    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 25, 1999]
    [Pages 1876-1879]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Fiscal Year 2000 Budget and an Exchange With Reporters
    October 25, 1999

        The President. Last February I sent to the Congress a balanced
    budget that maintains our fiscal discipline, pays down the debt, saves
    Social Security, strengthens and modernized Medicare with a prescription
    drug coverage, and meets our most pressing priorities: putting 100,000

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    teachers in the classroom, another 50,000 community police on our
    street, protecting the environment, and strengthening our national
    security. And everything in the budget I sent is paid for without
    touching a penny of the Social Security surplus.
        Unfortunately, the congressional majority has rejected the approach
    I recommended. And so, in the 8 months since I sent them the balanced
    budget, they have failed to produce a budget of their own that meets our
    Nation's priorities and values. Instead, they have tried one thing after
    another, one unsuccessful scheme after another, to meet the budget
    priorities.
        Now the majority wants an arbitrary across-the-board cut in all
    Federal investment. The plan would cut military recruiting and,
    according to the Department of Defense, would cut as many as 70,000 men
    and women from our Armed Forces. Their plan would cut off thousands of
    children from the benefits of Head Start, cut childhood immunizations
    and our cleanup of toxic waste. It would do something they have pledged
    not to do. With all these cuts, it would still spend the Social Security
    surplus, as their own Congressional Budget Office has said it would do.
        And yet, in spite of this, Congress has seen fit to fund its own
    pork-barrel projects, like a ship the Pentagon says it doesn't need and
    aircraft it didn't ask for. They've found a way to fund corporate
    welfare for oil companies and other special interests and to fund their
    own pay raise.
        Now, the American people sent us here to make tough choices. But
    these are the wrong choices. I will not allow Congress to raise its own
    pay and fund its own pork-barrel projects and still make devastating
    across-the-board cuts in everything from education to child nutrition to
    the FBI. I will not sign any budget that puts special interests above
    the national interest.
        Now, this week I may be forced to veto several of the appropriations
    bills because they fail to meet our most pressing national priorities. I
    have decided to sign into law the Department of Defense appropriations
    bill, and I have just done that, because in good conscience I cannot
    allow our national security needs to be held hostage to this budget
    battle. This legislation provides funding for our most critical military
    needs, including weapons procurement and modernization, research and
    development, and, importantly, a much needed pay raise for our men and
    women in uniform.
        I had proposed the first sustained increase in defense spending in a
    decade, and this bill will help to maintain that. Still, what Congress
    sent me is far from perfect. The legislation is loaded with things the
    Pentagon didn't ask for and doesn't need. It applies accounting gimmicks
    to important areas.
        For example--listen to this--Congress designated the $7.2 billion
    for base operations and basic training, something our military needs and
    depends upon every year, year-in and year-out, as an ``unforeseen
    emergency'' expense.
        Despite my reservations, I am signing this bill--I have signed it--
    because it's crucial to our national security and our military
    readiness, because the troops that defend our interests abroad deserve
    the strongest support we can provide here at home.
        The second action I have just taken is on the appropriations bills
    for the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce. Today I vetoed that
    bill. I vetoed it because it fails to fund the additional 50,000
    community police we need to keep crime going down in our communities. We
    have the lowest crime rate in 30 years, but we can't stop until America
    is the safest big country in the world.
        This bill fails to provide the funding to give the American people
    their day in court against the tobacco companies. It fails to take a
    strong stand, indeed, it fails, inexplicably, to take any stand,
    whatever, against hate crimes. And by failing to provide for our
    obligations, including our U.N. dues in arrears, it imperils not only
    our vote in the United Nations but the ability to meet our obligations
    and, therefore, to maintain our national security.
        The appropriations bill for the Interior Department is no better. If
    Congress sends it to me in its current form, with provisions that
    weaken, rather than strengthen our environmental programs, I will have
    to veto that, too.
        On Friday the temporary resolution that keeps the Government running
    again will expire. That's the second such measure to have come and
    gone--another week, another deadline--and still we don't have a budget
    like the one I proposed that pays down the debt, saves Social Security,
    reforms and modernizes Medicare, and meets our most important national
    priorities.
        They have not lived up to their obligations and the commitment they
    made last year to

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    put 100,000 teachers in our classroom. They have not provided for
    another 50,000 community police to keep crime going down in our
    community. They have not done what is necessary to protect our
    environment.
        Now, even though time is short, we still have a good chance to meet
    these goals. Today my budget negotiators are continuing to work with
    Congress to finish the job. I hope that the Members of Congress will
    work with us in good faith to make this a season of progress. And I
    remain committed to that end.
        Thank you very much.

    Learjet Crash in South Dakota

        Q. Mr. President, was there a possibility you might have had to
    order an attack on that plane, the Learjet, as it was flying north?
        The President. Well, let me say, first of all, I am profoundly sorry
    for the loss of Payne Stewart, who has had
    such a remarkable career and impact on his sport, and a remarkable
    resurgence in the last couple of years; and the members of his group,
    including the two pilots and two others who were with him. This is a
    very sad day.
        I am very grateful for the work the FAA did and for the two Air
    Force pilots and the others in the Air Force that monitored this plane
    and made every effort to try to make contact with it. They did
    everything that could humanly be done, and they were looking out for the
    safety of everyone involved. And I'm just sorry that it crashed and what
    happened, happened.

    Candidacy of Pat Buchanan

        Q. Mr. President, Pat Buchanan announced today he will run for the
    Reform Party nomination. Any comments from you, sir?
        The President. No. [Laughter]

    Defense Department Appropriations Bill

        Q. Mr. President, on the defense bill, sir, given your strong
    objections to it, why couldn't you have vetoed the bill and gotten the
    provisions which you wanted by negotiating with Congress? Did you not
    have the Democratic votes to sustain your veto?
        The President. Well, I think we could have sustained a veto,
    although it would have been a close call. I'm fairly confident we could
    have sustained it. But I didn't think it was fair, frankly, to put the
    Democrats in the position of being attacked by the Republicans for being
    against the defense budget that the Democratic Party has basically
    pursued.
        The core of this budget is the policy of our party--not just me as
    President and not just our administration; the President, the Vice
    President, the Secretary of Defense--it's the policy of our party to
    give the military a chance, after 10 years of defense reductions, to
    have the pay increase, to have the improvements in quality of life, and
    to have the military modernization.
        The pork barrel that is in this defense bill is not unknown to
    Capitol Hill. But what is unknown, of course, that we've never seen
    anything like before, is declaring daily operations to be emergencies so
    that they can appear not to be spending the Social Security surplus when
    they are.
        But I felt, on balance, given the urgent need to get the pay
    increase out and to begin the modernization programs, it was the right
    thing to do. I also thought it would show good faith with the Members of
    Congress.
        But I think it is--I will say again, I also felt, as a practical
    matter, that we should focus on the bills where the substantive
    deficiencies are, in the teachers, in the police officers, in the
    environmental programs, in the absence of hate crimes legislation, in
    the failure to pay the U.N. dues. I think we should focus on the bills
    where the real flaws are.
        And I think--and I have made it clear that insofar as I proposed
    increased investments over and above what the Congress has recommended,
    I am prepared to pay for them, and I think they ought to do the same
    with theirs. And we need to work together and get this worked out. We
    can do this. This is terribly important, and we can do it.
        But the idea of just saying, ``Well, we'll have an across-the-board
    cut,'' and using some percentage term that makes it seem smaller than it
    is without considering the consequences, I think, is terrible.
        And let me point out, just on the defense bill, if they put in this
    across-the-board cut, after having mandated that so much money to this
    plane or this boat or this depot or this reconstruction project, the
    Pentagon will have no choice but to lay off, the DOD says, up to 70,000
    people.
        So I don't think that's an acceptable resolution to this, and I hope
    that we can work together and work through this. But I am determined

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    to keep fighting for something that we can all be proud of. And we can
    still do it.
        Yes, ma'am.

    Alternatives in Budget Negotiations

        Q. Mr. President, you've made clear you oppose across-the-board
    spending cuts, and the Republicans have made clear they don't support
    your revenue proposals. Would you be willing to find common ground in
    spending bills that are based on a combination of OMB and CBO scoring?
        The President. Well, they're already doing--they've used a few OMB
    scoring devices when it worked to their advantage, but I have no
    objection to that, because we think we're right and on balance. Over the
    last 7 years, our scoring has been quite accurate. So I will work with
    them on that.
        I also think there are other alternatives here. There are
    alternatives between turning every ordinary expenditure into an
    emergency and their adopting my proposal for a 55 cent cigarette tax.
    There are lots of other ways that we can bridge these gaps.
        What I have recommended in investments, in the Middle East peace
    talks, in reducing the nuclear threat, in paying our U.N. dues, in the
    100,000 teachers, what I've recommended in this coming year does not
    amount to a great deal of money. I can offer them ways to pay for that.
    And then they need to find ways to pay for some of their extra spending.
    And if we'll work together, we can do this. We can do it in a timely
    fashion, and we won't have to have a whole series of other continuing
    resolutions.
        And I hope we can do it. I think we can do it in the next couple of
    weeks if we put our minds to it.

    Third Continuing Resolution

        Q. Mr. President, are you prepared to sign another continuing
    resolution, sir?
        The President. Of course. I think--let me say, I have serious
    problems with a lot of this, as I've said. But I can also tell you, we
    are making some progress. I see the progress being made, and it's just a
    question--they will have to decide if they want to work with me to get
    this resolved. But I think I owe it to them, because we committed to
    work in good faith, to sign another continuing resolution, and I will do
    that.
        Thank you.
        Q. In weeks? Days?
        The President. Well, I don't know how many days it will be. But it
    ought to be an appropriate amount of time for us to finish. And it
    shouldn't be too long, but there needs to be enough time for us to
    finish. And I'll keep working with them.
        Thank you.

    Legislative Agenda

        Q. Mr. President, on the hate crimes situation and Pat Buchanan, may
    I just try one more on that? Do you think his campaign at this time is
    going to further incite racial and ethnic hatred?
        The President. Well, I hope not, but that's more up to him than it is to me. And it's also a matter of how we
    respond to it. All I'm saying is, after all we've been through in this
    country in the last couple of years and all the hate crimes we've seen,
    I just don't see how we can possibly walk away from this session of
    Congress and not pass this.
        And I guess I ought to say, in reaction to the previous question
    about the continuing resolution, we should remember that in addition to
    the budgets, the fact that there is a continuing resolution and the
    Congress will stay in session gives us the chance to pass the bill that
    would enable more disabled people to go to work. It gives us a chance to
    pass the Patients' Bill of Rights. It gives us a chance to pass the
    minimum wage. We've got a chance to do a lot of other good things to end
    the year on a very high note and a very positive note for the American
    people. So we have to just keep plugging away.
        And I think all of us have an obligation to try to minimize racial,
    ethnic, and other kinds of discrimination, and we just have to keep
    working at it. And I'm going to do that.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:03 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House prior to departure for New York City. In his remarks, he referred
    to Learjet crash victims professional golfer Payne Stewart, his agents
    Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, and the pilots Michael Kling and Stephanie
    Bellegarrigue.