look at the spending
    concessions and you start from equal points, whether you start from our
    beginning budget offers or the ones that were made back in December, we
    have both made substantial concessions away from our original point.
        My belief is that we should go for a balanced budget that is scored
    in a way that Congress recognizes because that's what the law requires,
    but that having done that, we should not--we should not--violate the
    other conditions of our previous agreement which is to take any risks
    with Medicare or Medicaid or do things that we know will cause us to
    undermine our investment in education and the environment.
        Now, we can do that and get a tax cut. We still have some
    differences on policies relating to Medicare. We're trying to work out
    our differences over Medicaid. We still have some significant
    differences on environmental policies. But I believe all that can be
    worked out. And so that's why I say I have been somewhat surprised at
    some of the negative tone of the stories coming out since we adjourned
    because I, frankly, felt quite good, and I did make them, as I said, an
    offer that I hoped that they would sleep on and work on.
        Q. Well, is now the time for the President to come forward and say,
    let's split the difference?
        The President. It's not as simple as splitting the difference. It's
    not just--there's more than money at stake here. There are policies at
    stake. And if you split the difference, again, according to the rules of
    the Congressional Budget Office, there must be policies which back up
    whatever number that you pick. So that's why I say that if we know we
    can balance the budget and we know it will work over 7 years, we
    shouldn't go beyond that in any kind of gratuitous cuts in Medicare and
    Medicaid that will require policy changes that either we may have to
    back up on, which will undermine the credibility of the agreement, or
    that could do serious damage to the programs.

    The First Lady

        Q. Mr. President, when you campaigned in 1992, you and the First
    Lady both said that the American people would get two for the price of
    one. I wondered if that's still going to be a slogan in 1996, and if the
    First Lady has really taken the role that you envisioned for her as
    First Lady or if she's just simply become too controversial?
        The President. Well, first of all, I think she's done a fine job. I
    may have asked her to do more than anybody should ever have been asked
    to do when I asked her to undertake the health care effort. But there
    are worse things than wanting every American child to have health care
    coverage, just the way every child in every other advanced country in
    the world has.
        I believe that--in the last 6 months or 8 months she wanted to take
    a lot of time off to write her book, which she did do. And I think the
    book is a very important contribution to America which reflects 25 years
    of work, learning, and exposure on her part. And I expect that she will
    continue to be an enormous positive force in this country.
        And in terms of controversy, very often in this town you don't make
    yourself controversial; someone else makes you controversial. So I don't
    think you can do anything about that, especially in the wake of the
    health care issue.
        Q. If I could just follow up, sir, are you saying that her conduct,
    especially involving the Travel Office and the discrepancies in what she
    said about her involvement in Madison Guaranty,

    [[Page 37]]

    that these things have nothing to do with the controversy?
        The President. Well, let me tell you, you are assuming something
    that has not been proved. No discrepancies have been established. Now,
    we were all concerned, as we have all said, that we kept hearing all
    these reports after we got here that there were problems with the Travel
    Office. It turns out there were problems with the Travel Office, and
    they were serious. An accounting firm said they were serious. Those have
    been corrected. The American people should feel good about that. We also
    said--Mr. McLarty did, who was then the Chief of Staff, undertook his
    own review and said the matter wasn't handled well and detailed why.
    There have been something like seven reviews of the Travel Office.
        So I would dispute your characterization. An allegation is not the
    same thing as a fact. And particularly, I would remind the American
    people, when it comes to the whole Whitewater issue, the allegations
    have often--matter of fact, virtually always borne no relationship to
    the facts. That's really the story of this for the last 4 years. An
    allegation comes up, and we answer it. And then people say, ``Well,
    here's another allegation. Answer this.'' And then, ``Here's another
    allegation. Answer this.'' That is the way we are living here in
    Washington today.
        We're going to do it, and I would ask that--the American people are
    fundamentally fair-minded. And as I would say, I just ask all of you to
    listen to the answers and do what the American people will do, make up
    your own mind.
        Yes, Brian [Brian Williams, NBC News].
        Q. Mr. President, do you worry about the cumulative effect of this
    drumbeat, which is getting louder? As of close of business today, there
    will be more people under subpoena in the Travel Office matter than were
    fired in the Travel Office matter. And second, you must have discussed
    why it is--even if cleared in the end of all charges--why it is your
    wife, the First Lady, appears to be the most--arguably, the most
    controversial First Lady at least in modern politics.
        The President. Since Eleanor Roosevelt, for many of the same
    reasons, from many of the same sources. And that's just part of what
    we're living through. The American people can make up their own mind
    about the facts of it.

    President's Financial Obligations

        Q. To kind of stay on this theme of controversy, the end result
    seems to be that it's taken a toll financially on your obligations. And
    there's a magazine report out that's assessed your situation and
    basically decides that you're pretty close to bankruptcy. Could you give
    us a little bit of the financial toll?
        The President. You know, I feel worse--I suppose that probably is
    right. I've never added it all up, but that's probably right. And I
    would like to remind you that today finally, at long last, records that
    everybody knew existed that weren't released apparently had been
    released. Apparently, the Republicans finally agreed to release the
    Resolution Trust Corporation report, which spent another $4 million of
    the taxpayers' money to say what we said all along, that there is no
    basis even for a civil action against us, that we told the truth about
    the land agreement we had, that we'd lost the money that we'd said we'd
    lost, that we had nothing to do with operating the savings and loan,
    that we took no money from it, just like we've said all along.
        So I think that's apparently part of the price of this. I tell you,
    I feel a lot worse about all the innocent people who work here who don't
    make particularly high salaries and don't have the net worth that we
    brought here, who had to hire lawyers and pay legal fees too, who were
    completely innocent of any wrongdoing and who have to deal with that.
        I think it is interesting--let me say, I have no objection to--if
    anybody has a question of me, I'll be glad to keep answering them. But I
    do think it is interesting, when you were talking about getting the
    budget balanced and the controversy over Medicare, that this Congress
    has had over 40 hearings on Whitewater and one hearing on its Medicare
    bill. And if you look at--and I think that's an observation worth
    noting. I don't know what it means exactly.
        Yes.

    Budget Negotiations

        Q. Back to the budget for a second. If the Republicans agree to
    reduce their tax cut, would you, in turn, agree to make more cuts in
    Medicare and Medicaid?
        The President. Let me say again, I think it is wrong--first of all,
    I agreed not to discuss the negotiations retrospectively, and I'm having

    [[Page 38]]

    a hard enough time negotiating in private. I can't do it with you as
    well as them.
        But I want to make two comments. First of all, it is important that
    the budget number have integrity. Therefore, it is important that the
    budget number be supported by policies to achieve that number. And I
    will--I have not offered anything that I did not think there was a
    policy to back up, that would actually save money without hurting our
    efforts to provide Medicare to the seniors or to help poor and disabled
    children or the seniors in nursing homes that get the benefit of the
    Medicaid program.
        So that is basically my parameter. And I'm open to new ideas and new
    suggestions on that. We're trying to encourage more people and more
    States to have the option of managed care because we know that will
    lower inflation in the out-years without undermining the integrity of
    the program or the services available. No one knows exactly how much
    savings that will achieve, so we're trying to find a more reasonable
    thing to do on that.
        Now, as a general proposition, I don't think that I or any
    Democrat--and I believe many Republicans--want to be in the position of
    appearing to have cut Medicare and Medicaid to fund an excessive tax
    cut. On the other hand, we can have some modest, but significant, tax
    relief in this budget bill if we do it right.
        Q. Mr. President, back to the economy again. In assuming that
    perhaps some of the pessimism might be justified, as the markets have
    done in the past couple of days, are you willing, first of all, to
    consider a long-term CR that would keep the Government operating but not
    settle the budget question until, as you say, there is an election about
    it? And two, are you willing to pay the economic price of that
    happening, considering the way the markets reacted over the past couple
    of days on news that there may not be a deal?
        The President. Let me give you two answers to that. First of all, if
    that happens, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, and we'll all
    have to talk about it. But every time we have started to talk about what
    would happen if we didn't reach an agreement in our private meetings and
    how we would move from--we stopped after about 2 minutes, because at
    least in the context of our private conversations, no one has wanted to
    acknowledge that we could not reach an agreement for a plan over 7 years
    because we are close enough to do it and because we know we owe it to
    the United States to do it. So I believe we will reach an agreement.
        Now, let me make a comment that I made the other day in a different
    context that I think perhaps I didn't emphasize enough. You now have two
    parties, not one, committed to reducing this deficit until it is
    eliminated. You have a record here of the Democratic President and our
    Democrats in Congress who alone--alone--passed a budget plan in 1993
    that has reduced our deficit by one-half.
        So I would say to the American people and to the financial markets,
    we're going to get this budget deficit down until the budget is
    balanced. But the best way to do it is to sign an agreement now so
    people can see. It's like the man on the moon--the budget will be
    balanced by ``x'' date. And that's what I think we should do. And I
    still believe that we will.

    Tax Cut

        Q. Mr. President, back on the budget, the Republicans propose a tax
    cut; you propose a tax cut. How will a tax cut, a modest tax cut, reduce
    the deficit?
        The President. Well, first of all, the tax cut won't reduce the
    deficit unless it leads to increased growth in the context of a deficit
    reduction plan. If it does lead to increased growth, if it's part of--if
    it's a balanced plan so that the deficit reduction still has
    credibility, then the tax cut can play an important part of that by
    helping to provide some extra income, particularly to hard-pressed
    families with children who have had a more difficult time the last 10 or
    15 years.
        Let me ask you--you could make the same argument about education.
    You could say, well, how can you invest money on education and reduce
    the deficit? You do it because it strengthens the economy over the long
    run.
        So if we target this tax relief particularly to families, to people
    seeking an education, to some of the priorities of the White House
    Conference on Small Business, some of those things that we've all talked
    about that I think we have broad agreement on, it will strengthen
    America, and in so strengthening America, it will make us stronger,
    we'll grow more, and we'll do better. But we have to do it in the
    context of knowing we're going to balance that budget.
        Yes, Peter [Peter Maer, NBC Mutual Radio].

    [[Page 39]]

    Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

        Q. Mr. President, at the height of one of the earlier phases of the
    budget negotiations you made a comment about the tail wagging the dog in
    the House of Representatives. You didn't mention any names that day. So
    I'd like to ask you, what is your assessment of Mr. Gingrich's
    leadership of his troops during the budget fight and, for that matter,
    for the past year of his speakership overall?
         The President. Well, first of all, you have to look and say that
    they've held together pretty well. And you have to give him credit for
    that. He's held them together pretty well on a course that I have often
    disagreed with, but you must give him credit for that.
        The only time that they had a significant breaking of ranks that
    moved toward the Democrats was on some environmental issues that I--and
    of course, I agreed with those who broke because I think we should have
    a stronger environmental policy in the United States than most of them
    do. But otherwise, they've pretty well stayed together.
        Now, on the Government reopening, there were 17 that were, if you
    will, to Mr. Gingrich's right; they wanted to leave the Government
    closed and continue to play out this strategy, which I think was wrong.
    But I think he did the right thing there, just as I believe Senator Dole
    did in abandoning the strategy first. I think that when Speaker Gingrich
    saw that we had a plan that the Congressional Budget Office had scored,
    that I was continuing to work hard with him to reach an agreement, and
    it was wrong to keep the people out of work or have people working and
    not be paid--you know, you never--I say, ``never''--you often don't get
    100 percent.
        So I think he's still clearly the Speaker and clearly the leader of
    that House group. And I think he has a strong hand there.
        Q. Do you think he should be more cautious about comments that
    affect the market like the comment that he made yesterday?
        The President. Well, you know, this is one of those areas where I
    think we all have to take responsibility for ourselves. I don't think I
    should be characterizing that.
        Yes, Mara [Mara Liasson, National Public Radio].

    Whitewater Investigation

        Q. You made a point about being open and cooperative with the
    Special Counsel and the investigating committees, and you've turned over
    tens of thousands of documents. The documents that were recently turned
    over, however, weren't turned over for a very long period of time. I'm
    wondering if you're concerned enough about that delay to look into why
    they weren't turned over, and if you found that any of your staff hadn't
    been cooperative with the committees, what would you recommend to do
    about it?
        The President. Well, first of all, I have no reason to believe that
    anybody on our staff has not been cooperative. And I think that everyone
    who's commented on this from the other side has basically supported
    that.
        Now, on these last two matters, the people who--and let me remind
    you, these documents were not leaked, they were not found by
    investigators. These documents were found by people in the White House
    who turned them over. And the people who are on the committees will have
    every opportunity to ask them what the circumstances were in which they
    were found.
        But we've told everybody that we're in the cooperation business.
    That's what we want to do. We want to get this over with. If I had known
    about these documents at the time they existed, I would have been glad
    to put them in an envelope myself and send them down there, because I
    think to just keep dragging this out is not good and not necessary. So
    I'm--the more the merrier, the quicker the better.
        Q. Mr. President.
        The President. Yes.
        Q. If I could follow up, do you, though, feel you've gotten a
    satisfactory explanation from whatever staff was involved on why they
    were not found, and what was that explanation?
        The President. Well, I have no reason to believe that there was any
    intentional failure to turn them over. I do not know. I want to wait and
    see what happens. They are all going to be given the opportunity to
    explain what the circumstances were. But our rules are clear, and our
    record is clear. I mean, we have literally pushed, I think, over 50,000
    pieces of paper to the committees now and to all the relevant other
    bodies. And we are clearly trying to cooperate.
        Yes, ma'am.

    [[Page 40]]

    1996 Presidential Election

        Q. Mr. President, the New Hampshire primary is now only about 6
    weeks away. Do you plan to formally announce that you intend to run for
    reelection and name a campaign manager and a campaign chairman? And if
    so, when?
        The President. Well, I think people know what my intentions are, but
    I--in due course I will make those announcements.
        I do believe, and I have said this repeatedly, that I think this
    process going on 4 years is too long. Indeed, when I announced for
    President as a virtual unknown in 1991, I didn't do it until October of
    1991. And I just think that the process is too long. And I have a lot of
    work to do here as President. I'm trying to work with Senator Dole and
    Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Armey and others to get an agreement on the
    balanced budget. I am very concerned about making sure that things are
    going as they should in Bosnia. And I want to do my job as long as I
    can. But there will be plenty of time for politics this year. I imagine
    that everybody will be glad when the next election is done.

    Debt Limit

        Q. Mr. President, no budget deal could well mean no increase in the
    Government's borrowing authority. And I'm wondering whether you are
    willing to risk default as one of the costs of having no deal, or
    whether you're willing to invoke some emergency powers to increase that
    authority, even though the Treasury has been concerned that they may not
    have the legal basis to do that?
        The President. Well, the Secretary of the Treasury has done a very
    good job in managing that so far and has not done anything that he has
    not been told he's on solid ground in doing. I think it would be wrong
    and almost inconceivable for the United States to default on its debt.
    It was bad enough to shut the Government down. It was harmful to the
    American people and to the good people who work for the Federal
    Government. That was wrong as part of some sort of strategy. And this
    would be wrong. We have never refused to pay our debts. We are a great
    nation, and I don't believe we'll do that.
        Q. Mr. President, following up on that, with the debt limit so close
    at hand, it's not one of the issues that can be put off until November.
    Secretary Rubin, for example, says in a few weeks we may face another
    crunch. Are you actively negotiating anything on the debt limit that
    could resolve it well ahead of some of the other budget issues that
    might be delayed until November?
        The President. Well, we have had very serious discussions within the
    context of the budget talks. And obviously, if there is a budget
    agreement, everyone assumes it will be resolved. But I believe it will
    be resolved regardless, because it would be wrong not to do it. It would
    be simply wrong.

    Federal Reserve Board Chairman

        Q. Mr. President, a question about Alan Greenspan. As you know, his
    term is due to expire in a couple of months. Can you tell us when you
    plan to make a decision about whether you will nominate him for another
    term, what factors you are going to consider, and whether one of those
    factors would be the potential instability in the financial markets if
    you decided to nominate someone else?
        The President. I have to make that decision within a couple of
    months, as you pointed out, and I'm going to follow my standard practice
    and tell you that I will make that decision in an appropriate way and
    announce it at the appropriate time. Obviously, I have done what I could
    to show the American people that we have a responsible Government. We
    are bringing the deficit down. We are looking out for the long-term
    health of the American economy, and we've had, I believe, the
    appropriate relationship with the Federal Reserve. And that's why we're
    still growing the economy without inflation.

    Budget Negotiations

        Q. Mr. President, do you see any danger to the economy if there is
    no budget deal this year at all, such as a recession?
        The President. There should not be. We have the lowest combined
    rates of inflation and unemployment in 27 years now. We have worked very
    hard to keep unemployment going down, keep it well down under 6 percent,
    and to keep the inflation low. The underlying fundamentals are good. And
    our economic analysts say that they expect continued growth with no
    inflation in 1996.

    [[Page 41]]

        I think it would--let me just say this: I think that if we could get
    a budget agreement, it would be better for the economy, because I think
    it would be a spur for even lower interest rates and to have a longer
    recovery with longer, more stable growth. So I don't know that anything
    bad will happen if we don't get it, but it would be considerably better
    if we did.
        And let me say again, if we decide that what we want to do is to
    balance the budget in 7 years--I have demonstrated with this letter I
    keep showing you that Congress has said that I have a plan to do it;
    they have a plan to do it; we are closer together than we were by far
    when these talks began. We can balance the budget. In order to do that,
    some of the differences between me and the Congress over some of these
    issues will have to be taken out of that budget agreement and deferred
    for the election. But that's what elections are for. We should not make
    the perfect the enemy of the good. Let me say that again: We should not
    make the perfect the enemy of the good. It is a good thing to balance
    the budget. It is a good thing to have the right kind of tax cut.
        If there are other matters that cannot be resolved, we should defer
    them, have an election about them, let the American people make their
    judgments. Meanwhile, all of us, whatever happens in the next election,
    will always be able to say we passed a credible balanced budget plan; we
    passed a reasonable tax cut; we did what was right for America; and we
    didn't undermine our obligations in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and
    the environment.

    1996 Election Issues

        Q. Mr. President, as I recall, you once told the Republicans that if
    they wanted to pass these ideological changes, they'd have to have
    someone else behind the Oval Office desk to sign them into law. Is that
    what this boils down to, you putting your Presidency on the line for the
    budgetary items and the Government programs you believe in? And isn't
    that what the Speaker is saying, that these have--isn't he saying that
    these have to be resolved before they'll do any budget, other than
    continuing resolutions?
        The President. But the point I'm trying to make--that is what I
    said. And if you look at the context in which I said it, at the
    proposals they then had on the table, already they have moved on that.
    And I have made a good faith effort to come toward them. But that's what
    you have elections about.
        The way democracies work--and particularly the way ours has worked
    for 200 years--is that people of good faith and honest differences
    attempt to reconcile their differences. And then when they can't, they
    attempt to do what they can and then let the voters resolve their
    differences that they can't resolve at election time. The important
    thing now is that all the American people know that one of the
    differences we do not have to resolve is whether we should pass a
    credible balanced budget plan. That can be done. That can be done in no
    time. We have already--both sides have agreed to well over--well over
    $600 billion in spending reductions. We have agreed to more than enough
    to balance the budget in 7 years and still give a modest tax cut. So
    that is no longer at issue.
        My view is we should do both those things. We should pass the
    balanced budget. We should give a modest tax cut. We should put the
    other differences off for the election. That's what elections are for.
    But that's not an excuse for us to lay down on the job now. The people
    hired us to show up for work every day. I mean, to say, well, we're not
    going to do anything until the people vote in November--this is not a
    parliamentary system. This is the American system, and it requires us
    responsibly to do what we can to set aside our partisan differences when
    we have an agreement and not hold up the good things waiting for what we
    believe are the better things. The better things, we can debate those in
    the election.
        Q. Mr. President, what are the issues you think should be deferred
    to the election? You've mentioned Medicare and Medicaid several times as
    things you just can't tolerate that degree of cut.
        The President. Well, I think the--and the structure of Medicare. You
    know, we can try some experiments, but to fundamentally change the
    structure of Medicare so that it would no longer be a recognizable
    guarantee for our seniors, I think that is going too far in the
    direction of just turning it over to insurance companies and other
    private providers.
        Whether Medicaid should be a block grant instead of a guarantee from
    the Nation to our poor and disabled children and to seniors in nursing
    homes, that's something I think could be deferred to the election. But
    we can make an 80 percent agreement because I am in favor

    [[Page 42]]

    of letting the States have much more flexibility in the way they run the
    program.
        Or some of the environmental aspects of their plan that I do not
    believe properly belong in that. I don't see why we should cloud this
    budget agreement with controversial items like whether we should drill
    in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Those things are not necessary
    to balance the budget.
        Q. Is that to say then, sir, that Medicaid and----

    Debt Limit

        Q. What can you say to U.S. investors to allay their fears that a
    debt limit will be increased? And do you feel that the Republicans
    actually understand what they're playing with?
        The President. Well, I hope they do. Normally they say they're more
    pro-business than I am. I dispute that. I think that this administration
    has been very good for American business. But I will say again: It would
    be wrong for the Congress not to extend the debt limit so that we can
    pay our bills. As a country, a great country, we have never done that.
    We have never let the financial markets be in any doubt; we have never
    let the citizens who hold our debt be in any doubt that America is as
    good as its word, and we pay our bills. And I believe in the end that's
    what we'll do.

    Earned-Income Tax Credit

        Q. What are your policy--Mr. President, what are your policy
    concerns and parameters around the earned-income tax credit?
        The President. Well, my policies are simple. The earned-income tax
    credit was first enacted, I believe, under a Republican President, Mr.
    Ford. I believe that either President Bush or President Reagan expanded
    it a little bit. President Reagan said it was the best antipoverty
    program in the last 30 years. So this has always had strong bipartisan
    support. When I became President, I asked the Congress to roughly double
    the earned-income tax credit because I wanted to say, ``If you work 40
    hours a week and you have a child in your home, no matter how low your
    wage is, you will not live in poverty. You will not be taxed into
    poverty. The tax system will lift you out of poverty.'' I wanted to do
    that because I thought it was pro-work and pro-family, and because I
    thought it would encourage people to leave welfare and come to work.
        Now, in the last 3 years we've had a decline in the welfare rolls, a
    decline in the food stamp rolls, a decline in the poverty rolls. That
    didn't all happen because of the earned-income tax credit, but it made a
    contribution. They believe there are some abuses in it; so do I. We have
    agreed on savings from abuse. There are disputes. Should single workers
    get a modest earned-income tax credit even though they don't have
    children? Many of them say no. I believe they should because if you're
    out there working, even if you're single, with minimum wage, your
    payroll--or even above minimum wage--your payroll tax will be much
    bigger than your income tax. And those folks are having a hard time
    keeping body and soul together. The vast majority of this money goes to
    people with children.
        There are some other questions there that we could debate, but the
    core principle is the one I want to maintain. I think the United States
    ought to be able to say if you're out there working like you should full
    time and you have a child when you come home from work, you ought not to
    have to raise that child in poverty. That is the principle behind the
    program and the one to which I want to adhere.
        I'll take one more.

    Whitewater Related Legal Bills

        Q. Mr. President, another Whitewater related question. Money
    magazine recently reported that you owe some $1.6 million in unpaid
    legal bills----
        The President. That's just what he said.
        Q. ----related mostly to Whitewater investigations. Is it fair that
    taxpayers could end up paying some of those legal bills?
        The President. Well, this is a--as I understand the law, the
    taxpayers won't pay any of the bills, because I'm not a target of the
    investigation, which the American people might find interesting to know.
    As I understand it, the Federal Government doesn't reimburse people's
    legal bills unless--I think one of the Cabinet members in a previous
    administration got some legal bills reimbursed because he was a target
    of an investigation and then was either acquitted or not charged or
    something.
        So I am assuming that I will be responsible in some form or fashion
    for those legal bills. But as I said, I didn't run for this office for
    the money. And I feel badly that 20 years of our hard effort and savings
    may go away. We've

    [[Page 43]]

    received some help from some people who, as you know, have contributed
    to the legal expense fund.
        But if I stay healthy, I'll be able to pay my bills and earn a
    pretty good living. I'm far more concerned about the legal bills of
    other people that are much--they're smaller legal bills, but for them
    it's a lot of money. So I'm a lot more concerned about them than myself.
        Yes, sir. One more.

    Budget Negotiations

        Q. Could you clarify something, sir? Some of your answers today seem
    to suggest that you might agree with Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Dole that it
    might well take another election to resolve this whole budget deal.
        The President. No, I disagree with that. I completely disagree with
    that.
        Q. So you believe then, sir, that this is not going to go on and on
    and on. I mean, can you predict right now that by the State of the Union
    Address----
        The President. Let me just say that if it's up to me, I will do
    everything I can to keep it from going on and on. That is, we know you
    have now two plans that the Congressional Budget Office has certified.
    You just have to take my word for it, because we promised not to discuss
    the negotiations, but we've moved closer together. We are not that far
    apart on the money. As a percentage of the total monies that will be
    spent in the categories at issue, we probably are warring over less than
    2 percent now. But in terms of the policies and the human impact, the
    potential is very great in that money that's left. So there are policy
    differences left.
        Now, what I'm saying to you is we owe it to the American people to
    pass a balanced budget deal and to do it now, because we have both
    identified more than enough savings to do it and to have the tax cut. We
    should agree on everything we possibly can. Then those things we can't
    we should defer to the next election. But when the voters vote in the
    next election they should have no doubt that their budget is going to be
    balanced and that Medicare and Medicaid and education and the
    environment are going to be protected; that the country is going to be
    stronger, that we are moving in the right direction and that here are
    these two very different sets of views about how we can best meet the
    challenges of the future. You decide, make your judgment, and you're
    still in the driver's seat. But meanwhile, we did what we were hired to
    do and what we said we would do, which is to balance the budget.
        We have to adjourn, but let me just say this before I quit--where's
    Charlie Tasnadi? Where are you? Where are you? This is his--after 32
    years working for AP, this is his very last Presidential press
    conference. Thanks for doing a great job. Let's give him a big hand.
    [Applause] I'm not sure you're old enough to retire, but there are some
    days when I can understand why you decided to. [Laughter]
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President's 113th news conference began at 4 p.m. in the East
    Room at the White House. A portion of this news conference could not be
    verified because the tape was incomplete.