[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 5 (Monday, February 5, 1996)]
[Pages 132-133]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange 
With Reporters

January 30, 1996

Budget Negotiations and the Debt Ceiling

    The President. I'm glad to have these Members here, and we are about 
to begin a discussion about how we can make progress in our effort to 
get the right kind of balanced budget. Let me also say I think it is 
terribly important that Congress pass a clean debt ceiling and do it 
immediately, so that we can honor the full faith and credit of the 
United States and so that those Social Security checks can go out at the 
first of March.
    It's getting close, and we just have a month left, and I think it's 
imperative that this be done. But in the meanwhile, we're going to keep 
working on the budget, trying to find a solution that both parties can 
embrace and that I can sign.
    Q. What about the House saying it's going to adjourn for a month at 
the end of the week? Are you going to be able to make any progress while 
they're gone?
    The President. Well, I can only tell you that I think that we've got 
to deal with the debt ceiling. I'm more optimistic--I think we can 
clearly make progress on the budget whether they're in session or out of 
session. It depends upon who's available to meet and what kind of 
conversations can be held over the telephone. So I'm not so concerned 
about that, but it is imperative that we understand what the timetable 
is on the debt limit, and that we not play games with that. That's an 
emergency. We can deal with the budget over the telephone. But Congress 
has to be here and actually pass an act to lift the debt ceiling.
    Q. Mr. President, some Republicans say that it was your Treasury 
Secretary who played games and said that the debt ceiling was going to 
run out the last time, and that in fact it didn't, and that there are 
ways to kind of correct this that he's talking about.
    The President. No, he didn't play any games. He was deft and adroit 
and did the best he could to keep this country afloat. And he has 
notified them that he is out of options, just like he notified them 
before that we had some options. And I don't think anything has happened 
to change his mind. So he has explained to them what the situation is; 
that's what it is.
    This country has not one time in its entire history refused to honor 
the obligations that it has committed to. And I don't believe we should 
now, and I don't believe we will. But I want to urge Congress to deal 
with this in a prompt manner.
    Q. Why won't the Social Security checks go out? What--is this a 
separate----
    The President. Because if the country cannot honor its debt 
obligations, it won't be able to keep its cash flow up.

Welfare Reform

    Q. Would you sign the Senate welfare bill?
    The President. Well, let me say, as you know, we got the bill out of 
the Senate, and it was much improved over the House. Then they didn't 
send it back to me. I think the discussion is recently moot because we 
made some advances beyond the Senate welfare bill in our budget 
negotiations.
    And the Republican leadership is not bound by anything that we 
agreed to in the budget negotiations, because we had an understanding 
that nothing was agreed to until everything was. But I thought we had 
reached a common understanding that, among other things, there ought to 
be more money put into the child care portion of the Senate bill, and 
that there should be a little more sensitivity to what might happen to 
families with children with disabilities.
    And so I would like to see at least the common understanding that 
came out of our discussions in the budget negotiations incorporated into 
that bill, and I would imagine they would be. But I don't know any more 
than you do about that. I know what I read this morning.

Imia/Kardak Islet

    Q. Mr. President, you were on the phone with the leaders of Greece 
and Turkey this afternoon?
    The President. Yes, I was.
    Q. Could you tell us about what the situation was there? Have you 
been able to make any progress on that?
    The President. Well, I talked to the President and the Prime 
Minister of Turkey and

[[Page 133]]

the new Prime Minister of Greece and asked them to move their forces 
away from that little island and to find a diplomatic solution to the 
issue. And I heard them out at some length, and we discussed some 
options. And then the Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury--I mean, 
the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and the Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff have all been involved in this. We have been 
working hard on this today.
    Greece and Turkey have too much in common, too much to gain from 
getting along with each other, and we have too many other important 
issues in that area that affect both their interests for this small 
piece of land to be allowed to develop into a crisis for the two of 
them. So the United States is doing everything we possibly can, and I 
have some hope that the crisis will abate over the next 24 or 48 hours. 
But there's still one or two issues remaining in the air as we speak.

Note: The President spoke at 5:16 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Konstandinos 
Simitis of Greece and President Suleyman Demirel and Prime Minister 
Tansu Ciller of Turkey. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of these remarks.