    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 15, 1997]
    [Pages 958-960]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange
    With Reporters
    July 15, 1997

        The President. First of all, I want to welcome the congressional
    leadership here. I am glad to be back home. Last week was a truly
    historic week not only for NATO and Europe but for the United States.
    And the meeting we had in Madrid, I'm convinced, 50 years from now will
    be looked back on as a very wise decision to admit new members and take
    on new missions and establish new partnerships for NATO.
        I want to say a special word of thanks to all who were responsible
    for the bipartisan delegation from both the Senate and House that went
    to the NATO meeting. And in particular, I'd like to thank Senator Roth,
    who is here, who was the chair of the delegation and who actually spoke
    to the North Atlantic Council and did a terrific job. So it was a very,
    very good thing.
        Now that we're back here, I think that clearly the first order of
    business is to go on with the work of balancing the budget in a way that
    is consistent with the agreement we made and consistent with our
    strategy, since 1993,\1\ of cutting what can be cut, investing in our
    people, and trying to grow this economy.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ White House correction.
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        There are some I have heard since I've been gone who have argued
    that since the deficit has dropped dramatically, it will somehow
    disappear just if we leave the '93 plan in place and don't do anything
    else. I have to say that I emphatically disagree with that. It is true
    that the deficit has dropped more than we predicted it would in '93, and
    we're proud of that. But I think it is plainly wrong that, number one--
    Frank Raines told me just this morning that if we did nothing, it
    wouldn't--the budget would not balance.
        Number two, let me be quite specific about the kind of agreement
    that we have reached here. This agreement has $900 billion in spending
    reduction over 10 years. It has entitlement reforms that have to be
    made, and even after that, there will be more to be done to try to save
    Medicare and the other entitlements over the long run. It pays for the
    biggest increase in education and children's health in over 30 years,
    which would not occur, I'm convinced, in the ordinary appropriations
    process. It pays

    [[Page 959]]

    for tax cuts, and we still have some disagreement about that, but I
    think we'll reach agreement on tax cuts that fund the education portion
    of the budget agreement. And I believe it should also give the
    children's tax credit to hard-pressed working families.
        I think that we should be careful not to let the deficit explode. I
    think that we should--I hope that I can persuade the Congress to embrace
    the specific provisions relating to redevelopment of our urban areas and
    our poorest rural areas, because I think we have to change from the
    social service model for the poor inner cities to an economic
    development, growth, and private business model. So I hope we can do
    that. But the idea that we don't have to do anything, I think, is dead
    wrong.
        The last thing I'd like to say is confidence in this economy keeps
    it growing and keeps people investing in it, and if we pass another
    budget agreement and it has credibility, we'll have more confidence,
    more investment, and we'll keep it going.
        So I'm looking forward to this opportunity to work with the Members
    of Congress. And perhaps they would like to say a word or two, and then
    we'll answer a question or two.
        Mr. Speaker, would you like to go first?

    [At this point, House Speaker Newt Gingrich made brief remarks.]

        The President. Senator?

    [Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott made brief remarks.]

        Q. Mr. President, why do you think--
        The President. Just a minute.
        Mr. Daschle?

    [Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle made brief remarks.]

        The President. Mr. Gephardt?

    [House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt made brief remarks.]

    Budget Agreement

        Q. Mr. President, what do you think of the Republicans saying that
    your tax cuts fall short of the budget agreement, $20 billion or so?
        The President. Well, as I understand, it has something to do with
    the calculation of whether someone who's getting the earned-income tax
    credit, if they got the child credit, would be getting a spending or a
    tax cut. But we'll work through all that.
        I don't want to get into a big negotiation here; I can just say
    this. I think we ought to give a tax cut to the people making $22,000,
    $24,000, $25,000 a year who have children. They're still paying taxes
    quite--all these people--a majority of American taxpayers pay more in
    payroll taxes than they do in income taxes anyway these days. And I
    think we've just got to work together in good faith and try to find a
    way to work through it. I think we will.
        Q. Mr. President, do you hope to leave the room today having
    convinced the Speaker and Leader Gephardt to embrace the Medicare
    changes that are in the Senate proposal, the age increase and the means
    testing?
        The President. Well, as you know, on principle I support means
    testing. The House has spoken overwhelmingly on the age increase. The
    problem I have with the age increase is that one of the biggest
    difficulties we have today with Americans without health insurance are
    people who retire early at 55 and lose their employer-based health
    insurance and then, because they've had--they've been somewhat ill or
    had problems, can't get other health insurance until they qualify for
    Medicare. So if we're going to raise the age limit, we need to have some
    idea of how those people would be insured. And I don't know that we do
    now. That's been my problem with that.
        But I would hope we can agree to some sort of a premium that's
    enforceable and that's fair and that doesn't drive people out of the
    Medicare system.
        Q. Mr. President, will you explicitly tell the leadership here what
    might make you veto a tax cut bill, and do you want to tell us?
    [Laughter]
        The President. Probably not. [Laughter] Look, I think--wait a
    minute--let me just say, we have lots of negotiating sessions. I have
    been very ably represented. I don't think I've ever had any better
    representation in any negotiations than our team has provided this time.
    And we're going to work through this.
        But it does not serve the American people well if we explicitly and
    publicly turn this into the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Now what we're
    trying to do is to find a way to work through our differences so we get
    a bill that they can all vote for and I can sign and we can celebrate
    for the country. And that's what we're trying

    [[Page 960]]

    to do. We all have our bottom lines. They have their bottom lines; I
    have mine. And we're going to see if we can't reconcile them all and go
    forward. We're doing the best we can.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, are you worried about a possible Bosnian Serb
    backlash to the arrests of accused war criminals there, sir?
        The President. Well, I'm concerned about it, of course I am. But the
    representatives of the Serbs signed the Dayton agreement as well. They
    signed the Dayton agreement, and the Dayton agreement says that if
    someone is charged with a war crime, they should be turned over and
    subject to trial. Now, they plainly--it also says that if the SFOR
    troops come in regular contact with those people that they can be
    arrested.
        Now, they have clearly not complied with that provision of the
    Dayton agreement in terms they've made no effort to help us get any of
    these people. And so--but they have no call to take any retaliatory
    action, and it would be a grave mistake to do so.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House.