[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[January 5, 1996]
[Pages 10-12]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 10]]


Remarks to Senior Citizens at St. Monica's Episcopal Church
January 5, 1996

    Well, let me first thank Father Darko for his comments and for the 
work being done here at St. Monica's Church. I was hoping he'd say 
something--I've never seen a preacher pass up a podium. [Laughter] And 
I'm glad he didn't. [Laughter]
    I want to thank the Friendship House for the leadership shown in 
being a true friend to our seniors. I want to thank all of you 
especially for working for this Meals on Wheels program. And I want to 
thank all of you for making me feel so welcome--me and, of course, the 
members of our administration: the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. 
Glickman; the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary Shalala; 
Assistant Secretary Fernando Torres-Gil. And of course, we're joined 
here by Senator Leahy and by Congress--from Vermont, he came all the way 
from Vermont. And those that--he brought his wife with him, and she's a 
nurse. So if I get sick she can help me get out of here. [Laughter]
    I'm delighted that Mayor Barry joined us, and it's good to see you 
in good health, Mayor. And I want to say a special word of thanks to 
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for the brilliant job she's done in 
sticking up for these programs in the Congress. I want to thank this 
fine couple that run this program here for the work they have done.
    And I want to say a word of thanks especially to the folks who sat 
at my table and talked to me about this program and about Medicare and 
about what all is going on. I got a pretty good education. [Laughter] 
And I think most of what they said to me is true. Now--but the lady 
sitting next to me, she swears that she is 93 years old. [Laughter] You 
know, usually when somebody doesn't tell the truth about their age, 
they're kind of turning it low. But I'm not sure she didn't exaggerate a 
little bit. [Laughter] She looks awful young to me. And I thank you so 
much.
    I know all of you know this, but all across this great country of 
ours, there are seniors like you and others who depend upon meals like 
this that are federally funded. In one year alone, more than 230 million 
of these meals are served to seniors all across America. And for a lot 
of seniors, this is the only really good, warm, nutritious meal they get 
every day. Now, these meals are one of the things that are threatened by 
the shutdown that was forced by the Republicans in the House of 
Representatives.
    This strategy has been abandoned, I want to say, by the Senate 
Republicans led by Senator Dole, and was never supported by the 
Democrats in the Senate and the House. And I want to thank all of them 
for not supporting that. And I understand that there are others in the 
House among the Republicans who may want to abandon it or change it.
    But unless we do something within days, the regular Federal funds 
for the senior meals program, including the Meals on Wheels, could dry 
up. State and local charities all across America are stepping in to help 
in some cases, but the future of these meals programs could be at risk, 
and that would literally be a disaster for the lives of a lot of senior 
citizens in America. And we cannot allow that.
    Where I can, as all of you know, I have acted in this crisis to keep 
services going to the American people. And today I am going to take some 
action that will keep providing food to these senior centers even if the 
Congress doesn't correct the problem today. I agree with Father Darko; 
this is not a politically sensitive program. This is a people program. 
It shouldn't have anything to do with politics. This has been a program 
that people in both parties have supported, and it ought to be again.
    But in the event that Congress does not fix this problem, I am 
instructing the Secretary of Agriculture to provide temporary funding to 
help these centers continue to serve meals. And they have--Secretary 
Glickman can explain to the press later--they have some money that can 
be put into this meals program to keep it going for quite some time, to 
make sure that you don't get caught up in this, and we intend to do it.
    We've been able to do some other things like this. We got some money 
through the low-income heating assistance programs to some of the States 
that are having such a cold winter, where there are a lot of seniors and 
some younger people who are living in homes that are poorly heated and 
without a little extra help

[[Page 11]]

would have a hard time dealing with this cold winter.
    But I want to make it clear that even if we can solve this problem 
for an extended period of time, there are some problems that cannot be 
solved unless the Government is just opened back up. All the furloughed 
employees--we have one furloughed Federal employee here--they ought to 
be brought back to work, and those that are working ought to be paid. 
The services that they are instructed to provide that we all agree are 
going to be provided when we get a final budget agreement ought to be 
provided. This has never been done before in the history of the country, 
and we shouldn't continue to do it now.
    This shutdown is hurting people in every State in America. And as I 
said before, there are some things that I can do to help, like the 
heating assistance program or like keeping this Meals on Wheels program 
going. But some of these things require action by Congress. Now, today 
they said, as Father Darko said, that they might bring the Federal 
employees back and they might pay them but not let them do very much. 
And they might continue some of the so-called politically sensitive 
programs. I don't want to minimize that. That is a step in the right 
direction. Better to have this than not; that is a step in the right 
direction.
    But you should also know that there are now 20,000 young people who 
have applications for home mortgages in to the Federal Government who 
can't close those mortgages because of this shutdown. And they may lose 
those homes, their chance to buy a home. There are I think now $40 
million--$40 million in small business loans held up, because the Small 
Business Administration guarantees those loans, that would prevent 
people from starting their businesses and hiring people. And we need 
more small businesses being started. We need to create jobs for our 
people.
    There are any number of toxic waste dumps that large numbers of 
American children live near that ought to be cleaned up. And all the 
cleanup work has just been stopped in neighborhoods all across America.
    Now, this is wrong. It's wrong. And it amounts to cruel and unusual 
punishment, not only for all the people who need these services but for 
all the rest of the people in this country who pay the taxes for them. 
They are not getting what they paid for, and the people are not getting 
the services that have been authorized.
    I want to say again this--this is one of the things that came up at 
our lunch when one of the folks at the table said, ``I thank you for 
standing firm''--this shutdown does not have anything to do with 
balancing the budget. I have pledged to the Republicans--I gave my word, 
and I was raised in an old-fashioned home in an old-fashioned time, 
maybe, but I still think when you tell somebody you're going to do 
something, you ought to do everything you can to do it. That's the way I 
was raised. I gave them my word I would work with them to pass a plan 
which would bring our Federal budget into balance in 7 years, according 
to the estimates of the Congress. I gave them my word I would do that; I 
have been doing that.
    The last time there was a crisis like this the Government didn't 
shut down, but there was a budget crisis about 5 years ago and the 
President at that time was involved in those negotiations for about a 
half an hour. I have spent days and days and days working with the 
leaders of Congress, and I will do it some more. I was ready yesterday. 
We missed a day yesterday.
    But this threat of the shutdown--as much as I hate to see people 
furloughed, as much as I hate to see people working and not getting 
paid, as much as I hate to see these young people not getting their 
homes and these businesses not being funded--we've even got businesses 
that have jobs that depend on their getting permission from the 
Government to sell their products overseas, and they can't get 
permission. They may have to lay people off when they could be hiring 
people.
    I hate to see all that. But that cannot affect a single, solitary 
decision I make on what kind of a balanced budget plan we're going to 
have. Because that's this year and now, but if we're going to make plans 
for 7 years I have to know that if we're going to balance the budget, we 
are going to protect the Medicare program, the Medicaid program, the 
education of our children, the environment that we all share, and that 
we're not going to raise taxes on the hardest pressed working families.
    Now, we can balance the budget and protect all that. And that's what 
I'm trying to do. And I am behaving in these negotiations exactly as I 
would be behaving if the Government was running and if you didn't have 
to think about the Meals on Wheels program and if nobody

[[Page 12]]

was being furloughed. But I want you to know, as much as I hate to see 
these problems, I cannot change a single, solitary decision I would 
make, because you don't want me to make a bad decision for the long run 
because of a problem we've got in the short run.
    So the time has come to stop playing politics with this. Let's do 
what our country has always done: Let the Government go on and perform 
its basic services, and let's get back to work. Every day we miss in 
these negotiations is a day we're putting off balancing the budget. 
Let's just go back to work, roll up our sleeves, balance a budget, but 
do it in a way that protects the fundamental interests of the American 
people. That's what I'm trying to do.
    And I hope by coming here today--and I not only got a very good 
meal--[laughter]--and had a lot of conversations. Lots of days I just 
eat lunch alone at my desk. I had much more fun today than I normally 
do. [Laughter] But I hope we will send a message across this country 
that this is a good and worthy program. And if the House of 
Representatives votes to put it back into funding today, we will applaud 
them and give them a pat on the back. But we want to go all the way. We 
shouldn't have any of the essential functions of Government shut down.
    You know, those young people ought to be able to get loans to start 
their businesses. Those folks ought to be able to get permission from 
the Government to sell our products to foreign countries. We're all 
buying things from other countries here every day. We ought to be 
selling our things overseas. And those young families that are having a 
chance because interest rates are low to move into homes for the first 
time, they ought to be able to do it. We should not leave this work 
undone.
    So again I say thank you. If you need it, we're going to provide the 
money to keep the Meals on Wheels program going. And we will be there. 
But I think what we all want is for our country to stop--stop all this 
political squabbling in Washington, put all the partisanship aside, and 
get back to the work of balancing the budget in a way that protects our 
obligations to our parents and our children and to the future of this 
country.
    We can do this. This is a very great country. This is hardly the 
biggest problem we ever faced. We can do it, and do it right if we'll do 
it in the kind of spirit that I have felt in this room today.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:34 p.m. in the Rectory Hall. In his 
remarks, he referred to Rev. Daniel Darko, pastor, St. Monica's 
Episcopal Church, and Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, DC.