[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 10 (Monday, March 15, 1993)]
[Pages 378-379]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With the Senate Budget 
Committee

 March 9, 1993

    Q. Mr. President, are you going for nonmilitary domestic spending 
cuts across the board?
    The President. Well, first of all, let me say I think both the 
Senate and the House committees deserve a lot of credit. They've come 
forward with further spending reductions consistent with what the CBO 
group calculations would indicate. They are consistent with the 
direction of my plan to reduce the deficit and increase investment. And 
I think that eventually all the committees will get together, and the 
two bodies will get together, and we will work out a budget that the 
American people can be proud of that does the things that we're all 
trying to do. I'm encouraged by it.
    Q. So you are going to accept the across-the-board cuts?

[[Page 379]]

    The President. We haven't worked out the details on how it's going 
to be done. The two committees have slightly different positions, as you 
probably know. But I think that in the end there will be further cuts 
and there will be, I'm convinced, a much more substantial reduction in 
the deficit than the estimates show. I feel good about it.

Note: The exchange began at 9:17 a.m. in the Old Family Dining Room at 
the White House. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of this exchange.