[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1999)]
[Pages 2071-2074]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With the Economic Team and an Exchange With 
Reporters

October 18, 1999

Federal Budget

    The President. Good morning. I have just completed a meeting with my 
economic team to see what we can do to reach overall budget agreement 
with the congressional leadership. In just 4 days, the resolution that 
temporarily funds the Government will expire. And yet, Congress still 
has not sent me a budget that maintains our fiscal discipline, pays down 
Social Security, reforms Medicare, and honors the priorities of the 
American people, especially including education, and including 50,000 
more community police for our children, for our streets, and a steadfast 
commitment to preserve and protect our environment.
    Now, there is an overwhelming consensus across our country, and even 
here in Washington, that we face no challenge more critical than the 
education of our children. When our children graduate, they will be the 
largest and most diverse group of graduates in our history. They will be 
in a vastly more global and complex and information-dominated economy 
than ever before. For their sake, and the sake of our continued 
prosperity, we have wisely made--as a people--education our number one 
priority.
    That means shrinking class size while increasing quality by 
fulfilling our commitment to put 100,000 teachers in the classroom--
something the Republicans in Congress supported last year. It means 
making sure our children are ready for the year 2000 by ensuring that 
every one of them has access to computers in their classrooms. It means 
keeping schools open after school and during the summer. It means 
expanding mentoring and Head Start. It means having strategies that 
impose high standards and accountability, give schools funds to turn 
around themselves if they're failing, but shuts them down if they can't 
turn around. It means more funds for charter schools.
    Now, if we're going to make these critical investments and maintain 
our fiscal discipline to keep our economy strong, we're going to have to 
make tough choices, and we're going to have to make them together. There 
are 4 days until the continuing resolution expires. Inaction is not an 
option. I will do everything I can to meet our priorities in a 
responsible way.
    As I have said repeatedly in recent weeks, indeed, for years, my 
door is open to Members of both parties who are willing to work with us. 
If we're going to finish the job the American people sent us here to 
do--reach real results in educating our children, fighting crime, 
protecting our environment--then we have to put politics aside and seek 
common ground.

[[Page 2072]]

    In that spirit, I am inviting the congressional leadership to come 
here and meet with me and our economic team at the White House, to see 
if we can agree on an overall budget framework. Yes, there are 
differences of opinion. But I don't think they're so great that we can't 
make progress by working together in a genuine bipartisan spirit. I'm 
committed to doing so and to resolving the remaining differences. If the 
congressional leadership will join me, we can make this a season of real 
progress for our people.
    Thank you.

Spending Caps

    Q. Sir, what about the spending caps on Social Security money? Are 
you willing to say before the congressional leadership comes here that 
you'll negotiate lifting the caps?
    The President. Well, first of all, they've already been lifted. I 
mean, they have--they're into spending the Social Security surplus, and 
everyone but them--everybody else has acknowledged it. I mean, their own 
Congressional Budget Office says that. I have given them offsets. I will 
work with them with further offsets. I would like to see them do better 
on that.
    But we can't not fund these critical education priorities. We can't 
not have an adequate environmental budget. And we can't not fulfill our 
responsibilities to the rest of the world. You know, I vetoed the 
foreign operations bill this morning because it seems to me to be the 
next big chapter in the new American isolationism, right after the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. There's no money to fund the Wye peace 
accord for peace in the Middle East; no money to fund our continuing 
work with the Russians to reduce their nuclear threat; no money to help 
us with debt relief to the poorest countries in Latin America and Asia; 
and several other problems.
    So I think that--but on the other hand, according to Congressional 
Budget Office, they've already spent billions of dollars that are in the 
nongeneral revenue, or the Social Security revenue, portion of the 
surplus. I will work with them on offsets; I will work with them on 
getting a balanced budget out of here that meets all of our Nation's 
priorities.
    But we need to sit down and do it together. You know, we can 
continue this standoff, and I will fight for what I believe in, as I 
have ever since they took over Congress in 1995. But in the years where 
we have worked together--in '96 and '97 and '98--we've produced good 
results for the American people. And we ought to do that in 1999, and 
that's my commitment.

Continuing Resolution

    Q. Is it inevitable that another continuing resolution will be 
necessary?
    The President. I think probably, but it ought to be short. And, you 
know, what I want to do is to put all these bills together and see what 
the real critical differences are. I know they're not going to do 100 
percent of what I want them to do. But there are certain bottom lines 
for the American people that I have, that I have to fight for. And we 
need to see how all this spending works together, and then do our best 
to agree on a responsible way to pay for it. And that's what I'd like to 
do.
    And I'm not interested in being able to walk out of here and win a 
battle on whether they spent the Social Security surplus or not. As a 
matter of fact, they have, and it's been acknowledged for months, but 
that's not the point. The point is, we need a responsible budget here.
    We're on a path to paying down America's debt. Because the tax cut 
was rejected, vetoed, we can still get America out of debt over the next 
15 years. We can still extend the life of the Social Security Trust Fund 
beyond the lifecycle of the baby boomers. And we can still have the 
funds to reform and modernize Medicare and meet these other priorities.
    If you look over the 5-year period--if you look over the horizon, 
here--this country is moving in the right direction. And we shouldn't 
allow these momentary difficulties to deter us from doing what is right 
now, so we can keep on the right path.

[[Page 2073]]

Pakistan

    Q. Mr. President, on Pakistan, what's your reaction to General 
Musharraf's speech yesterday? There's no indication of any timetable for 
moving toward elections, or for democracy.
    The President. Well, a lot of what he said on the substance, 
including the conciliatory tone he took towards India, I thought was 
quite good. But I was quite disappointed that there was no commitment to 
a timetable to move toward democracy. And I certainly hope that will be 
forthcoming.

Carol Moseley-Braun Ambassadorial Nomination

    Q. What do you think about Senator Helms' blocking Carol Moseley-
Braun's nomination? Reported obstruction----
    The President. Well, I hope he won't do that. You know, again, there 
has been an unprecedented amount of playing politics with Ambassadors, 
here. And again, it sends a signal to the rest of the world that there 
is a new isolationism in the country, that we don't really care whether 
we have Ambassadors in other places. We've got a hold on four other 
Ambassadors that--no one has questioned anything about their 
qualifications--for totally irrelevant reasons. And I think these things 
are not good for America.
    So I would hope that Senator Moseley-Braun and the other Ambassadors 
would be quickly confirmed. And I will work as hard as I can to see 
that's done.

Support for Gore Campaign

    Q. Does it bother you, sir, that Vice President Gore says he may 
decide he doesn't need your help in the campaign?
    The President. No.
    Q. Why not?
    The President. Because he has to--I agree with him. I think he ought 
to make that decision at the time, based on the--for one thing, no one 
can help anyone else in the campaign beyond a certain point. You can 
make phone calls; you can go door-to-door; you can volunteer; you can 
call your friends.
    But when I was Governor, I remember one of the best elections I ever 
had was in 1984, when President Reagan--who was at his all-time peak of 
popularity in 1984 and got 62 percent of the vote, I think, running for 
reelection--came to my State to campaign against me, and I got the same 
vote he did.
    And so--people are--elections, the American people know that in a 
representative form of government, they give the people that they vote 
for certain responsibilities. And then at election time, they're back in 
the driver's seat. So I think that that's a decision that we ought to 
make--or he ought to make--at an appropriate time, just--I agree with 
what he said about it.
    And I also think that it won't matter who says it, as much as it 
matters what is said. I just want the American people to make this 
judgment based on what's best for them. Who is the most likely to 
continue to change this country in the right direction? Who's the most 
likely to save Social Security and Medicare? Who's the most likely to 
advance childhood education? Who's the most likely to grow the economy 
and protect the environment? Who's the most likely to get this country 
out of debt for the first time since 1835? That's the only thing that 
matters.
    This election is not about all the players that get written about in 
Washington. This election is about the American people. And they are 
perfectly happy to make the decision that is theirs every 4 years. And 
they will make it for themselves. And the candidates will be the major 
players; everybody else, to a greater or lesser degree, is in a 
subordinate role, as they always have been.
    Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Thank you, pool. Thank you.

Relationship With Republican Congress

    Q.  [Inaudible]--with the Republican leadership heading into this 
budget showdown?
    The President. Well, you know, I have always had a very cordial 
relationship with Senator Lott, and with Mr. Hastert since he's been 
there, the Speaker. And, you know, every Mr. DeLay came up here the 
other day for this adoption event, and we had a good visit. I wouldn't--
you know, I don't agree with them on the substance of a lot of this.
    But I don't--I've said this a hundred times. Let me say it one more 
time. I have

[[Page 2074]]

never, to the best of my knowledge, let political conflicts--even ones 
that had deeply personal overtones--get in the way of working with 
people who were also sent here. They were sent here just like I was, by 
the American people.
    And this is not an emotional issue. This is a job. We've got a job 
to do for the American people. We were hired to do it, and we need to do 
it. And so I feel good about it. And I hope that they'll come down here, 
and I hope we can work together and work something out. I'll do my best.

Note: The President spoke at 11:15 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Pakistani Gen. Perrez Musharraf, 
army chief of staff, who led a coup d'etat in Pakistan on October 12. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.