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

<R04>
Remarks on the Budget Debate

November 10, 1995

    Good afternoon. The budget debate we are now engaged in is a serious 
and critical moment for this country. The debate is about whether we 
will balance this 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 maintain 
America's ability to be the world's strongest force for peace and 
freedom, for democracy and prosperity.
    In a larger sense, I believe this budget debate is about two very 
different futures for America: about whether we will continue to go 
forward under our motto, E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one; whether we 
will continue to unite and grow; or whether we will become a more 
divided, winner-take-all society.
    I recognize that the Republican Congress has a very different view. 
The American people deserve a serious debate over these two approaches 
to balancing the budget. But we cannot have that serious debate under 
the threat of a Government default or shutdown. And we cannot cut 
Medicare, education, and the environment as a condition of keeping the 
Government open.
    The bills Congress voted on last night are not ordinary measures 
designed simply to keep the Government open while we continue the debate 
over how to balance the budget. Instead, last night Republicans in 
Congress voted to raise Medicare premiums; they voted to cut education 
and to cut it deeply; and they voted to overturn three decades of 
bipartisan environmental safeguards.
    Beyond that, these measures would make a Government default almost 
inevitable, for the first time in our history, because they take away 
from the Secretary of the Treasury the tools now available to avoid 
default under extraordinary circumstances. This is deeply irresponsible. 
It has never happened before, and it should not happen now.
    Republicans in Congress have a responsibility to keep the Government 
running without cutting Medicare and increasing premiums, without 
cutting education and undercutting the environment. I want to work with 
Congress to resolve these differences and to keep the Government running 
in the interest of the American people. After all, we have shown we can 
work together on this. Just last September we agreed on an appropriate 
measure to keep the Government running while we finish the job of 
balancing the budget. We should simply do now what was done in September 
so that the Government and the budget debate can go on. And I believe 
Congress should stay in this weekend and finish this work.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the White 
House. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.