[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[October 31, 2000]
[Pages 2389-2391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on the Veto of Legislative Branch, Treasury, and General
Appropriations Legislation and an Exchange With Reporters
October 31, 2000
The President. Good morning--or good afternoon. We are now a full
month past the end of the fiscal year and just a week before election
day. Congress still hasn't finished its work. There is still no
education budget. There is still no increase in the minimum wage, still
no Patients' Bill of Rights or hate crimes bill or meaningful tax relief
for middle class Americans, even though all these measures have strong
bipartisan support in the country and in the Congress.
Today I want to talk about an appropriations bill the Congress did
pass. The Treasury/Postal bill funds these two departments, as well as
the operations of Congress and the White
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House. Last night, I had no choice but to veto that legislation. I
cannot in good conscience sign a bill that funds the operations of
Congress and the White House before funding our schools.
Simply put, we should take care of our children before we take care
of ourselves. That's a fundamental American value, one that all parents
strive to fulfill. I hope the congressional leadership will do the same.
We can and we will fund a budget for Congress, but first let's take care
of the children, investing more in our schools and demanding more from
them, modernizing old schools, building new ones, reducing class size,
hiring more and better trained teachers, expanding after-school
programs, and turning around failing schools.
With the largest student enrollment in history, the education budget
should be our first priority. Yet it seems to be the last things on the
mind of the Republican leadership. Just 2 days ago, we were on the verge
of making bipartisan progress with a landmark budget for children's
education. We thought we had a good-faith agreement with honorable
compromises on both sides. That was before the special interests weighed
in with the Republican leadership. And when they did, the Republican
leadership killed the education bill, a careful agreement that both
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders had reached.
As I have said repeatedly, the path to progress is one we have to
walk together. We have shown we can do it. Let me say again, a
bipartisan coalition stands ready to pass an education budget, to raise
the minimum wage, to pass a Patients' Bill of Rights, a hate crimes
bill, and a tax bill that is good for children, families, seniors, and
small business and millions of Americans without health coverage.
So again, I ask the Republican leadership to set aside partisanship,
go back to negotiations, reach honorable compromise. The final week of
the election season is a perfect time to recall the basic bargain of our
democracy. It's the American people who sent us here; it's our
obligation to meet their priorities. So let's roll up our sleeves, get
back to work, and finish the work we were sent here to do.
Thank you.
Q. Mr. President, congressional Republicans assert that there was an
arrangement, an understanding with the Treasury/Postal bill and the
Transportation bill, that when they agreed to place more money in the
IRS fund at the specific request of the White House, there was an
understanding that you would then sign the Treasury/Postal bill, and
there would be no questions asked about this underlying pay raise issue.
A spokesman for the Speaker's office said, and I'm quoting here, sir,
``He lied. Bill Clinton's word has less value than a dollar bill in the
Weimar Republic.'' Would you care to comment, sir?
The President. Well, it's just not true. Nobody ever asked me, and I
didn't do it. And I believe that was only reported one place today. It
just didn't happen.
I talked to our people about it, and they said, quite to the
contrary, even though we negotiated over the Treasury/Postal bill and I
would gladly sign it, as I said, if they would pass the education bill,
we in fact asked them not to send it down here because, among other
things, it had a very low-priority tax cut in it, for them--not just for
me but for them--because we thought it would be wrong for them to take
care of themselves and for us to take care of ourselves here without
taking care of the children of the country. So we, in fact, implored
them not to send that bill down here. Mr. Podesta and the rest of my staff just told me that today. And they
have assured me--I got my senior staff together--they have assured me no
one on the White House staff pledged to sign that bill.
So you know, that's not so. But what is true is the headline that is
in the Washington Post this morning. The Republicans and the Democrats
negotiated in good faith, and both wanted this education bill. There was
a big majority for this in both Houses of Congress. But the leadership
of the Republican Party killed it because of the lobbyists on K Street.
Now, that's what happened, and it's not right. And we ought to go back
to the agreement that was made.
You know, wherever we work together and we get majorities of both
Houses and both parties, we do fine. It is the leadership of the other
party in Congress and its excessive sensitivity to the special interests
that has kept so many of these things from passing. Why in the world
could you justify not passing a hate crimes bill, for example, when a
majority of both Houses is for it, you've got plain bipartisan majority?
I think we all know the answer to that.
So look, we've still got time to do this, and we ought to do it.
I'll do my best to do it. There is no point in getting upset and name
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calling. Facts are facts. The one fact is indisputable, that we had a
process set up; there was an agreement reached; the hard-working
Republicans and Democrats worked until 2:30 in the morning. And they
showed up with the agreement, and their leaders wrecked it. They said,
``But our special interests won't like this. I'm sorry.'' Now, those are
the facts, and they are indisputable.
So we just need to go back to work here and calm down and do what's
right.
Latino and Immigrant Fairness Legislation
Q. Mr. President, the ``Latino Immigration Fairness Act'' consists
of three major provisions. My question is, are you going to fight for
all three of them? And you--your people--and I think you may have said
it yourself--would veto the State/Commerce and Justice appropriation
bill if it did not contain the ``Latino Immigration Fairness Act''?
The President. I feel very strongly about that. As I said, the
Congress is--the leadership of the Republican Party is against it
because they say that--apparently they think they made a mistake with
the Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants, and they don't want to make the
same mistake with the others.
I think they did the right thing with them and should do the right
thing by the other immigrants. That's what I think. So we're fighting
for it, and we'll see.
But I just want--I want to start these negotiations again and get
back to work. I think that's the important thing. And I think--I didn't
have any choice to do what I did last night. I didn't want to do it, but
you know, we just can't--we cannot run the Congress in a way that says
we can have an agreement, we can put our kids first, we can get the
Republicans and Democrats together, and then the leadership of the
Republican Congress can just say, ``I'm sorry, our interest groups don't
like this; they won't accept it. And so never mind what happens to the
52 million kids that are out there in our schools.'' We just can't do
that. And that's the real story here. It's an astonishing development
here, after all we've been through these last 6 years, to see this
happening again. And it's very sad, and I hope we can get by it in the
next 8 days--7 days.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 12:36 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
House, prior to his departure for Louisville, KY.