"America's children would bear the most pain from the sharp cuts proposed by the Republican Congress. If the Republican plan becomes law, millions of children would be denied basics they need -- health care they now have, schooling they can count on...a safe place to live, or air and water we can be sure is safe to breathe and to drink."
-President ClintonDecember 16, 1995

President Clinton will make the cuts we need to balance the budget, but he refuses to make cuts into our fundamental American values. He will fight the efforts of some Republicans to blackmail America by shutting down the government right before Christmas just to get their way. Our values point us toward:

• 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.

For the Republican Congress to shut down the government to force big cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment is just wrong. The President has made a specific compromise offer to finish this year's budget so we can get the government back to work for the American people. Then we can resolve our larger differences over how best to balance the budget consistent with our values. We owe it to our children, and their children, to do both these things.

Now that the President has shown that you can balance the budget in 7 years using conservative economic assumptions while protecting these fundamental priorities, the onus is on the Republicans to explain why they insist on an extreme budget that unnecessarily disregards America's priorities and values.

PRESIDENT CLINTON IS FIGHTING TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN --

Here's What the Republican Plan Would Do for Our Children:

• Deny 180,000 pre-school children a Head Start in 2002.
• Deny 2 to 4 million children meaningful Medicaid Health benefits.
• Cut our efforts to keep drugs and violence out of our schools.
• Undermine our efforts to help schools meet national standards of excellence for the first time.
• Kill the AmeriCorps national service program.
• Deny scholarships to more than 350,000 deserving college students next year.
• Take away the best student loan program available to young people.
• Cut our efforts to clean up hazardous waste by 45%. More than 10 million children under the age of 12 live within four miles of a hazardous waste site.

None of these cuts are necessary to balance the budget in 7 years.

President Clinton will fight them all to protect our families, our children, and our values.