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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 United States. 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 Howard Dean, is a much more sensible approach to welfare, Evan Bayh, and Bob Miller and Tom Carper. 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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And I cannot tell you how much I appre- because that’s something our citizens will un- ciate your support. You may have some ques- derstand if it’s explained to them. It’s some- tions about what we’re doing, and I’d like thing the press corps will understand and re- to hear from you now. port if it’s explained to them. But it’s been almost totally absent from the debate so far. [Governor Romer of Colorado stated that all of the Democratic Governors favored the And it’s a huge factor that has to be consid- President’s 10-year plan for balancing the ered. Federal budget and asked what the Gov- [Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont supported ernors could do to refocus the debate on the the President’s plan for its approach dealing importance of investing in education. with Medicaid costs and asked the President The President. Well, I think that’s one to comment on the impact of the Republican of the things the Governors have to do to budget plan on Medicaid.] help us on. And you have raised a point that The President. Well, I would just make has been almost completely absent from this a couple of points. And Governor Miller may debate in Washington because there’s so want to talk more about this in a moment much focus on the Federal investments and because he comes from such a high-growth the Federal programs. The Republican alter- State, but I think two things are going to hap- native as compared to mine will have a bad effect on education in a direct way and in pen if the Medicare and Medicaid budgets an indirect way. And I think most of the peo- that they advocate actually become law. One ple covering this debate even have not is that the reductions in spending are so sig- thought about that. nificant that there’s no way that the high- Directly, it will obviously cut our ability growth States won’t be adversely affected. to invest in everything from Head Start to That is, you may be able to take account of the funds we give to you for Goals 2000 to inflation and the fact that people as they live help promote reforms, to the apprenticeship longer will use more health services, but programs, to college loans. there won’t be enough to guarantee that the But indirectly, you’ve made a very impor- States with fast-growing populations that de- tant point. Most of the funding for education pend upon Medicare and Medicaid will be in our country comes from the State and local taken care of. There just won’t be enough. level, and increasingly, States are playing a The second thing is that the cuts are so larger and larger role in school funding and significant that it will virtually end the ability in university funding. And if we cut Medicaid of States to expand health care coverage to as severely as they propose to cut it—70 per- the working poor through the Medicaid pro- cent of that money goes to the elderly and gram and through a lot of the self-initiated the disabled—they will show up in the legis- reforms at the State level. latures all across America. The pressures to You know, what we tried to do—Governor avoid severe human hardship will be enor- Dean just alluded to it—after the failure of mous, and therefore, the pressures on you the health care reform effort in Congress last to divert money that would otherwise go to year, we just tried to support States that were education for the State level into nursing finding ways to expand coverage and increase home care, into the care of the disabled, will health care security for their people. I think be very, very great indeed. And there’s been that it will be almost impossible for the States almost no discussion of this. So this could to do that if the Medicare and Medicaid be a huge indirect cut in education as well. funds are cut this much. In fact, I think you’ll And I think most Americans know we be in a position of either dramatically in- ought to be increasing our investment in edu- creasing the cost of health care beyond the cation. In the global economy it’s one thing ability of low-income people to pay it or cut- we can do to ensure a good life with a secure ting back on the services you provide to income for our people. And I would urge them. I think if you look at these numbers, the Governors to focus on the indirect im- it’s very difficult to imagine how that won’t pacts of this budget as well as the direct ones, happen in almost every State in the country.

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[Gov. Evan Bayh of Indiana endorsed the be cutting education at the Federal and the budget plan for avoiding the shift of health State level because of this budget. care costs from the Government to consumers You have pointed out two other indirect and asked why Congress would not make this impacts, which we have already seen over the compromise.] last 10 years. On health care, if we don’t The President. Well, let me answer your cover the full cost of health care for those question and then comment on what you said who are insured by the Government, then earlier. I think that what I’m hoping will hap- hospitals and doctors will simply shift that pen is that now there will be a discussion cost on to private citizens and on to their out in the country and a lot of moderate Re- health insurance bills, which will put more publicans as well as independents and and more pressure on more and more em- Democrats will say that, in the interest of ployers to either drop health insurance cov- economic growth and in the interest of fair- erage altogether or to dramatically increase ness and in the interest of the integrity of the cost of it. And if we cut taxes too much the operation of a lot of our common efforts here in Washington and put you in a bind like education and health care, we ought to at the State level or people at the local level, move more toward the framework that I have there will be offsetting increases at the State outlined. and local level. I think that—I’m very much hopeful that Now, we know what happened in the you’ll be able to discuss this budget at some 1980’s, the tax cuts in Washington mostly point with the Republican Governors, and benefitted upper income people. The tax in- they will at least be able to embrace part creases at the State and local level, because of it because we’ve got now a serious eco- they were concentrated on sales taxes and nomic study which predicts that the Repub- property taxes, mostly taxed middle income lican budget would cause a recession. We’ve people. So again, I think we ought to think got a lot of evidence that it will hurt the about protecting the middle class. Most States. But on the other hand, they are trying American wage earners are working harder to balance the budget and, I agree with you, for the same or lower wages than they were that’s a goal we all ought to embrace be- making 10 years ago. We don’t need to lower cause—well, let me just give you—you’ve all their incomes by these budget decisions. So I would say anything you can do to tell seen how the Federal-State partnership has the Democrats and others who aren’t for a been eroded as we have to devote more and balanced budget they ought to be for a bal- more of our resources to paying interest on anced budget—I appreciate what you said, the debt. The budget would be balanced Evan, about the Beltway, as opposed to the today because of our previous deficit reduc- heartland; I think most Democrats out there tion efforts in the last 2 years but for the in the country are with us; that’s positive. But interest on the debt run up in the 12 years anything you can do, to go back to Governor before I became President. That’s how bad Romer’s point and your point, to try to help a problem it is recently. And next year we’ll the American people and the press, who pay more interest on the debt than we will for defense. communicates to the American people, un- So we’ve got to balance the budget. But derstand the indirect consequences of this I’m hoping what you can do is to help me budget, for education, for health care, and reach responsible Republican State legisla- for taxes, I think will be very, very helpful, tors, State office-holders, Governors, and because there will be significant indirect con- thoughtful independents to say let’s do it, but sequences that ought to be taken into ac- let’s do it in the right way. count. Let me make just one other comment. Roy [Gov. Tom Carper of Delaware endorsed the Romer pointed out one of the possible indi- President’s plan. Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada rect impacts of the Republican budget, which pointed out that the congressional plan failed was to—if we cut health care too much here to consider the impact on States which faced and you have to take up the slack at the State rapid growth and asked if the President’s level, you’ll invest less in education. So we’ll plan addressed that concern.]

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The President. Yes. We maintain the In its most recent report, the bipartisan present approach, for example, toward help- Commission on Immigration Reform chaired ing States fund welfare. And if you had a by Barbara Jordan unanimously concluded huge increase in the number of poor chil- that a large-scale guestworker program dren, under our plan, there would be provi- would be a ‘‘grievous mistake.’’ We have sions for funneling more funds there in ways worked hard to reduce illegal immigration that would enable you to match them and and have made great progress toward con- go forward. Under their plan, they’re going trolling this longstanding and serious prob- to cut it so much there’s no way they can lem. To allow so-called temporary workers take account of growth. They try to on wel- to cross the border now would undermine fare for poor kids, but they just can’t get all the success we have achieved. there. There’s no way, just because the size A new guestworker program is unwar- of the cut. ranted for several reasons: By the same token, with the medical pro- • It would increase illegal immigration. grams, Medicare and Medicaid, with the size • It would reduce work opportunities for of the cuts that are coming in, they won’t U.S. citizens and other legal residents. be able to take account of growth. And they • It would depress wages and work stand- will force States to either reduce medical ards for American workers. coverage or try to get some cost out of people When these programs were tried in the that we know are so poor they don’t have past, many temporary guestworkers stayed the money in the first place. permanently—and illegally—in this country. Now, I would say those would be the two Hundreds of thousands of immigrants now biggest areas where the high-growth States residing in the U.S. first came as temporary will be cut, in medical coverage and in the workers, and their presence became a mag- care for poor children. net for other illegal immigrants. [Governor Romer thanked the President, said If our crackdown on illegal immigration he found the conversation very helpful, and contributes to labor shortages—especially for once again praised the President’s budget perishable crops that require large numbers plan.] of workers for short periods of time—I will direct the Departments of Labor and Agri- The President. Thank you. Let’s just keep culture to work cooperatively to improve and talking about it. And let’s use this debate. enhance existing programs to meet the labor Now there’s one alternative and not two, and requirements of our vital agricultural indus- we can use the debate. And again, I would try consistent with our obligations to Amer- say, let’s try to get—let’s try to go beyond ican workers. partisanship as much as possible, look at the direct and the indirect impacts of both budg- et proposals. And we’ll get to the end of the road in the right place. Thank you very, very much. Digest of Other White House Announcements NOTE: The President spoke at 11:15 a.m from the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock. The following list includes the President’s public schedule and other items of general interest an- Statement on Guestworker nounced by the Office of the Press Secretary and Legislation not included elsewhere in this issue. June 23, 1995 I oppose efforts in the Congress to insti- June 17 tute a new guestworker or ‘‘bracero’’ pro- In the morning, the President attended the gram that seeks to bring thousands of foreign plenary session of the Group of Seven sum- workers into the United States to provide mit at the Maritime Museum in Halifax, temporary farm labor. Nova Scotia. Later in the morning, he went

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