1106 June 22 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995

Many of you have supported our adminis- and hard choices. And I believe that my tration’s efforts in trying to make peace in budget meets the test that you try to meet the Middle East. They haven’t asked ‘‘me’’ every year. to do that, they have asked ‘‘us’’ to do that. As you know, the Congress yesterday, both Many of you have been involved in our ef- Houses of Congress, the Republican majori- forts to try to help support the peace process ties, have agreed now to reconcile the dif- in Northern Ireland. They didn’t ask ‘‘me’’ ferences between their two. I am glad that to do that, they asked ‘‘us’’ to do that. Amer- both the President and the majority in Con- ica—that’s what they think ‘‘we’’ are—bring- gress are committed to a balanced budget, ing people together, bridging differences, and I believe most of the Democrats in Con- moving forward. gress are as well. But I still disagree fun- There is no country in this world better damentally with the way in which they pro- positioned for the 21st century, better posi- pose to balance the budget. And I think it tioned to hand down our dreams to our chil- will complicate your lives as Governors con- dren than the . But now we are siderably. back to debating first principles in Washing- I believe that their plan is still too extreme, ton. runs a significant risk of putting the economy We thank you for your financial invest- into a recession and raising unemployment. ment tonight, but we ask you for your voice. It cuts education at a time we should be in- We ask you for your labors. We ask you for creasing it. It cuts Medicare beneficiaries in your passion. We ask you for your heart. We order to pay for large tax cuts that dispropor- are going to have to fight and debate and tionately go to the most well-off people in struggle to make sure that in this season we our country who don’t really need them. And make the right decisions. because the cuts are so severe in some areas, Thank you, and God bless you all. I believe they’ll be very difficult for you to manage. NOTE: The President spoke at 8:56 p.m. at the Our plan balances the budget over 10 Garden State Convention Center. A tape was not years instead of 7, increases education along available for verification of the content of these remarks. with inflation, from Head Start to our invest- ments in college loans and scholarships. It preserves—while slowing the growth of Remarks in a Teleconference Medicare and Medicaid, it preserves the in- With Democratic Governors tegrity of the incomes of people on Medicare, From Little Rock, Arkansas so that these middle and lower middle in- June 23, 1995 come elderly people, who many of whom don’t have enough to live on as it is, are not The President. Hello, Governor Romer. going to have to pay more for their medical Gov. Roy Romer. Yes, Mr. President. I’m benefits or give up a lot of medical care. It here, and also on the line are , is a much more sensible approach to welfare, Evan Bayh, and Bob Miller and . and the tax cuts are much, much smaller and The President. It’s nice to hear your targeted toward individuals and toward edu- voices. cation and childrearing. So I believe that it’s Governor Romer. Mel Carnahan would a better plan. be here, but he’s in Korea, Mr. President. But now that the Senate and House have The President. I’m sorry he can’t be here, resolved their differences, we can proceed but I hope he does well on his trip to Korea. to what I hope will be an honest, open, and And I want to thank him for his support as civil discussion with the American people well. And I want to thank all of you for your about the agreements and the differences in letter in support of the budget plan that I our two plans. And I hope in the end we’ll have presented. wind up doing a balanced budget in the right I know that all of you have experience in way that will grow the economy and that will balancing budgets, and you know that it takes support you and what you’re trying to do at a combination of discipline and compassion the State level.

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