Bill Clinton: “Let me--first of all, I want to welcome the leadership of the Congress here and thank them for coming down to the White…”

“Let me--first of all, I want to welcome the leadership of the Congress here and thank them for coming down to the White House for the meeting today. I'm looking forward to having a chance to discuss a number of things, including the present situation in Bosnia, the status of the welfare reform legislation, the budget-- progress toward a balanced budget, and a number of other issues, including the lobby reform measure passed by the Senate and the line- item veto and anything else that might be on the minds of the congressional Members who are here. I have said before, I will say again, I'm very hopeful that we can achieve common ground on this budget. This is a truly historic moment. We do have some different priorities, but I think we can reach an agreement if we work at it. It seems clear now that such cannot be the case by the time this fiscal year ends on October 1st, so I'm hopeful that we can, for a limited period of time, pass a continuing resolution. It would be a straightforward resolution, appropriate for the reduction of spending to meet the overall budget targets, and I look forward to working on that. I believe that the American people want us to work together and get something done, and I think most of us want the same thing, so that's what we're going to talk about. Bosnia”