    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 9, 1999]
    [Pages 2026-2027]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Budget Negotiations and an Exchange With Reporters
    November 9, 1999

        The President. Good morning. We're about to begin a Cabinet meeting
    that will be a briefing on the current state of the budget negotiations.
    As I think all of you know, our budget negotiators have been meeting
    with congressional leaders almost around the clock in an effort to
    complete our work and produce a budget that reflects the values of our
    people, lives within our means, and looks to the future.
        We are seeing encouraging signs of real progress in our efforts to
    put 50,000 community police officers on our streets and keep the crime
    rate coming down, in our new markets initiative that seeks to bring
    investment to areas of our country that have not participated fully in
    our prosperity, in our efforts to preserve and protect our environment.
    We are even seeing the first signs of agreement.
        But there's still a lot of work to be done, a number of critical
    priorities yet to be resolved. Most important is the commitment to a
    quality education and our agreement to hire 100,000 new highly qualified
    teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. We will keep working
    with Congress to keep the promise that both of us made to the people of
    America last year.
        The Senate's voting on a minimum wage bill today. I urge them to
    pass a bill that helps more Americans into the circle of opportunity and
    to do it in a way that does not give unfair and excessive tax breaks to
    special interests. Congress also needs to pass a strong hate crimes bill
    to protect more of our citizens from violence and bigotry.
        And I am hopeful that we can resolve these issues and the other
    remaining issues, especially the one involving United Nations dues, so
    that we can complete our work. It's still possible that we can complete
    our work in the next few days and get out of here. And we're working
    hard; Mr. Lew's working hard particularly, and
    Mr. Podesta and Mr. Ricchetti and others, and I thank them for their efforts.
    And I'm going to give the Cabinet an update.

    [[Page 2027]]

    Education Legislation

        Q.  Mr. President, on education, what is really wrong with the
    Republican idea of giving the money to the school districts and letting
    them decide whether to buy computers or hire new teachers?
         The President. Well, first of all, we have done a great deal for
    the school districts on computers, and in 4 years we went from 4 of our
    school districts wired to 51 percent.
        Secondly, there is flexibility--Secretary Riley might want to answer this--but there's flexibility in that
    bill if the schools get their classes down. But Secretary Riley brought
    that study with him today, we mentioned yesterday, that gives clear
    evidence that smaller classes in the early grades have permanent
    learning benefits. And I think that we need to stay with that.
        We don't have enough money to spend, in my judgment, to risk wasting
    any of it. And when the educators and local school leaders and all the
    educational research agree that something needs to be done and we
    allocate the money for it, I don't think we should turn around and break
    the commitment and just say, ``We'll give you a blank check. We don't
    really care what happens to the money.'' We can't afford to waste a
    penny of the money we spend on education.

    UnitedHealthcare

        Q. Mr. President, what do you think of a major HMO deciding that
    doctors should say whether you're sick or well?
        The President. Good for them. I applaud them. And they're large
    enough that they might be really able to do it and have an impact on
    this.
        You know--Secretary Shalala can maybe
    refresh my memory, but as I remember, when we outlined the principles
    for a Patients' Bill of Rights in the commission that Secretary Shalala,
    Secretary Herman headed, I think there
    were--I don't know--14 or 15 HMO's that agreed right then, but some of
    them were not big enough to basically withstand the economic competition
    if they did it and others didn't. So I think it's a wonderful thing
    they've done, and I hope it's the first step toward a resolution of this
    issue.

    Situation in Chechnya

        Q. Mr. President, on Russia and its actions in Chechnya, are you
    comfortable that they are responding to your appeals for humanitarian
    concerns, as far as civilian casualties, in that situation there?
        The President. I don't think you can use the words ``comfortable''
    and ``Chechnya'' in the same sentence, in any way. All I can tell you is
    that we will continue to press for a minimization of civilian casualties
    and a maximum use of negotiated options to settle this. I think in the
    end, there will have to be a political solution, and I hope that the end
    will come sooner rather than later, so fewer people will die.
        Q. But are they responding to you, sir, when you ask them not----
        The President. Well, I think the United States and the rest of the
    world, the more we ask, the more likely it is to occur at a sooner date.
    But I don't know--I think that if I--however I answer that minimizes the
    chances that we'll have any influence over the decisions, because I
    think no country wants to be seen as giving in to pressure from another
    country. But I think they are listening.
        Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Thank you,
    everybody.

    President's Visit to Greece

        Q. Are you confident there will be good security in Greece when you
    go there?
        The President. Oh, I think so. You know, I know that Greece has a
    long and rich history of communists, anarchists, others on the left,
    demonstrating, and they all disagreed with my position in Kosovo, as you
    know. But the United States and Greece are allies not only in NATO but
    in many other important ways.
        We want very badly to see a resolution of the tensions between
    Greece and Turkey in the Aegean and especially over Cyprus. And I think
    all Greeks share that hope without regard to their political views. So I
    expect the demonstrations, and I'm not troubled by them, and I think
    that the security issues will be fine.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:02 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House prior to a meeting with Cabinet members. A tape was not available
    for verification of the content of these remarks.