    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 18, 1999]
    [Pages 2107-2109]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Budget Agreement and an Exchange With Reporters in
    Istanbul
    November 18, 1999

        The President. I am very pleased that our administration and the
    Congress have reached agreement on the first budget of the 21st century.
    This budget is a victory, and a hard-won victory, for the American
    people. It is a victory for our children who now will have better
    education; a victory for our families who deserve the safer streets and
    cleaner environment this budget will bring; a victory for farmers, for
    veterans, for our soldiers in uniform. It is a victory for all who agree
    that America should meet our responsibilities and maintain our
    leadership in the world. Simply put, it's a budget that meets our
    priorities, supports our values, and invests in our future.
        The budget makes progress on several important fronts. The first
    budget of the 21st century puts education first, as it should. That's
    why I stood firm for our commitment to hire 100,000 highly qualified
    teachers to lower class size in the early grades. I am pleased that
    Congress is going to fulfill that promise, and I am also pleased that
    this budget doubles funds for after-school and summer school programs
    and supports greater accountability for results by helping communities
    turn around or shut down failing schools.
        The budget makes America a safer place. It invests in our COPS
    program, which already has funded 100,000 community police officers for
    our streets and helped to give us the lowest crime rate in 25 years.
    This agreement will help to hire up to 50,000 more community police
    officers targeted to neighborhoods where crime rates are still too high.
        It strengthens our efforts to preserve natural areas and protect our
    environment. I am very pleased we successfully opposed antienvironmental
    riders that put special interests above the national interest.
        The budget will also make it possible for millions of Americans with
    disabilities to join the work force without fear of losing their health
    care, a terrific advance in the quality of our national life.
        Finally, this budget strengthens America's role of leadership in the
    world by paying our dues and arrears to the United Nations, by meeting
    our commitments to the Middle East peace process, by making critical
    investments in debt relief for the poorest countries of the world, by
    funding efforts to safeguard nuclear weapons and expertise in Russia.
        When I insisted that Congress keep working until it finished the
    job, I hoped and believed we could make progress in all these areas. I
    believe we can maintain our fiscal discipline, continue to pay down our
    national debt, and still make the investments we must in our people and
    our future. That is what we have achieved, and we have done so by
    working together.
        I want to thank the leaders of both parties for their roles in this
    agreement, and I want to say a special word of thanks to the Democratic
    leaders and the members of my party in both Houses without whom my
    struggle for 100,000 teachers, 50,000 police, greater investments in the
    environment, and paying our U.N. dues could simply not have succeeded. I
    thank them very much.
        Q. Mr. President----
        The President. Now, let me just say one other thing, then I'll
    answer the questions. We are

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    about to start the holiday season, and then we'll begin again. And in
    the months ahead, I think we have to stay focused on the critical
    business of this Nation that is still undone, from commonsense gun
    safety legislation to meaningful hate crimes legislation, from a real
    raise in the minimum wage to a real Patients' Bill of Rights, from
    strengthening Social Security to modernizing Medicare and adding a
    prescription drug benefit. I urge Congress to work with me in meeting
    these goals in the same bipartisan spirit it took to reach this very
    important budget agreement.
        Thank you.

    Across-the-Board Budget Cut

        Q. Mr. President, just a week ago, when the Republicans were calling
    for an across-the-board budget cut of about a half a percent, just a
    tenth of a percent more than the one that you accepted, you said that it
    was unacceptable. What makes this one acceptable, sir, and would the
    budget as the Republicans have written it still, in your opinion, dip
    into the Social Security surplus?
        The President. Well, first of all, when I remember saying it was
    unacceptable, they were advocating a one percent across the board which
    some thought would have to be 6 percent to avoid getting in the Social
    Security Trust Fund. This one is, I think, about a third, a little more
    than a third of what their last offer was on one percent.
        It also is written in such a way as to preserve the management
    flexibility of the departments so that we can fulfill the mission. Let
    me give you just one example. When the Pentagon--do you remember when
    the one percent across-the-board proposal was made and the Pentagon
    said, ``Gosh, we may have to lay off 38,000 uniform and non-uniform
    personnel?'' That was on the assumption that they would have to take the
    across-the-board dollar amount but fulfill every mandate Congress had
    imposed in the defense budget.
        And so now they've given the Secretaries some flexibility so that we
    can maintain the core responsibilities of Government. Furthermore, we
    now have agreements in education and in the environment and in other
    areas which have raised the investment level to such a point that we can
    take that across-the-board cut, still have a real increase, still be
    moving forward. So I think we're in a very different environment than we
    were just a few days ago, and I'm quite pleased by this.

    Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Chechnya

        Q. Mr. President, President Yeltsin was pretty tough in defending
    his military actions in Chechnya and saying that he was going to deal
    with bandits and terrorists. In your private meeting, was he just as
    frank? I mean, could you describe the talk and tell us what happened?
        The President. Yes. He was very vigorous, and so was I; and you
    know, we've met together many times. We have a very good personal
    chemistry, but it didn't stop us from our clear disagreement here.
        I would never criticize anyone taking vigorous action against
    terrorism. I think that's very important. The real question is whether
    or not the nature of this uprising in Chechnya can be solved exclusively
    by a military strategy. And I think you could see--you can sense in this
    audience--it's not just the United States; it's virtually all the
    Europeans don't believe that an exclusively military strategy can
    prevail, that it will lead to greater than necessary civilian casualties
    and greater than necessary refugees.
        So I can only tell you that he stated his position. I stated mine.
    But I urged them to try to listen to Russia's friends at this conference
    and try to find a way that we could work together and move this thing
    forward. And I am hopeful that you will see some progress here before we
    leave. I can't say for sure that you will. I hope you will.
        Q. Mr. President, you made some conciliatory remarks during your
    speech. Does that reflect the feeling that maybe you've pushed him as
    far as you can rhetorically and through any kind of action the
    Government can take?
        The President. I don't know. Everybody else here thought that I was
    pretty aggressive.
        Q. Well, you referred to standing up to the tanks and so forth.
        The President. But the point I was trying to make here--let me just
    say there are two separate issues here. One is--and I think this is
    worth taking a second. There are two separate issues here. One is
    President Yeltsin's view that what they're doing is right in Chechnya
    and the differences of opinion we have. The second is the general
    Russian view with which I take very strong exception that no one should,
    in effect, comment on or interfere with any internal affair of any other
    nation. And you heard

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    him refer to American-led NATO aggression in the Balkans.
        And so I responded very vigorously about Bosnia, about Kosovo. And
    the point I made was, when I was very personally complimentary of him
    is, when he stood up on that tank to save Russian democracy, suppose he
    hadn't prevailed. Suppose the Russian military had taken him down off
    the tank, thrown him in jail, and announced they were going to execute
    him.
        I would hope that the entire world represented around that table,
    that OSCE table today, would have gone into an absolute uproar of
    outrage about it and would have saved his life and helped to restore
    democracy. That's the point I was trying to make, that there are times
    in the world we live in today when we are forced to make judgments about
    things that happen within the borders of other countries because they
    have an impact beyond their borders and because they violate
    internationally accepted norms of human rights. That's what happened in
    Bosnia; that's what happened in Kosovo. I think I did the right thing.
    And I hope it registered on the Russians, and I hope we're going to make
    some progress. I think we are.
        I'll see you all some more in the next day or two, but I've got to
    go to this lunch.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. at the Ciragan Palace.