Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Plan To Balance the Budget

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Leader:)

We share the goal of balancing the federal budget, and I look forward to working with you on this important matter.

But as we work together to reach our shared goal, we must ensure that we do so the right way—the way that will raise the standards of living for average Americans.

My plan to balance the budget over 10 years will help raise average living standards by cutting unnecessary spending while investing in education and training, targeting tax relief to middle-income Americans, and taking incremental but serious steps toward health care reform. By contrast, the conference agreement cuts too deeply into Medicare and Medicaid and cuts education and training both to pay for a tax cut that is too large for too many who don't need it, and to meet the 7 year time frame.

Though I am determined to work with you to balance the budget, I cannot accept legislation that will threaten the living standards of American families.

I hope we can work together and avoid a situation in which I would have no choice but to use my veto authority broadly. The American people want us to work together to balance the budget and to do it the right way. I am ready to do that.

Sincerely,

BILL CLINTON