[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 4 (Monday, January 29, 1996)]
[Pages 87-88]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Foreign Minister Ehud 
Barak of Israel

January 22, 1996

State of the Union Address

    Q. Is your State of the Union all ready, Mr. President?
    The President. Just about ready.
    Q. Some people are expecting a campaign-style speech.
    The President. I don't think so. What I'm going to say tomorrow 
night is that the state of the Union is strong, but it can be stronger, 
that I am absolutely confident and optimistic about our ability to meet 
the challenges that our country faces, and I'm going to say what I think 
they are and what I believe we should all do about them.
    Q. Are you going to reach out to the Republicans to try and get 
things done?
    The President. Absolutely. I did last year, and I will again. I 
think, you know, we have differences, but we should attempt to resolve 
those differences. And we should attempt, where we can't resolve them, 
to set them aside and do what we can do. Remember, throughout our 
history, the system that the framers of the Constitution set up demands 
honorable, principled compromise.

Public Debt

    Q. Did Dick Armey's comments concern you?
    The President. Well, I don't think we should default on the debt. I 
think that would be a terrible mistake. It's an unacceptable thing for a 
great nation to do, and we've never done it.

State of the Union Address

    Q. Is this going to be longer than last year?
    The President. Tune in. I suppose it depends on the applause, 
doesn't it? [Laughter]

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, I'm a correspondent of the Israeli television. Do 
you hope to reach an agreement between Israel and Syria by the end of 
'96?
    The President. Well, of course, that's up to Israel and Syria. All 
the United States has tried to do throughout this process is to try to 
do whatever we could to encourage the process of peace. And I think the 
timetable has to be driven by the progress that is made. That is 
entirely up to the parties.
    Q. What are you doing in order to speed up such an agreement?
    The President. We will do whatever we can, whatever we're asked to 
do, within limits to--within the limits of our ability, to try to make 
it possible for the parties to succeed. But the timetable is entirely up 
to the progress of the substance of the negotiations, and that is 
entirely up to the parties. The United States--I think we've had some 
success in the last 3 years because we have not tried to dictate terms 
or anything of that kind. We have only tried to be helpful and to try to 
support the parties as they search for peace. And if you look at the 
results of the last 3 years, that is the appropriate posture for the 
United States.
    Q. Do you hope to initiate a meeting between President Asad and 
Prime Minister Peres of Israel? Is it one of your wishes for the months 
ahead?
    The President. Well that, of course, will be up to them. If it is 
helpful in getting them to the point where they can make a peace, 
obviously, that would be a good thing. But that is a--like every other 
part of this process, ultimately that is up to them.

Note: The exchange began at 2:15 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks,

[[Page 88]]

the President referred to President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria and Prime 
Minister Shimon Peres of Israel. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this exchange.