[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 7 (Monday, February 22, 1993)]
[Page 209]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With Democratic Congressional 
Leaders

 February 16, 1993

Economic Program

    Q. ----apply it to everyone earning more than $250,000----
    The President. Stay tuned.
    Q. ----as has been reported?
    Q. Mr. President, Senator Gramm says this isn't contributions from 
everybody, it's just raw pain.
    Q. Which Gramm? [Laughter]
    The President. I think when you see the whole program it won't be 
raw pain. I think most middle class Americans, when you look at the cost 
plus the benefits, are going to be much, much better off. It's a very 
progressive program. And a lot of the wealthiest American business 
leaders I've talked to believe that their businesses will be much better 
off with stable long-term low interest rates and the availability to 
invest and grow. And they think that the price is a small one compared 
to the long-term economic health of their own businesses as well as the 
economy.
    Q. Are you going to have a second round of tax increases to pay for 
health care, as a memo advising your task force----
    The President. Tune in.
    Q. But will that be necessary----
    The President. Depends on how you do it.
    Q. Is it harder to cut spending than you thought it would be? Is it 
more difficult?
    The President. We've cut quite a bit of spending. I think it is 
difficult to justify cutting big health care spending unless it is in 
the context of providing affordable health care to everybody, because 
you don't want to do it in a way that's really burdensome on the 
consumers with health care. The people we help now with Government money 
in health care are elderly and the poor. So we can control that spending 
in the years ahead but only in the context of an overall health care 
program. So if you take health care off the books and you take some of 
the debt off the books, it's more difficult to get big spending cuts. 
But I think we've done a pretty good job, and tomorrow night we'll 
outline it.
    Q. How about the question-and-answer session?
    The Press. Thank you.

Note: The exchange began at 9:50 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.