"It is deeply wrong to shut the government down while we negotiate, under the illusion that somehow that will affect the decisions that I would make on specific issues. As I said, this is only casting a shadow over our talks. I will continue to do everything I can in good faith to reach an agreement. But it is wrong to shut the government down."
-President ClintonJanuary 3, 1996

President Clinton will make the cuts we need to balance the budget, but he refuses to make cuts that will hurt our fundamental American values. He will stand against Republican blackmail if it means standing up for for values like:

• Balancing the Budget to lift the burden of debt off our children.
• Protecting Medicaid and Medicare so that we honor our commitment to America's elderly, people with disabilities, and children.
• Investing in Education and Training, so America's families can thrive in the new economy.
• Protecting the Environment and Public Health, so our children grow up in a clean and safe world.
• Rewarding Work over welfare and providing tax relief for middle class families.

The Shutdown is Breaking Those Values.

President Clinton is comitted to balancing the budget, but will not abandon his principles to do it just because Republicans insist on keeping the American people hostage. He is fighting the strategy by the House Republicans that is continuing the government shutdown.

Congress has the responsibility to pass appropriations that the President can sign, and to leave that responsibility and shut down the government is just wrong. In the face of the growing and very real effect of the shutdown, the President commended the Senate's vote to abandon the shutdown and open the government. So far, the shutdown means that:

• Funds to pay for drugs, food and supplies at veterans hospitals ran out yesterday,
• 170,000 veterans did not receive their December educational benefits,
• This week, the Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens will run out of money;
• This month, hundreds of Head Start programs in the country will run out of money,
• The Centers for Disease Control tracking system cannot accurately keep up with the flu outbreak in the midwest,
• On an average day, 260 small businesses are being denied $40 million in capital -- loans that would create real jobs for Americans,
• The national security of the country is being adversely affected, as is diplomacy abroad,
• We are not able to enforce our trade laws to protect our workers and our products,
• The Environmental Protection Agency shut down toxic waste cleanups at hundreds of sites across America,
• Medicare contractors who serve our elderly are not being paid,
• Ninety-five percent of all workplace safety activities have been shut down,
• Ten states have run out of the funding they use to run our unemployment insurance program,
• Hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants are working without pay or are not permitted to work.