[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[Pages 2000-2002]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

November 11, 1995

    Good morning. At midnight this Monday night, unless Congress passes 
legislation to keep the Government running, the Federal Government will 
be required by law to begin shutting down. For months, the congressional 
Republicans have made a consistent threat: If I don't sign legislation 
cutting Medicare, education and the environment, they'll plunge the 
Government into default and force it to close its doors.
    I don't want to shut down basic Government services for the American 
people, but I can't allow that to be used to force us to accept extreme 
budget measures that would violate our basic values as a nation and 
undermine the long-term welfare of the American people.
    A very great deal is at stake in this debate. This budget debate is 
not about whether we will balance the budget. Both parties support that. 
It's about whether we will balance our budget in a way that is 
consistent with our fundamental values: our responsibility to our 
parents and to our children; our determination to provide opportunity 
for all Americans to make the most of their own lives through good jobs 
and education and technology; our obligation to protect the environment 
and to

[[Page 2001]]

keep America the world's strongest force for peace and freedom, 
democracy, and prosperity.
    This budget debate is about two very different futures for America: 
about whether we'll continue to go forward under our motto, E Pluribus 
Unum, out of many, one; whether we will continue to unite and grow 
together; or whether we will become a more divided winner-take-all 
society.
    Today as I speak with you, the congressional Republicans are on the 
verge of carrying out their threat. I want to explain how we have come 
to this juncture and why it is so important that we stand firm against 
measures that would endanger our future. The congressional Republicans 
propose to balance the budget in 7 years, but they would get there with 
deep cuts in Medicare, education, protection for the environment, and by 
raising taxes on working people. Five full months ago, I proposed an 
alternative plan to balance the budget in 10 years while protecting 
Medicare and Medicaid, increasing our investment in education and 
technology, protecting the environment, without raising taxes on working 
families. Since then, the Republican Congress has dismissed my proposal 
at every turn and has not met the deadlines established by law for 
setting this year's budget.
    The new Federal fiscal year started back on October 1st. Now it's 
November 11th, Veterans Day, and still they haven't sent me a budget, 
even though the Republicans control both Houses of Congress. This is 
very unusual. In my first 2 years, we passed budgets to reduce the 
deficit in a timely fashion.
    Also this year, the Republicans have not come close to resolving 
their own internal differences in their overall budget plan between 
measures passed in the House and the Senate. Back in 1993, we passed our 
deficit reduction plan 3 months earlier than this, in August. That plan 
has now given us 3 years of deficit reduction in a row for the first 
time since Mr. Truman was President. And the United States now has the 
lowest deficit as a percentage of our income of any industrial nation in 
the world except one. Let me say that again, we now have the lowest 
deficit as a percentage of our income of any industrial nation in the 
world except one.
    Now, there have been times in our history when our budget process 
has run late before. I want to acknowledge that. But when that happens, 
the differing sides, regardless of party, usually agree to find a fair 
and unbiased way to keep the Government going and to enable the United 
States to pay its bills, while the broader debate about budget 
priorities goes on.
    That is what I worked out with Congress in September. They passed 
and I signed a simple, straightforward bill to keep the Government 
running and to prevent America from going into default. That was the 
serious and responsible thing to do, and I applauded them for doing it 
at the time. Last week, I met with the Republican congressional 
leadership to try to find a way, again, to keep our Government open and 
to keep it from falling into default. As I told them then, we should 
balance the budget. But we cannot do it under a threat of Government 
shutdown and default.
    Instead of following the path of reconciliation, however, they have, 
once again, gone their own way. This week, they voted on an 
unprecedented measure. On Thursday night, as a part of their bill to 
keep the Government going, both Houses voted a 25-percent increase in 
Medicare premiums for every single senior citizen on Medicare. That is 
an extraordinary act. No Congress in our history has ever demanded an 
increase in Medicare premiums as a condition of keeping the Government 
open. That is wrong, and I will not accept it.
    And on this Veterans Day, they have a strange way of honoring all of 
those men and women who have sacrificed for our country. Eight million 
of the senior citizens and disabled Americans whose Medicare premiums 
would be raised by Congress are veterans, and they, too, deserve better.
    The Republicans in Congress are also demanding deep cuts in 
education and the environment and a profound weakening of environmental 
laws as a condition of keeping the Government open and our bills paid. 
And they have added conditions to the debt limit legislation that amount 
to a shortcut to default on the full faith and credit of the United 
States.

[[Page 2002]]

    Think of it this way, my fellow Americans: Imagine the Republican 
Congress as a banker and the United States as a family that has to go to 
the bank for a short-term loan for a family emergency. The banker says 
to the family, ``I'll give you the loan, but only if you'll throw the 
grandparents and the kids out of the house first.''
    Well, speaking on behalf of the family, I say, no thanks. I believe 
we can find a good-faith way to keep the Government open and make good 
on its obligations. So I've asked my Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, to 
meet with the Republican and the Democratic leaders of Congress this 
afternoon. I've instructed him to present them with the straightforward 
ideas to keep the Government open, just like we did in September and 
just as Congress has done dozens of times before. But I will not allow 
them to impose new, immediate cuts in Medicare, education, and the 
environment as a condition of keeping the Government open.
    I believe we can resolve these differences without hurting the 
American people or our future. All around us we see evidence that 
America is on the move. Our economy is the envy of the world. The 
unemployment and inflation rates together are at a 25-year low, new 
businesses and exports of American products at an all-time high.
    As I said, our deficit already is the smallest of any major economy 
in the world but one. Our Government as a percentage of the work force 
is the smallest it's been since 1933. We're making a serious assault on 
our social problems, like crime. Now, our challenge is to balance our 
budget in a way that is consistent with our fundamental values and to do 
it without threats and without partisan rancor. We can do that, so let's 
get it done.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House.