[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[January 20, 1996]
[Pages 72-74]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
January 20, 1996

    Good morning. Before I speak with you this morning about our budget, 
I want to take just a moment to remember someone very special, a 
national treasure our Nation lost this week, former Texas Congresswoman 
Barbara Jordan, the first African-American woman elected to Congress 
from the South.
    In her years in public service, she gave voice to our national 
conscience and brought reasoned thought and eloquence to even the most 
emotional debates. After she left the Congress, she went home to Texas 
to teach at the University of Texas and to continue her work in public 
service. I appointed her to chair the United States Commission on 
Immigration Reform. And

[[Page 73]]

Barbara Jordan was very instrumental in the progress we have made in 
tightening our border to keep illegal immigrants out and securing our 
workplace for American citizens and legal immigrants.
    In developing a comprehensive system to keep us both a nation of 
immigrants and a nation of laws, her work was pure Barbara Jordan: fair, 
principled, and strong. Our Nation has lost a great American, a 
stateswoman, a representative of the people with a powerful voice and a 
great spirit. And many of us have lost a friend and an inspiration. We, 
the people, will greatly miss her.
    Now I'd like to talk about our efforts to reach common ground on a 
balanced budget, a balanced budget that also protects Medicare, 
Medicaid, education, and the environment, and does not raise taxes on 
working families. The budget talks are suspended now because the 
Republican congressional leaders walked away from the table. I wish they 
hadn't done that, and I hope they'll come back, and soon, because I 
believe our goal can be met. After all, we've both agreed on enough 
savings to balance the budget in 7 years according to the Congress' own 
estimates, without having to hurt our economy or sacrifice the values 
that I've talked about.
    That's what we ought to do: balance the budget, protect the things 
we're committed to protect. And we ought not to delay in getting on with 
the people's business. In less than a week now, the Republican Congress 
could once again shut down our Government for the third time in 2 
months. I urge them not to do that. In the last shutdown alone, the 
Federal Housing Administration was unable to insure single family home 
loans for tens of thousands of deserving applicants. Many, many 
thousands of citizens couldn't get passports. Some veterans couldn't get 
benefits. Many Medicare claims couldn't be processed. Small businesses--
lots of them--couldn't get loans to create new jobs. Environmental 
cleanup actions were halted.
    The shutdown also put hundreds of thousands of Federal workers with 
families to support under a horrible strain. Like most American workers, 
most of them live paycheck to paycheck. They simply cannot afford a 
third shutdown, and they don't deserve it.
    Let's remember, since I've been President we have reduced the size 
of the United States Government by 205,000 employees. Your Government 
has closed thousands and thousands of offices, eliminated hundreds of 
programs. It's now the smallest Federal Government since 1965. As a 
percentage of our work force, it's the smallest Federal Government since 
1933. You probably didn't know that. And one big reason is that the 
Federal employees who have been left behind are working harder, working 
smarter, and doing a better job for you. They deserve to be able to do 
their work and not to be thrown out of work.
    Two Government shutdowns so far have cost taxpayers about a billion-
and-a-half dollars--a billion-and-a-half dollars. That's not Monopoly 
money. Shutting down the Government again would be unbelievably 
irresponsible. So again I say to the Republican Congress, don't do that. 
We can't afford to bleed money and productivity at a time when we should 
be putting all our efforts into saving money, serving the American 
people, strengthening our economy, and moving forward.
    I also urge the Congress to deal responsibly with the Federal debt 
ceiling. Congress should never threaten to default on America's debts. 
I'm encouraged that Republican leaders have acknowledged that Congress 
should not put the creditworthiness of the United States at risk in our 
budget negotiations. And we look forward to working with the 
congressional leadership to draft a clean debt limit increase, to allow 
the United States to meet our obligations and maintain our integrity.
    I am committed--let me say again, I am committed--to finishing the 
job of balancing the budget. I have gone the extra mile in our talks. 
The Republicans asked for a 7-year plan to balance the budget; I gave 
them a plan. They asked that we use the figures from the Congressional 
Budget Office. Even though I disagreed with them, I did that, too. I 
tried every way I can to accommodate Republican demands and bargain in 
good faith. But there are areas of disagreement, and they involve far 
more than money. They involve our values and different visions about 
what kind of people we're going to be and how we're going to get to the 
next century.
    The Republicans insist on cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and 
the environment that I believe are unwarranted. I know they're not 
necessary to balance the budget. They admit they're not necessary to 
balance the budget. And I believe they violate our commitment to our 
children, our parents, and our future. Among

[[Page 74]]

other things, their proposals would raise Medicare premiums; repeal 
Medicaid's guarantee of adequate medical coverage for pregnant women, 
people with disabilities, children, and older Americans; cut our efforts 
to keep drugs and violence out of public schools and to help schools 
reach high national standards of excellence in learning; and 
dramatically cut the enforcement of environmental laws to keep our air 
and water clean. My budget shows we don't need these drastic steps, and 
we can still give a modest tax cut to people who need it.
    We can end this budget stalemate. Both the Republican leaders and I 
have already agreed to more than $700 billion in savings. That is more 
than enough to balance the budget in 7 years. We can give the American 
people their balanced budget and a modest tax cut. They deserve it, and 
we ought to do that immediately.
    So let me say again to the Republicans: We don't agree on 
everything, but we agree on a lot. And we agree on more than enough to 
balance the budget, so let's do it. Come on back to the table. Don't 
shut the Government down. Don't make America default on its debt. Let's 
do the right thing. My door is open. Let's talk. Let's get the job done 
for the American people.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:49 p.m. on January 19 in the 
Roosevelt Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 
20.